Painted, Plated & Photographed

This personal food photography project was developed with Annelee Joubert. We handled every aspect ourselves, from painting the backgrounds to preparing and styling the food. The session focused on color, texture, and handcrafted details, resulting in a playful still-life shot featuring fresh pasta, vintage forks, herbs, and chili.

Simple, tactile, and fully handcrafted.

Behind scenes

Chupa Chups — Colour, Chaos & Crafted Details

Built for Flavour

This Chupa Chups project was one of those shoots where the fun really lay in the making.
The brief gave us room to play with colour, texture, movement, product, styling and a bit of controlled chaos. We wanted the work to feel bright, young and energetic, yet crafted — little moments that felt alive, not just products against a background.
A big part of the shoot was building the world around the cans. Backgrounds were painted and sprayed by hand, sets were constructed, surfaces were tested, and all the special effects were developed practically. No AI was used — just real materials, testing, sticky fingers and a fair amount of problem-solving.

For me, this job sat right in that sweet spot between photography, set building and practical effects. I handled the photography, videography, set design, art direction, special effects, background construction, editing and video editing. Very hands-on from start to finish.
The product work needed to keep the Chupa Chups cans looking fresh and bold, while still giving the images personality. We worked with ice, foam, condensation, lollipops, bubblegum-style textures and colour blocking — always making sure the product stayed the hero.
The portraits and lifestyle moments brought a different energy: expressive, playful and a little nostalgic, with a Gen Z feel that was loose rather than too perfect.
The motion pieces followed the same idea — short, tactile clips showing cans turning, liquid moving, textures shifting and small lifestyle moments that gave the campaign more rhythm for Instagram and social use.
A huge part of making this work came down to the team.
Annelee Joubert worked across styling, the art department and creative development — helping shape the look, test ideas, taste elements, build backgrounds and pull the visual world together.
Sharon Diers, our packs specialist and an amazing friend, brought her usual level of care and obsession to the products. Sharon works with me on most of my pack jobs, and she is brilliant. She always goes the extra mile, and we often develop and test new techniques together.
Digital technician Kirsten Kelsey Davis kept the workflow tight on set, while Tatyana Levana captured behind-the-scenes video and stills.
Models Lehlohonolo M and Zoe Myburgh brought the perfect energy to the campaign — expressive, playful and completely in the world of the shoot.
This was a job built from colour, sugar, spray paint, product tricks and a lot of testing.
Exactly the kind of chaos I enjoy.

Behind scenes

Team

Styling/art department / creative development: Annelee Joubert
Packs specialist: Sharon Diers
Digital technician: Kirsten Kelsey Davis
BTS video & pictures: Tatyana Levana
Models: Lehlohonolo M and Zoe Myburgh

Cookies consent

We use cookies to personalize your experience. By using our website, you agree to our Terms and conditions and privacy policy.