Case Study

Ague de Madre

Client: @aguademadre

THE BRIEF

Chris Chapman’s vibrant redesign of the London-based non-alc brand, Agua de Madre, is a bold and bright explosion of 1960-1980s colours and international-inspired labels and stamps – all with a twist of cheekiness and fun.

And the photography brief was simply to bring these to life, in one day and to budget.

Nicola at Agua de Madre is an old client so how could I say no?

THE SOLUTION

Colour-blocking – but retro-inspired, with an intentional hint of hyper-realism and a solid splash of glowy sparkle. We curated a range of coloured vinyl surfaces that matched the palette of Chris’s designs to be delivered ahead of time, making sure we had some extras just in case as we knew we might need some leeway on the day. We matched products to surfaces where we could in advance, but left a little space for the magic to happen, as is always my preference.

On the day, we kept pace, fuelled by kefir and tacos and studio tunes, working collaboratively with the brand, design and marketing leads. We shot key visuals for all the products, the main group shots, a couple of liquid pours with our hand model, as well as finding some adrenal moments of play with torn boxes and crushed cans to keep things entertaining for all of us – and future brand messaging.

Lighting was mostly hard, as you can tell by those highlights and shadows, with a couple of composite plates for logos and reflective elements where necessary. The sets were built out during retouching for the group shots too.

I chose a semi-wide lens which, when coupled with a touch of in-camera diffusion and those cute little sparkles and pings all help to reinforce the ’60/80s aesthetic and the fun of the new design. It’s not an aesthetic that fits everyone – but for Madre and Chris’s redesign I think it works a treat.