Wood-fired pizza
From first message to finished images in five days! A fast-moving shoot capturing wood-fired pizza, people and the energy of a busy Surrey pizza van.
Some commissions arrive after weeks of planning. Club Pizza started with a message from Matt one weekend asking whether I might have time for a shoot during the following week.
By Monday we'd spoken. By Tuesday evening I was at The Crossways Inn in Churt, cameras in hand, with a busy pizza van, a glowing wood-fired oven and an evening service about to begin.
Sometimes, moving quickly is all part of the fun.
There wasn't much need to manufacture anything for the camera. Club Pizza already had everything happening in front of me: dough being stretched, pizzas disappearing into the oven, customers arriving, boxes passing across the counter and the team keeping everything moving.
My job was simply to find the moments within it.
We grabbed a few more considered food shots when service allowed, but much of the photography was about documenting the evening as it unfolded — the people, the process and the little interactions that give a food business its personality.
Two hours, plenty of pizza
In around two hours we'd photographed the food, team, customers and atmosphere, along with a few slow-motion clips of the pizzas in action.
And then came the other fast bit.
From Matt's first message to delivery of the finished photographs took just five days. It was a small, spontaneous commission, but a good reminder that a useful collection of imagery doesn't always require a complicated production or days of shooting.
“Working with Marlon is so easy, he makes the whole process just great fun.”
Matt Smart · Owner, Club Pizza
Club Pizza was one of those shoots that moved quickly from beginning to end — and perhaps that's why the photographs feel the way they do. Nothing became overly staged or polished. It was simply an evening at the pizza van, captured as it happened.
Wood smoke, melted cheese, busy hands, familiar faces and a steady stream of customers.
Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday evening, and I got to eat pizza too!
Planning a shoot with a little more life?
From food being prepared and served to the people and moments around it, we create natural photography that captures your business as it really feels.
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