Food photography | Gold Coast Food Photographer

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How this Gold Coast restaurant grew their online bookings 40-fold in 4 weeks

An image of the bar at The Lazy Lobster restaurant, Gold Coast. Food venue photography by Gold Coast Food Photography - Gold Coast and Brisbane

Here’s a very good example of how great marketing can benefit Gold Coast restaurants.
The Lazy Lobster is a seafood restaurant in Labrador. A large venue with a modern, fresh interior, it offers lunch and dinner guests a range of areas to enjoy – their cosy interior, bar area or sun-drenched (and air conditioned) window-frontage dining area that overlooks a stunning view of the Gold Coast’s Broadwater and it’s esplanade.

While the waterfront scenery alone is offered by only several other seafood restaurants along the whole Gold Coast, coupled with truly great food, The Lazy Lobster’s offering is very strong. Testimony to this is the almost 20 years that they’ve been in business (the equivalent of about 6 lifetimes in the restaurant game)!

Even so, an out-dated website and sub-standard food photography was letting the owners down for too long – an issue that they recently addressed by getting in touch with a good food photographer (moi!) and a good web designer, to get themselves quality image content that’s not repeated on their pages – plus free them of Google’s SEO penalisation for having a site that’s not mobile-friendly.

Take a look at the old food image they had been previously using across multiple website pages:

An example of poor food photography (NOT shot by me)!

NOTE: The above is NOT my shot! 😉

Wisely, the owners recognised that it was time to invest in imagery that did their fantastic food justice…

An image of a cooked salmon fillet on a black rustic timber restaurant table

An image of a plate of seafood pasta

An image of a cooked King Prawns served onto a black rustic timber restaurant table

An image of seafood platter served on a contemporary black stone restaurant table

An image of dessert served on a contemporary black stone table in a fine restaurant

Together with the owners, myself and my food stylist met to discuss a more contemporary art direction to showcase their food, it’s beautiful presentation and the generous portions that they still serve. The results speak for themselves and within four weeks, this Gold Coast restaurant’s online bookings went from one per month to 10 per week and still rapidly climbing.
Get in touch today if your Gold Coast or Brisbane restaurant’s reservations could use a boost like this. 😉

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My guest post for the ‘Good Food Gold Coast’ food blog

Recently I was invited to write a guest blog post for the excellent ‘Good Food Gold Coast’. As one of the best food blogs I’ve come across, which keeps readers abreast of any and all additions and improvements to the Gold Coast food scene, it’s WELL worth checking out. Good Food Gold Coast attracts a very wide audience of restauranteurs, cafe owners dedicated foodies – and no doubt a large number of amateur food photographers and Instagrammers, so I thought a few pro tips may be a good topic to add to the menu…
Bon appetit!

Syrup_being_poured_onto_a_dessert_with_excellent_texture showcased_by_food_photography_back_lighting

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Shortlisted for the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Award

Pink Lady Food Photographer of the year award 2016 logo

I’m very honoured to have just been shortlisted for the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Award. Considered the world’s most important food photography awards, my shot has been selected from over 7,000 entries this year.

The judges panel of 38, includes names like David Loftus (Jamie Oliver’s photographer), Nigel Atherton (Time Inc’s Group Editor) and Australia’s own Curtis Stone, who will also present to the category winners in person.

I’m not allowed to publicly share the image in question until the awards night in London, but will post it here once that’s all tidied away. In the meantime, my Gold Coast and Brisbane clients beckon, so it’s back to reality for a while longer! 🙂

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New ‘Pods’ cookbook completed!

Pod essence olive-infused ice cubes
A few weeks ago I was approached by a Sydney food publisher to photograph a cookbook for Lisa Bryant, titled ‘Pods’. Lisa has created a wide range of frozen ‘pods’, which are essentially ice cube infusions. They range from curry starters consisting of herbs and spices to throw into a curry pot, to alcoholic ice cube pods for cocktails and fruit-infused dessert pod treats.

They’re a great idea for busy people who want a frozen stash of meal starters, ready to go. Of the 120 recipes featuring in the book, I was asked to photograph 40 of Lisa Bryant’s creations for the image content.
For this food shoot, I enlisted the talents of Pete May – a very skilled food stylist who works in the the Gold Coast & Brisbane region. It was going to take a man of Pete’s talent to devise 40 different ways to shoot ice cubes and make all of them interesting and unique food shots!

During pre-production discussions, I suggested that we fill a baking tray with water and freeze it. This provided an excellent small ‘table surface’ to shoot a number of the shots on, which also allowed me to light an additional glass tray from underneath, giving a dynamic, illuminated texture to sit the pods on, while also keeping them cold.
Pete’s terrifyingly vast range of food photography props and textiles provided relevance and character to the art direction and our client’s were immensely grateful and happy with the work – which is always so nice to hear!

The book looks excellent (from all reports) and has been bumped-up from national release to international release for Christmas 2015. A great result.

For more info about what’s being touted by some as the next food revolution, you can check out www.ThePodEssence.com

Pod Essence collage-Various ice cube meal starters and treats 1. Photography by Paul Williams, Gold Coast & Brisbane food photographer

Pod Essence Brown ice cubes with olives and serving knife. Wide hero shot by Paul Williams, Gold Coast & Brisbane food photographer

'Pods' cookbook cover image showing frozen ice-cube creations and drinks from above on a black ice tabletop.

The cover of the new book

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Gold Coast Food Photography’s new partnerships

Gold Coast Food Photography by Paul Williams-New clients and partnerships
It’s been a lonnng time between blog entries for Gold Coast Food Photography because I’ve been swamped with shoots these past few months – yikes! Plenty of material has been shot for upcoming blog entries though and the food scene on both the Gold Coast and Brisbane is looking very healthy! Some sample food images to follow very soon…

I’m very happy to announce that I recently won the Zarraffa’s Coffee account to do their food and drink photography, after a very successful food shoot together, showcasing their delicious new menu. By the time I had photographed the menu, I’d also eaten most items as they came off the table – some self-control issues there, so it’s back to the gym for me! Many thanks to Pete May, for his excellent food styling work for Zarraffa’s – full credit to you, Sir!

On the new business front, I’ve also secured a partnership with Burleigh Tourism, as their exclusive food photographer, so will be shooting food and drinks for the various fantastic cafe’s and restaurants around the Burleigh area. Burleigh Tourism is enjoying an exceptionally proactive new chapter in engaging local Burleigh businesses in helping them succeed. This is also great news for visitors to Burleigh and the Gold Coast’s development as a travel destination and lifestyle choice.

Another bit of great news for Gold Coast Food Photography is the new partnership with Gold Coast Food & Wine Tours. This is an excellent business model that’s had great success in the Brisbane market and is now coming to the Gold Coast. The concept is in the name and the info you need is here. So grab some friends, make sure one of them is a non-drinker so you can get into the wine and discover some of the great food and eateries that the Gold Coast has to offer!

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A food shoot inspired by nature and shot in-studio

Here’s some insight into how I like to approach my food photography, in the form of a recent example while shooting for new Gold Coast client, Jack’s Creek.

Jack’s Creek produce exceptionally high quality Wagyu and Black Angus beef. Because they’re an Australian company with true Aussie heritage, I’d sourced some native timber slabs that I wanted to shoot their cooked meat products on. While sanding these slabs down the weekend before the food shoot, I noticed that the tree canopy above me was casting beautiful shadows across the timber and I set about figuring out how I could recreate this light in the photography studio.

2 hours later, I had created some custom tools that faithfully mimmicked a complex gumtree canopy light that’s available to me any time of day in the studio. Once the lights were in place, this took the Jack’s Creek food shoot to the next level, by casting a distinctively Australian dappled light across the food products, giving their brand’s photography styling a completely unique and ownable look.
This is photography lighting that no other brand is doing in their industry, which is dominated by beef and other meat produce which has been shot against white, to make it look ‘clean’ – when in my opinion, this kind of art direction only makes meat look like it’s for sale on eBay.

Art direction and pre-production like this is one of the things that keep me busy with new business enquiries from clients looking for quality food photography – which is great. But greater still, are the Brand Managers for clients like Jack’s Creek, who recognise opportunity to do something new when it’s suggested – something special and then put their faith in us to still deliver on their brief. This is how not only brands, but creativity itself can improve, evolve and inspire everyone on the project.

Below are some of the results from the 2 day food shoot and I must credit the incomparable Pete May for his exceptional food styling, management, prep and cooking. Enjoy!