One of our clients for whom we have always shot on location said the other day, “I didn’t know you guys did studio work, too!” This made both John and I laugh because just the season before, another client who hires us for studio work told us that they had no idea we did lifestyle photography on location.

Big lesson learned.

Now, we always take time to let our clients know about the kinds of work we love to do and that we’re really good at. We are in the midst of getting to know a new, potential client and our conversations have originated around shooting on location. But, I’m taking the time to collect this set of images to make sure she knows our range in the studio.

Working together, John and I have roughly three ways we shoot wine subjects in the studio. One way puts strong focus on the label–the paper, the emboss or deboss, the foils, the textures, the colors. In photos like these, the label nearly fills the frame. Another route is to recreate a near-life setting. The goal is to take a beautiful photo of a setting you might encounter at a meal or a party, etc. The third way is outdoors, setting up scenarios that use our surroundings, add in people or parts of people. The idea here is build the feeling that you’re encountering the wine while something lovely and wonderful is happening.

Our goal is always, always, always build a feeling into the photo. We ask ourselves, “Does this look appealing?” “Does it make me feel like I want to be there?” “Does it sell the idea of the wine?” When that answer is “yes”, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.