#chips mate

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Chips Mate

Food photography for an Australian client Chips Mate.

[tenderblender]

Sometime last year, we did a shoot with circumstances that were very different from our usual client jobs. The circumstances being, our client was all the way from Australia! It was both exciting and challenging, so we made sure to be extra careful with our work.

Because we were approached for our photography services, it was definitely a challenge. We couldn’t really fly out to do the job (it just wasn’t in their budget), and shipping food was a no-go for obvious reasons. So the best thing to do was to replicate their product. Thankfully it was something we were very familiar with: fries! Or to be Australian about it, chips.

Most of what was needed from us were product photos that had to be dropped out from backgrounds, but we proposed to shoot a few lifestyle shots as well for them to use in other materials. Personally, I love doing this kind of thing because it’s an exercise on creative vision more than the technical aspects that on-white product shots entail.

What took a bit of work was reproducing the flavored powders, since what we usually have here in the Philippines are the usuals like cheese and barbecue. Chips Mate had flavors like Char Grilled Onion & Steak—how in the world?? Karl was the brains behind bringing those to life for the shoot!

This was possibly one of our favorite shoots to do. We went through a lengthy process than what’s usually asked of us. Rather than just showing up for the shoot and doing minimal styling and arrangement of the set, we went from planning out the shots with pegs and sketches, to looking for props at different grocery stores that matched what the client uses, to a bit of Photoshop magic to fix what couldn’t be altered in real life.

While it takes an extra bit of effort shooting for international clients, I can’t say we wouldn’t do it again, because we definitely, definitely would.

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[tbfd-photography]