On my way home from Costa Rica I had a transfer in Amsterdam. An hour before I boarded my plane in Costa Rica I had the idea to find a food photography studio to visit in Amsterdam during my 8 hour lay over as I had time to burn! I managed to email Studio M on the slow wifi and when I landed 13 hours later I had a reply, so I headed over to Studio M on the metro. The studio is based on the outskirts of the city on an industrial estate. I was greeted by Oliver and Wimer who run the studio, they gave me a tour around and we did a mini lighting workshop. Of all the photography studios I have visited and all the photographers I’ve met I always learn something new that I can put into practice in my own work, and Studio M was no exception. We spoke more about reflecting light and directing light using specialist bulbs. We then went to the edit suite and discussed retouching. At Studio M a lot of specialist retouching is done which goes beyond colour correction and retouching. They take on commissions such as cereal box covers, where the cereal bowl has a big splash and bits of cereal are flying out of the milk… or a glass of coke with ice flying out of the glass with a big splash of drink following it. These shots are created by layering a multitude of shots. Each element of the image has to be created in the studio individually. Even the shape of the glass or bowl has to be considered and crafted specially to get the perfect splash and movement of the liquid. Whenever I’ve seen photography such as that on the front of a cereal box, I had always assumed it was a computer generated image, I never realised it was actually created in real life and captured by a camera. I’ve never met a photographer who creates work in this way and the studio left me feeling inspired about where I could take my photography in the future.
Check out the incredible work being made at Studio M www.studiom.site