Working with Miller and Puzzle, two talented dog stars, was a career highlight. The campaign was for Nature's Menu a home-delivery dog food brand, dog food without the bad stuff. On the day we had two dog handlers and a supply of treats to keep the pups engaged.
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La Spagnola Olive Oil - Summer Campaign Photography
Summer campaign images photographed for La Spagnola. Friends, wine and lots of food, topped with a drizzle of olive oil.
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8 Stories - Solo Photography Exhibition for The British Library
When people ask where I am from, I reply ‘I am English’, anticipating the follow up question ‘Where are you really from?’
I am a British born Chinese photographer. I was born in London, but grew up in a village in Bedfordshire. With no extended Chinese community in the area, far from feeling culturally isolated, I felt no different from everyone around me. This was my home and its influence is intrinsically part of who I am. Whilst I may never have been Chinese enough, or English enough to some, these questions of identity seem less polarised today. As society grows more used to a multicultural landscape, the need to define identity through ethnic heritage alone has lessened.
The title of the show, 8 Stories, references the number eight, considered a lucky number in Chinese cultures. The first story is my own and the subjects of the seven portraits all have some relevance to my own history. Whilst the UK’s Chinese communities are mainly concentrated in towns and cities, I was interested in telling the stories of other Chinese people who have forged an identity away from metropolitan life. I have sought to capture individuals of Chinese heritage who, like myself, identify with being part of more than one culture.
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Good Fortune Club restaurant photography
I learnt from early in my career to never turn up on an empty stomach in case food wasn’t offered, especially as it can be a hard one to navigate needing to photograph mouth watering food, whilst hungry! At Good Fortune Club, the food reminded me of weekends with my family in North London at our local Chinese restaurant, so I was more than pleased to be fed and packed off with bags of takeaway at the end of the day.
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Recipe Photography and Video for Co-Op website and social channels
I was commissioned by Inspired Thinking Group to shoot food photography recipe stills and food videos for the Co-Op website and social channels. Creative direction came from the team at MullenLowe, shot in the studios at ITG Capture.
From One pot meals, to seasonal dishes and cocktail recipes, my team captured food photography and step by step fast paced Reels and TikTok videos for this campaign. The challenge for me was to be able to deliver content that could be used across the different end uses, with multiple crops required from landscape, square and portrait and working with different overlay considerations, including recipe titles, how long each meal takes to cook and how many each meal should feed.
Hybrid shooting, switching from stills to motion on the same camera has allowed me to shoot similar campaigns with just myself and an assistant, streamlining the team and avoiding the need for a separate video camera. This way of working requires working with constant lighting so we are using the same lights for stills and video, but thankfully ITG is fully loaded with Aputure lights which I’ve been using more and more over the last few years.
Working with the teams at Co-Op, ITG and MullenLowe is always a pleasure and after each shoot we’ve been able to streamline processes to get content signed off. Even when key team members haven’t been able to be on set for the shoot we managed to work through systems for remote sign off. Adaptability and problem solving can be challenging but putting trust in the team to deliver has been key.
For the full gallery of recipes on the Co-Op website see:
https://www.coop.co.uk/recipes
Project Credits:
Jamie Lau - Food Photographer and Director
Luke Archer - Photographic Assistant
Art Direction - MullenLowe
Production - Team ITG
Client - Co-Op
Campaign Photography for Philips S9000 Prestige Shaver
Super proud to see my photography for the latest online campaign for the Philips S9000 Prestige shaver, commissioned by Ogilvy, is now live. The brief was to break from the previous Philips photography style and create an entirely different treatment, shooting a moodier style then had been previously used. Super creative, production and set build teams behind me on this and it was fantastic to work with male models for the first time.
Client - Ogilvy
Agent - Morgan Lockyer
Retouch - Pics Uk
On Location in London and Sardinia - Photography Portraiture Series for Waitrose Magazine
For the April issue of Waitrose magazine I was commissioned to photograph portraits of seven Chefs who combine various culinary cultures within their food. The five page feature was shot across London UK and in Sardinia Italy, including this portrait of Zijun Meng from China and Ana Goncalves from Portugal who have created a hybrid menu for their restaurant Tata Eatery, through a shared passion for rice. Other chefs I had the pleasure to photograph included Ramael Scully, Marcus Samuelsson, Letitia Clark, Yohini Nandakumar and Terry Blake.
Social Media & PR Photography for Marks and Spencer ‘Break The Egg’ Easter Campaign for BMB Agency
I recently collaborated with BMB Agency to photograph and film a series of Easter themed images of Chocolate Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns to be used on Marks and Spencer’s Instagram channel as animated Instagram stories and photographs published on their regular newsfeed. The three Hot Cross Buns images seen below currently have a combine total 'likes' of 10k and growing. See the animated Chocolate Easter Eggs in action here!
Food & Event Photography for Soho House Chef Competition
Soho House’s Head Chefs met to battle out their culinary skills at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire with Raymond Blanc attending to judge these wonderful dishes. I have photographed a number of these events in the past year and it continues to amaze me how dedicated the chefs at Soho House are and how creative they continue to be with their food. Another thing that doesn’t change is the amount of time I’m given with the food in order to photograph them. The dishes were passed to me with roughly 60 seconds per dish to get my shot before I needed to pass them on to be judged.
Portrait Photography of Cookbook Writer Claudia Roden for Waitrose Magazine
Originally from Cairo, Claudia Roden is famed for introducing hummus to the UK palette with her 1968 publication A Book of Middle Eastern Food. I photographed Claudia at her home for the March issue of Waitrose magazine. We spoke of our shared connections with North London including my favourite Golders Green Chinese restaurant where I first learnt to use chopsticks.
Restaurant Food Photographer for Soho House at Kettners Townhouse in London's Soho
Established in 1867 by August Kettner, rumoured to have been chef to Napoleon III, Kettner’s was one of the first restaurants in London to serve French food. To coincide with the relaunch of the restaurant and hotel, I was commissioned by Soho House to photograph a sample from their menu which you can see on their website here:
Featured
Branding Photography for Wahaca on behalf of Design Studio
The rebranding of Mexican restaurant Wahaca’s Shoreditch test kitchen is a visual feast. I was commissioned by branding agency Design Studio to show how their recent rebranding work of Wahaca is incorporated into the retail design experience of the restaurant such as menus, pavement sandwich boards, promo leaflets, voucher cards and even novelty chilli seed packets in the guise of Matchbooks for customers to take home.
What looks like a typeface created with masking tape adorns the front of the building, whilst inside the menus have been made with an element of oddity and goofiness I have not seen before. What looks like complimentary matches turns out to be takeaway chilli plant seeds. Oh and to add to this the Mexican food is amazing!
Portrait and Restaurant Photography of Core by Clare Smyth for Waitrose Magazine and The Infatuation
My portraits of Michelin Star chef Clare Smyth at Core in Notting Hill are featured in the February issue of Waitrose magazine. Clare keeps 3 pencils on the the 'pass station', where food is passed from the kitchen to wait staff - a reminder of the three Michelin stars she has achieved during her career.
A separate commission for The Infatuation restaurant reviews and guide website, to photograph dishes at Core introduced me to Clare’s aesthetically exceptional potato dish, cooked in dulse, a seaweed that flavours the delicate Sussex potato, served with herring and trout roe, and fermented crisps.
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Advertising Photographer for 'If We Can You Can' UK Department of International Trade Campaign
In October 2017 I was commissioned by Ogilvy & Mather as their photographer to produce a series of portraits for The Department of International Trade, encouraging small to medium sized businesses to export good and services.
I’m proud to say the campaign is now live and can viewed here:
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Reportage Photography for Eurostar Magazine - Fitness Classes Guide, London
Eurostar sent me to shoot a series of unusual fitness classes in London kicking off with Ministry does Fitness. The session is held under arches behind The Ministry of Sound nightclub under UV lighting. For the 7.00am class I attended, Stormzy was blasting out of the mega sound system whilst the class was doing squats with barbell weights. The instructors were dancing around people doing press ups, in-between calling orders as the sounds of an automated bleep signalled the end of each interval.
8.00am - Then everyone went to work.
My second assignment in this series was to photograph at Chroma Yoga pairing yoga with colour therapy and aromatherapy, which simplified means yoga in a multi-sensory room with static or changing colours and scents. The process is supposed to align with your natural body clock to gear you towards being more alert in the day and to help sleep at night.
The other classes included Ethos Barr in Spitafileds, a mixture between ballet exercises and training with resistance bands, and a spin class at Psycle in Fitzrovia.
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Advertising Photography for Breyers Delight Ice Cream
My recent advertising commission for Breyers Delight ice cream launched their European Instagram channel. The American brand was founded in 1886, and this year will see their launch into the UK market. The high protein, low calorie ice cream was founded America in 1886, and this year will see the launch into the UK market. I had the pleasure of working with Stylist Olivia Bennet on the project with Production by Morgan Lockyer.
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Restaurant Photographer for Mortimer House Kitchen, London
The team at recently opened Mortimer House Kitchen in Fitzrovia have created a beautiful menu of mediterranean food set in Art Deco surroundings. For their launch I was asked to photograph a selection of their food and cocktails.
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Portrait Commission of Michel Roux Snr for Waitrose Magazine
I had the pleasure of photographing Michel Roux Snr at the Waterside Inn, Bray, which has had held a record 3 Michelin stars for over 30 years. The feature has been published in the current November issue of Waitrose magazine.
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