I’ve recently had the pleasure of having Berliner Brandstifter support my latest bottle photography projects. Having Germany’s Gin Producer of the Year, and a winner of the 2017 European Product Design Award contribute to my portfolio has been very excited. Accordingly I challenged myself to produce some of my most ambitous, dramatic, and technically demanding images to date.
Image 1 – ‘Fire Flower’
For the images of the brand’s core product, it was essential for me to engage the audience through a connection between the product’s own branding and the imagery used to display it.
‘Brandstifter’ in German translates to ‘arsonist’. Which lead me to straight to my previous experience with smoke and fire (which can be found in my portfolio ‘smoke’). To reinforce the viewers association with the product I also wanted to provide a ‘cue’ of the floral qualities often associated with quality gin. The result is a luxurious blanket of flame which engulfs the product and forms a distinctive and eye-catching ‘flower-like’ design.
Image 2 – Explosive Refreshment
My priority in shooting this image of the Berliner Brandstifer’s vodka, was to simultaneously provide a refreshment cue through the explosive water imagery whilst not sacrificing any of the strength or impact associated with good vodka.
That strength and Impact was achieved through the use of hard edge lighting, and an eye-focusing tunnel of water droplets. The results is an attention grabbing representation of the product that is difficult to look away from!
Image 3 – Berliner Brandstifter Sunset
Berlin is of course a core aspect of Berliner Brandstifter’s brand image. Their previous marketing material relied heavily on ‘on-location’ imagery. To provide continuity to the Berliner Brandstifter branding strategy I decided to create this ‘on-location/in-studio’ hybrid image. The result has a much more polished and professional finish than their previous on-location imagery whilst supplying an unmistakable association with one of Berlin’s most recognizable landmarks.
