This is a standard product photo with a front/side lit highlight. Simple but effective product photo.
If you run a business that requires product photos, please get in touch and we can discuss your requirements
This really continued the #LifeofaGrape story line, after the harvest, the next step was the pressing process.
The smell of the grapes sitting in the vast containers was impressive,
The grapes had a stir or mix in these before being pouring into the vast drum,
The grapes were mixed up and compressed
With a grape liquid exiting the drum
This was just the next stage in the continued documenting of the year in the life of a vineyard.
If you click on the #LifeofaGrape link, you can view all the other stages and processes I documented through that year in the Vineyard.
I have recently realised that I never wrote a blog post about the vineyard harvest I took photo of during the year I documented a year on a vineyard. or as I called it, Life of a Grape!
So, better late the never, an September’s day in 2018 I was asked to come along to the vineyard and take photos of the harvest.
It was a nice day, but clouds were gathering, the team of volunteers having finished their tea and cakes got to work on harvesting. It was just one section of the vineyard that was being done that day, but there was plenty to do.
Grapes quickly filled their buckets, which in turn filled the crates…
These were then loaded on the the trailer to be brought into the barn…
and fed into the machines for de-stalking and then into large containers ready for the next stage..
The whole process was then repeated over and over again.
We managed to beat the weather and with the group of volunteers this section of the vineyard was harvested in just a few hours.
It was great to be able to witness this first hand to see and document the process for the vineyard. I then returned a few days later to document the pressing process.
I spent a year photographing the key stages of the work process, from the initial pruning of the last years vines, through to harvesting and bottling.
Then, of course, the all important bottles shots.
I’ve taken some nice on location images,
plus standard products shots.
I’ve varied the style over the years based on requirements and needs for that photo.
The first photos were full product images, inline with an existing lighting style of past photos.
I’ve also taken some more ‘interesting’ photos with coloured background to match the bottle labels.
This year a new wine was produced. This came in a different style bottle and was sparkling. So I used a different setup to show off the colour…
and the bubbles, by adding to glasses to the shoot.
The latest wine, I was asked again to show the colour, so I used the same lighting, but on a normal bottle.
If you run a vineyard and would like a free quotation for some product photos, process photos or a ‘Year in a Vineyard’ shoot, please contact me using the link in the Commercial Work page below.
I shot some product photos last year for Torview Wines of their wine bottles. These were standard product images on a white background. I wanted to reshoot them and try something a bit more interesting.
I planned to shoot them on a great background this time, but a wanted to add some colour to them.
I didn’t have time to shoot all 3 bottles, so just did 2 along with the colour processing.
First up, the Dornfelder.
Second, the Rondo
If I get a chance, I’ll shot the last one.
Through the summer months I have been taking photos at the vineyard to show the grapes growing on the vines and ripening.
You can see how much the vines had been growing in early summer and the grapes progressing nicely.
Another visit was to capture the transitioning colours of the grapes, these were showing lovely leaf colours.
and a lot had fully turned too
Next visit will show the harvesting of the grapes
As part of the year long project (or #LifeofaGrape) at Torview Wines Vineyard, I get to photograph all the activities that happen through the year at the vineyard. This time I was back there for bottling.
This was quite a challenge. Low light, distracting backgrounds and slow shutter speed. It meant I had to get creative.
I have to admit, shooting the bottles was a lot of fun…
It gave me the opportunity to try different ideas, show off patterns, but still keep the focus on what was being photographed.
These are the bottles waiting to be sterilized
The processing is this vineyard is very manual and on a smaller scale, but it adds to the interest.
I captured each stage of the bottling process, from cleaning & filling the bottles through to capping them.
And then the finished article!
These photos will be used to show the processes and working of this vineyard in their bottling barn as well as on their website.
I have been working on a project with a local vineyard, Torview. We are doing a year project to photograph the vineyard and follow a grape vine through the seasons. I’ve called it, ‘life of a grape’!
Recently, as we are all too aware, we had some snow! I took the opportunity to head to the vineyard, just a it had started, as I didn’t want to risk get stranded in the snow. As it happened, when I got there, there was a break in the snow showers.
Throughout the season, there is plenty to do a on vineyard and as you can see, there is still plenty of pruning to be getting on with.
It’s a tough job and you need some good gear to cope with the seasons. It was exceptionally cold with temperatures that we don’t normally have. I think on this day it was around 0 -1 (quite mild compared to what it got too!). I found that my gloves couldn’t cope with this, but for my new coat, it wasn’t a problem.
I think Tim was well equipped for it.
I want to capture the vineyard in all weather if possible and we were lucky to get snow to be able to show it like this.
This photo shows the vineyard from the bottom corner through the unpruned vines with the farmhouse in the background.
Capturing the Life of a Grape is going to be a nice project and show just what happens throughout the year at the vineyard. We’ll see the vine start to bud and grapes growing, and hopefully some sunshine too!
This was the second trip, I wrote a brief post on the first trip. If you want to follow the journey, I’ve been posting to Instragram (@LeoPhotographyUK) and Twitter (@LeoPhotography) with #LifeofaGrape. Torview wines can be found on Instagram @TorViewWines
Being a photographer means you get to photograph many different things, from people, to products and sometimes, products before they become the product!
Yesterday I was out in a Vineyard in north Devon photographing vines, no grapes or even leaves, just the bare vines as the grapes start a journey from vine to bottle.
