The Concept
An object study built around the woman at the centre of my brand world – someone who moves between here in the UK and sunnier climates, with one foot in each.
Three frames. Firstly (above) a breakfast scene – servings of fruit on banana leaves, with a journal, her watch and a photo of her amongst other things.
Second – late afternoon, ingredients ready to make a piña colada and reading materials at the ready – leisurely and relaxed.
Third (below) – an evening of chai and bangles slipped off after coming back from dinner with friends.
Each frame pairs food and drink with a few of her personal things — her sari, her perfume, her bangles, her photographs. The objects she’d reach for in each moment of her day.
The brief was restraint, paired back. No big sets, no built environments. Every element in frame belongs to the same woman; the story is hers to tell.
The World
The colour palette is rooted in tradition – pinks, oranges, greens, with warm supporting tones of copper, gold, hot pink and brick red.
The light moves across the series – warm directional sun through leaves and shutters in the day, candlelight and ambient amber for the night.
The same surface appears across all three frames, dressed differently. The same woman across all three frames, present through her things.
Her photograph appears in each frame – the quiet centre of the world she lives in.
Behind the Scenes
This was a new direction for me. Where my previous personal project, Aperitivo was scene-led – wide tablescapes and detail crops – Her Ceylon is object-led. No built environment, just objects, carefully positioned light and a woman implied through objects she owns and uses.
A different discipline to the food and lifestyle photography I’m used to. One I’m immensely proud of.
Huge thanks to Toni Musgrave who styled the food and drink with me – her work brought every frame to life.
Above, a time lapse from the build of the breakfast flat lay. This was the only frame in the series shot from above as a flatlay.
Let’s Work Together
If your brand world lives in this kind of warm, narrative-led space – heritage, food, hospitality, lifestyle – I’d love to talk.
I love working with brands and publications who want their food and drink photographed with the same care a writer would give a story. Editorial, thoughtful, rooted in a point of view.
