Friday 28 August 2015

Wall Street Journal

When I was approached by Wall Street Journal to shoot a high-end jewellery story, they already had a great brief. Working with jewellery from Amrapali, a jewellery brand based on Indian heritage, the idea was to shoot the pieces spilling from bags of spices. Creative Director Henry Nolan had a clear vision of the jewellery alongside hessian bags filled with richly coloured spices.

The brief was an exciting place to start, and we immediately got prop-stylist Dawn Weller on board. On the day of the shoot she arrived with bags upon bags of amazing Asian spices bought on London's Brick Lane, including star anise, green cardamom, black pepper corns, chillies, cloves, nutmeg, and many more. The smell in the studio from these spices was incredible, it was like being in a cup of chai tea.

We got the set exactly right before bringing in the jewellery. Some of the pieces we were working with are worth over £150,000.00, so it was imperative to show them looking their best. The jewels lit up under the lights with an amazing glowy quality. I was careful to capture every detail of the necklaces and earrings.

As a cover option, we shot an overhead shot of one necklace lying on a background of mustard seeds. The seeds were all subtle shades of blue, purple and grey and the overall effect was perfect and very graphic. 

Keep an eye out for this shoot in Wall Street Journal soon.