An emerging Drinks Focused Product Photographer 
Former multi-hat wearing Creative Agency Founder with detours into Business Performance Consulting and Software Application Design 
ME

Growing up in a sanctioned Rhodesia (through 15 years of civil war) and farming in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe unwittingly nurtured transferable life/work skills grounded in the premise that NO problem, task or challenge was insurmountable—not that there was always a choice!
The process was simply called ‘Making a Plan’
Prerequisites to success included - dogged determination, creative? resourcefulness (read sometimes having to tread a thin line), risk tolerance, wit and a sense of humour. The smart people in my life would say I probably could have done with a little less of all of them.
Effective when 'plan' focused they yielded somewhat different outcomes when left to their own devices, some alarming, others life-threatening—well more than some really. Enough to fill a memoir more!
It’s an endeavour I‘ve been juggling for a long time and is epitomised by the late, great Peter Cook line -
'I met a man at a party. He said I'm writing a novel. I said Oh really? Neither am I.'

I digress...
At twenty-one I moved to Aberdeen in an attempt to swap farming in Africa for saturation diving in the North Sea—one that got away. I then inadvertently stumbled into and fell in love with the creative sector and nine years later exploited an opportunity to launch what would later become a full service design agency.
There followed multi-sector entrepreneurial successes and industry firsts, unexpected break-up’s inevitable? breakdown’s, and long periods where I have been totally lost, self and career. 
Recovery wise I’m there on the ‘self’ but finding meaningful work has been and remains frustratingly elusive.

*The photography bit*
At the start of 2025 I decided to resurrect a long forgotten passion for taking photo's (we're talking film and darkroom days here) with the intention of exploring yet another avenue to generating an income. 
With an aversion to photographing people wall art seemed a good place to start and in April bought a budget(ish) camera and one lens and started both shooting and trying to get my head around both modern cameras (how many settings?) and post production—old dog and all that... 
I then stumbled across product photography, the spirits sector in particular, and immediately thought that's what I want to do!
A very basic studio set-up arrived at the end of June and after producing my first few pics, dared to believe I may have been on to something.
Five months in, I can't tell you how much I hope I am!

Outside of work I enjoy pushing a bouncy bicycle up a variety of Scottish hills before trying to get down in as short a time as possible without hurting myself too much. Success on the latter has been variable. Probably sounds a bit Marmite. I love that too...
WORK

WHY?
I’ve always been drawn to aesthetics irrespective of object.
Shape, form, pattern, colour, light and detail—love detail, both joy and curse in equal measure...
Enter, the progressive and exciting rise of craft Spirits, NoLo's and beers.
Intensifying competition for both headspace and shelf recognition has driven storytelling and visually striking and tactile packaging design to a point where I’m convinced, if sold in smaller bottles, would result in the contents being mistakenly dabbed behind ear lobes.
They've turned me into a drinks aisle crawler and as such it seems an ideal space for someone like me to carve out a new career.

STYLE
I’m not sure six(ish) months is long enough to develop a style.
Current descriptors probably include vibrant and contrasty? whilst I work towards something more cinematic and evocative...

ARGUMENT
Whilst packaging design is smashing visual differentiation, overwhelming choice and ever increasing demands on time and attention are likely to prove increasingly problematic.
So? I want to create images that attract attention, make a positive impression and create some kind of lasting visual connection.
Why? because when your prospective customer is scanning your more than likely crowded category space, I want a glimpse of your product (or that of a competitor) to immediately recall both those images and their associated connections.

TO NICHE OR NOT TO NICHE
I’ve decided to niche—but with some limited exceptions.
My primary focus is the beverage sector, studio and product/brand focused landscapes.
Anything else will be dependent on aesthetics so, architectural/design features, sexy? plant/components...

VALUE
This has as much to do with experience and therefore earned trust as it does kit and space.
It's also about circumstances.
This is a new start for me and I don't want to, nor can I afford to get it wrong. I have plenty to learn but honestly believe I can add value right now.
Initially, images will undoubtedly take me longer to produce than seasoned pro's. I'm also realistic about image quality so no billboards or glossy print yet.
As such my initial focus is on remote e-commerce shots, preferably those that don't have tight deadlines. I plan to charge per image so you will get the images you want and I get to spend as long as I need (within reason) to produce them.
You get real value and I get back to earning a living.
A retainer service may work well for us too...
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