Food Photographer Brighton | Design Superheroes

01 The craft

Photography that makes food irresistible

Appetite is visual, and it's decided in about a second. The difference between a dish that sells and a dish that scrolls past is light, angle and timing, not a more expensive camera. I shoot fast and natural, working with the kitchen rather than around it, so the food looks like it tastes.

1

Light that flatters food

Natural light where the venue allows, controlled where it doesn't. Steam, gloss and texture kept alive, grease and glare kept out.

2

Styled with the chef

Plates styled to look like your best service, not a food-stylist fantasy your kitchen can't repeat on a Friday night.

3

Shot for the destination

Square for the grid, tight for Deliveroo tiles, wide for the website hero: every dish captured in the crops it will actually live in.

02 The edge

Industry experience as a Brighton food influencer

Since 2015 I’ve photographed and reviewed Brighton’s restaurants as Brighton Food Boy. That’s not a side fact, it’s the sell: I’ve spent a decade learning exactly which images make thousands of people save a post, tag a friend and book a table.

You get that instinct pointed at your menu, plus a working knowledge of how dishes photograph, which ones will carry a feed, and what delivery platforms and diners respond to in each format.

Gary Simmons - Brighton Food Boy — Gary Simmons · @brightonfoodboyFig. 01

03 Uses

Ideal for

One shoot, working across every channel you own. Licensing is simple: the images are yours to use.

1

Social media

Grid posts and stories that stop the scroll, shot in the crops each placement needs.

2

Delivery platforms

Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat tiles that win the tap, sized and lit for tiny thumbnails.

3

Menus

Hero dishes shot to work in print, feeding straight into my menu design service.

4

Your website

Heroes, galleries and dish imagery sized for fast pages, ready for your restaurant website.

5

Press & listings

High-resolution images ready for journalists, guides and award entries, because press requests always arrive "by Friday".

6

Interiors & people

The room, the team and the details that sell the whole experience, not just the plate.

04 Recent photoshoots

Food photography portfolio

Bincho Yakitori photoshoot — Bincho Yakitori, Brighton05

05 Social content

Content shoots for social media

A shoot built around your content calendar rather than your menu: a batch of images in the formats social actually eats, so there's something worth posting on a Tuesday in February. I shoot the content. Running accounts and cutting reels is a different craft, and there are people in Brighton who do it properly, so ask and I'll make the introduction.

1

Batch-shot for the calendar

Enough frames from one session to cover weeks of posting, so the feed stays fed without booking a shoot every fortnight.

2

Framed for vertical

4:5 and 9:16 shot as standard alongside the square crop, with headroom left for text and stickers instead of a landscape frame cropped down afterwards.

3

Dishes, room and team

The plate sells the dish; the room and the people sell the visit. A content shoot covers all three in the same session.

Photography earns most when it lands somewhere designed for it: menus built around your hero dishes, and a website that puts appetite to work on bookings. Both live under my hospitality design umbrella, and if the wider identity needs tightening first, branding is here too. Yes, you can book the lot as one project.

07 Questions

Before you book a shoot

How does a shoot work?

We agree a shot list built around your menu and channels, then I shoot on location in your venue, usually in a half-day or full-day session timed around service. Edited images arrive within a few days, sized for every platform on the list.

How much does food photography cost?

Shoots are priced as fixed half-day and full-day sessions, with the shot list agreed upfront so there are no surprises. Tell me roughly how many dishes and which channels via the contact page and the quote lands within a working day.

Who owns the images?

You do. Full usage rights for your marketing across web, print, social and delivery platforms, with no recurring licensing fees.

Can you run our social accounts or make reels?

No. I shoot the content and hand it over ready to post. Account management and video editing are their own specialisms, and Brighton has people who do them properly, so tell me what you need and I will introduce you to someone I would trust with my own account.

Do we need to close the venue for the shoot?

No. I shoot around service and use the venue’s quiet hours. A corner table, decent window light and a kitchen that can plate one dish at a time is all it takes.

Do you travel beyond Brighton?

Yes. Brighton and Sussex are the regular patch, and shoots further afield just carry travel costs. If the food’s good, I’m rarely hard to persuade.

Still have a question? Book a quick 30-minute call

08 Next step

Let's make people hungry

Tell me about your venue, your menu and where the images need to work, and I’ll send over a shot-list suggestion and a fixed quote within a working day.

Arrange a free chat Book a 30-min call

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Food Photography for Restaurants, Cafes & Bars in Brighton