In 2020, I was photographing a company in London that specialises in large-format luxury printing.
As my work usually lives online, seeing photographs printed at a large scale for commercial use was a thrill.
I decided there and then that I needed a project of my own that would end up on paper.
As a food photographer, the part of the job I love most is working with so many talented people, and I had been wondering how my work could celebrate that. The answer was obvious: a collaboration with L’Enclume, one of my favourite restaurant clients, which held two Michelin stars at the time of the project (it now has three). The restaurant is located in Cumbria, a beautiful part of England, and I wondered whether photographing the staff and landscape together could help reflect the food served at L’Enclume.
Initially, I took the idea to Irene, the owner of Studio Meraki, a specialist marketing agency that works closely with L’Enclume, and she was very enthusiastic. The timing also turned out to be perfect: the following year marked the restaurant’s 20th anniversary.
The final concept was to take a single dish — roast gem lettuce, hen of the woods, fermented mushroom juice and elderflower — and use it as the basis for a project that would celebrate everyone working at L’Enclume, from the person who washes the pots to Simon Rogan, the chef-patron. Along with prop stylist Lydia McPherson, I planned 17 shots, each in a location near the restaurant and each with its own narrative. It wasn’t only the kitchen team we wanted to celebrate, but also reservations, accounts, housekeeping, marketing and maintenance. The shots were often tongue-in-cheek: in one, three chefs can be seen foraging on a cliff for lettuce.
Working with the brilliant designer Mateusz Piekarski, we settled on a format of 297 × 420 mm, folding out to 297 × 820 mm. That gave me room to go to town on the landscapes while sometimes keeping the people small in the frame but still recognisable.
Although I was clear in my own mind about what I was doing, almost nobody else was! To the credit of everyone involved, especially Simon, they trusted me implicitly and gave me all the help I needed.
The first challenge was the weather. For many of the shoots, we had torrential rain and strong winds, though thankfully that isn’t always obvious in the finished images. The people were lit individually or in small groups with a large Elinchrom octabox, which made building the images technically demanding, especially the group shots. In the introductory shot of Simon, on the hill overlooking the village where his restaurant is located, my assistant Lisa and Lydia, the prop stylist, held on to the light with all their strength, battling the wind.
I even managed to get myself and my team into one shot, recreating a photoshoot in a tidal waterway, with the stylist in a small boat surrounded by her props. The most challenging shot was the staff briefing, recreated at the nearby racecourse. The team had only about 20 minutes to spare before evening service, the weather was awful, and one member of staff was even on a horse. The composition is pretty much as it was in-camera, but with only one light, it took about eight frames to get everyone properly lit.
The final shot, of the finished plate of food, had a lasting effect. It led me to experiment more with working outdoors for L’Enclume, and we have since built an amazing collection of food images shot in streams, rivers, forests, trees, hedges and other natural environments.
We had a huge amount of fun creating One Dish, and I’m grateful to everyone who took part. The reaction from many of the team afterwards was, “Ah, that’s what you were doing!” and I hope it will live on for many as a reminder of that period in their careers.
The printed books are available to buy not only at L’Enclume but also at Simon’s other restaurants, allowing customers to take one away as a souvenir of their meal and, hopefully, a sense of all the brilliant people behind the amazing food!
About Cristian Barnett
Cristian Barnett has been a food and drink photographer for over 25 years. Although he specialises in working with hotels and restaurants, he has also photographed nearly 100 cookbooks and worked with numerous magazines and brands.
Based just outside London, Cristian works not only in the UK but also internationally, having had the opportunity to travel extensively for his photography assignments.
In recent years, he has returned to analogue photography and has begun building a new client base of individuals and businesses seeking imagery that reflects their unique brand identity and ethos. [Official Website]
