Maddox Tavern Photoshoot
Rationale
The visual appeal of food is undeniable, and high-quality food photography is essential in your checklist to take your restaurant to the next level on social media. Having professionally taken photographs of your dishes and drinks shows that your restaurant is trustworthy. Therefore, Mr.Highline decided to collaborate with Nic Crilly Hargrave (London Food Photographer) to set up a professional photoshoot at Maddox Tavern in Mayfair. Let us walk you through the process.
Goal
As first impressions stick, we wanted to achieve the result of having professional images in order to skyrocket Maddox Tavern’s online presence. We aimed to capture content that would draw the customer’s attention, trigger hunger for the restaurant’s dishes, and showcase the history of the interior.
We wanted to further build trust and credibility and the phrase “what you see is what you get” came into our mind when we thought about the importance of food photography for Maddox Tavern. Customers like to know what they are going to get, and surprises may be pleasant, but when it comes to eating and drinking our customers prefer to have certainty of what they will eat and drink. Therefore, our goal was to satisfy Maddox customers by showcasing the entire menu and restaurant experience in a professional way representing reality.
Strategy
Pre-Photoshoot:
We started off by putting together a shot list based on the types of images that we wanted to fit with out upcoming social media strategy for the next few months. As we mainly wanted this content to be suitable for social media, we knew we wanted some lifestyle shots with people/actions to showcase the atmosphere of the restaurant. Once we had completed our shotlist, we shared this with the photographer to brief him on the content we wanted to create, so that he was aware of this prior to the day of the shoot.
Day of the Shoot:
On the day of the shoot, our team arrived at the venue 1 hour ahead of the photographer in order to discuss with all relevant in house team members about what we will need, for example coordinating with the chefs for timings of dishes, decorating the tables in the Private Dining Rooms, and discussing the cocktails we would like to be made behind the bar.
Once the photographer arrived, we worked closely with him to achieve the results we were after by following our shot list. This even included using ourselves in some of the photos to show details such as our hands holding the cutlery as if we were eating the dishes in order to give some life to the images.
Post-Photoshoot:
After the photoshoot we will now be using the images on the Maddox Tavern Instagram page to showcase the full experience that customers can have. This will lead to an aesthetically pleasing feed for users that visit the page. We will also use the professional images for newsletters and stories, and any other promotional purposes.