Lidl – Craft Beer Campaign

A rooftop terrace in Cape Town, a few friends, an evening nobody wants to end. After half an hour you'd forgotten it was a cast. The chemistry was so good that the shoot really felt like friends getting together. For Lidl's craft beer campaign I photographed people and drinks images. The mood is real – and the beer is still always right in the shot.

People and drinks images from one shoot: scenes for the campaign, plus details of glass, bottle and foam for retail and social. Same light, same mood – so that everything fits together in the end.

This wasn't a shoot on the side of a film production but a dedicated campaign shoot in Cape Town, with full time for the images. I've shot many of my campaigns there, because light and locations work almost all year round. The images were used for Lidl's big craft beer campaign, internationally as well.

Beer in a picture means two jobs that like to contradict each other: the scene should feel light and real, the product should look perfect. The foam has to hold, the label has to stay readable, even while someone is laughing and raising a glass. That's why the light is ready before the cast arrives, and the timing belongs to the people – not the other way round.