The best commissions start over lunch
My birthday lunch at a favourite country pub led to an unexpected conversation, sixteen bespoke fine-art food photographs and a collection now hanging permanently in The Rising Sun’s dining room.
Occasionally, being a regular has its advantages
We've been visiting The Rising Sun in Milland for years. It's a beautiful country pub in the South Downs, with an ever-changing seasonal menu, friendly staff and the kind of relaxed atmosphere that keeps bringing you back.
I’d even taken part in their photography and artist gallery before, so there had always been a creative connection, just nothing quite like what was about to happen.
In March 2024, my wife and I were there for my birthday lunch. As we were finishing, we got chatting to Ben, the owner, and somehow the conversation turned to photography.
To both our surprise, Ben hadn't realised I was a professional food and hospitality photographer.
“Why haven't we talked about this before?”
We both laughed.
As it happened, Ben had been thinking about refreshing the artwork in the pub's dining room.
And suddenly lunch had become a creative brief.
Creating something specifically for the space
This wasn't going to be a conventional restaurant photography commission. Ben wasn't looking for photographs of dishes from the menu or imagery for social media.
He wanted art for the walls.
The idea developed into a collection of sixteen fine-art food photographs, created specifically for The Rising Sun and inspired by the ingredients, produce and character of its kitchen.
Over the following months, we worked together to decide what would suit the dining room, considering the subjects, compositions and overall balance of the collection.
The final selection ranged from beautifully simple ingredients such as duck eggs, garlic and fresh bread to more graphic studies of asparagus, tomatoes, peas, mackerel, artichokes and seasonal produce.
The food wasn't being photographed as something ready to eat.
The ingredients themselves became the subject.
Simple ingredients, carefully considered
There is something wonderfully satisfying about stripping food photography back to its essentials.
A handful of peas, the texture of a loaf of bread, the extraordinary structure of an artichoke or the colours running through a piece of chard can become surprisingly compelling when you remove everything else.
Some photographs were deliberately minimal. Others explored colour, texture, repetition and shape. Dark backgrounds and controlled lighting gave many of the pieces a painterly quality that felt particularly appropriate for artwork destined for the walls of a country pub.
The aim wasn't to create sixteen photographs that looked identical.
It was to create sixteen individual pieces that belonged together.
The moment photographs become something else
Seeing photography on a screen is one thing.
Seeing it printed, mounted, framed and hanging in the place it was created for is something entirely different.
Once the final photographs had been selected, the collection was produced as sixteen framed prints and installed throughout The Rising Sun's dining room.
That was the point at which the commission really came together.
Individual photographs that I'd spent months creating were suddenly part of the character of the pub itself — sitting alongside the furniture, lighting, architecture and, of course, the food being served around them.
And they're not tucked away somewhere.
They're now part of the everyday experience of eating at The Rising Sun.
“The work was produced to the highest of standards, delivered swiftly and erected perfectly. It was an enjoyable experience delivered without fuss. I couldn’t be happier!”
Ben Burston · Owner, The Rising Sun
Not everything has to live on a screen
Most commercial photography today is created with websites, social media, advertising and digital campaigns in mind.
There's something rather special about creating photographs whose final destination is a physical space.
These images weren't made to disappear down a social feed. They were designed, photographed and printed to become part of The Rising Sun itself — and hopefully they'll remain on those walls for many years.
It's also an area of photography I'd love to explore further: creating bespoke photographic artwork for restaurants, hotels and hospitality interiors, designed around the character of the place in which it will eventually hang.
And to think this particular commission began because my wife and I went out for lunch.
Sometimes the best projects really do start when you least expect them.
Planning something for your walls?
From bespoke food photography and ingredient studies to artwork created around the character of a particular venue, we can create original photographic pieces designed specifically for hospitality interiors.
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