Beau’s All Natural: Editorial Case Study

Hey everyone! I decided to shoot an editorial case study to promote myself in the editorial world, as most of my work doesn’t translate to that industry. All I had in mind was using Beau's 'All Natural Brewing' slogan, and pairing it with one of my strengths, which is working with natural lighting and playing up colour tonality. I grabbed a couple of bro’s (Thanks Tom & Jeremy!) and headed to another friend's barn (Vanderzaag’s, you’re the bomb) this morning for sunrise, to give a low sun end-of-day look to the images. The idea was shoot more candidly, and shoot more instinctually. They were shot and edited in 2.5 hours, and had no retouching except one label fix. Enjoy!

Anchor Brewing Mugshots

I shot these in the early winter, and finally had an idea for how to style them! I decided to discard the rules of traditional
commercial imagery and make them look real old, mugshot style. Enjoy!

Yuletide Beer (and Liquor) - A very risky Christmas promo!

On Dec 2 & 3 - I decided to promote my photography in a new way. I drove around, visiting 7 different advertising agencies in Toronto, ON, who represent 7 different alcohol brands. With no appointment or any notice, my assistant (Mark Butterworth) and I went in, said hello, and asked to set up a compact studio using only Christmas lights, to take a photo of their product as a Christmas gift. All were very receptive and very excited to see what this was all about. All products were bought on the shelf at the LCBO, and all lighting was bought at Dollarama. Total cost to build the set was $50. All products were lit with nothing but Christmas lights. We set up, retouched, printed and tore down within 30 minutes per location. On the way out, I left behind a printed photo in a frame (shown below), a DVD with a digital copy, and a handful of business cards wrapped in twine. It was a great time meeting new people and seeing familiar faces. Special thanks to John St, Grip Limited, Anomaly, Grey, The Hive, Rethink, and DentsuBos - Happy Holidays! Check out the video below!

The leave behind (Agency: John St. / Client: Wiser’s)

The set (Agency: Anomaly / Client: Budweiser)

Rogue Voodoo Doughnut

iStout

Harp Lager Motion

Harp Lager Motion by John Butler from John Butler on Vimeo.

Guinness Motion

Guinness Motion by John Butler from John Butler on Vimeo.

Peroni Test Shot

This shot was taken while I was setting up. It is window lit, with one reflector, and the shot was handheld. I haven't altered the image at all, this is a screen capture of the raw file. This kind of shot really makes me think of all the commercial images I could do without my strobe set up. When the right light is available, why not take advantage of it?

The final shot did use strobe, and it wasn't until I was in post that I saw this image (I was shooting for angles and lighting the set later). I've always been unsure of the day lit studio when it comes to table top, but I'm going to experiment a bit with it and get some broader results. Below is the final image.

welcome.

Hi everyone, welcome to the official blog of johnbutlerphoto!

Here I will be making posts about upcoming projects, behind the scenes on shoots, final images and tear sheets. Formalities over.

In the last couple of weeks, I've been working on my drinks portfolio. Some of you may no me as a beer photographer, while others may know me as a portrait and lifestyle photographer. Well I have found my focus (for now), and will be working my tail off to expand this part of my business.

the[focus]:
My focus as a photographer is beer, alcohol, wine.. bottle and table top photography. Some people have responded with, "Duhh!" - but it takes time to truly find out the difference between what is passion and what is fleeting. I gave the beer thing a couple of years to test the ground and truly see if I could do beer photography for the rest of my life. The answer is yes. I love photographing metal and glass. Tall boys and bottles. I also love the idea of getting artistic with it, and not staying within the confines of the commercial market. For this summer I have several concepts planned out, and I can't wait to get started on them!

I of course do much more than bottle and table top photography - and I will post on here some of my other work too - but I am maintaining my focus and showing people through johnbutlerphoto.com what I love to do.

Some of my clients to date: Labatt, Alexander Keith's, Tequila Tromba, Muskoka Brewery, Flying Monkeys Brewery