Product Photography: Sword and Stone

Last year we were sent on a photography mission by Tim, the founder of Sword and Stone. Tim’s aim with the brand is creating exciting and edgy (pun intended) high-quality products for budding home chefs! We were lucky enough to photograph his latest product, codenamed “The Spitfire”. We wanted to create a range of environments to show the knife in all its glory.

The Spitfire Chef’s knife in all its glory.

Creating the scenes

Product photography in Kent

Autumnal Veg

We decided to make the autumnal scene fairly rustic looking, so we popped down to the Goods Shed in Canterbury to hunt for some truly earthy looking and photograph worthy veg. We picked out some lovely looking squashes, radishes, shallots and pears, which all had lovely colours and textures, perfect for the scene.

Canterbury product photographer

The Beach bar

Moving away from the moody scene we wanted something more fresh and summery; an image which invoked the feeling of a beach bar or warm summer afternoon spent in your garden with cocktails and fresh salad.

Kent product photographer

The Christmas dinner

Tim also wanted some shots of the knife in action. This one was based around Christmas dinner preparation. We went for a moody atmosphere with a main focus on the knife.

Kent product photographers

The New Year’s party

As the knife is also a show-off piece we felt a dinner party setting was perfect to help illustrate this. Orange and an old-fashioned cocktail felt like the perfect props for this winter evening party scene.

The launch of the knife!

Canterbury photographer reviews

We wish Tim all the best with Sword and Stone in 2021!


Canterbury photography products

The new knife has now officially launched!

be found featuring the images over on the Sword and Stone website: https://shopify.swordandstone.co.uk/products/spitfire-chefs-knife

Many thanks for checking out this blog!

We are Block Art Media! A Kent based photography and video production house with a passion for image making. We help brands, artists and businesses on their journey by taking their content to the next level.

GRANDMA’S HOUSE: THEMED PHOTO EVENING

The days were getting shorter now. Marco stood with his group of friends and remembered his grandmother. It was weird being in her house now, it felt empty. Gone were the cooking smells and the large pot of apple and cinnamon tea she used to always make this time of year. Everyone remembered her fondly. Marco hadn’t felt an empty feeling in the house for a long time. The attic was the last place they had to clear.

He had lived with his grandmother since he was 13. His mother had been sectioned, he didn’t fully know why, his grandmother had only briefly spoken to him about it. She had told him his mother had obsessions. He remembered she had shown him drawings once, when he was young, of an old man. She was frantic, asking if he had ever seen him, it scared him, she went away not long after. He had often thought her delusions where because of the death of his grandfather, her father. They still didn’t know how it had happened, no one was ever found out. It was a subject his grandmother had never talked to him about.

Marco and his friends Mia, Arthur, Carlos, Paula and Hrista entered the attic via a dodgy looking set of stairs.

They unlocked the attic door and went inside.

The first thing to hit Marco was the smell of musty, damp air. The room was dark, Paula tried to turn on the light to no avail. Marco lit a candle, he had never been in the attic before.

The attic was empty, all except one crate that sat in the middle of the room. Marco could see an old cuddly toy poking out the top.

The gang moved toward the crate with caution. This was weird.

“Who’s stuff is this Marco?” said Paula

“I don’t know, it’s not my mums...it might have belonged to my grandmother's first child,”

“Oh where is he now, won’t he want to come to the funeral?” asked Carlos

“No, he, no one knows what happened to him. He disappeared when my grandad died. He was only 8 I think. My nan didn’t talk about him much.”

“Oh I’m sorry man, my bad”

“No it’s ok, I don’t really know anything about him.”

“We don’t have to look in it Marco.” said Arthur

“No let’s look inside, I’m curious.”

They turned the crate over. Two books, a cuddly toy and several drawings fell out. They were scribbled child's drawings, but Marco could make them out. He recognised them, they were familiar to him. He flicked through the pieces of paper. The drawings were of an old man, all the same. He had a beard and scruffy hair, he was wearing what looked like a jacket.

“Bit weird.” said Mia.

“I know these drawings, the man, my mum, once, she drew him,”

“What?”

“She drew this man, she showed me them once. She asked if I had seen him.”

“Who is it?” asked Paula.

“I don’t know. This is freaking me out.”

“Is it your grandad?” said Hrista

“No I’ve seen pictures of him, he never had a beard.”

“Your mum and her older brother drew the same old man? Was he some freaky dude from down the street?” said Carlos

“No, this is the weird thing, my mum and her brother never met. He went missing before she was born. My nan was pregnant with my mum when it all happened.”

“How did they both draw the same man? This is freaking me out a bit,” said Mia.

“I don’t know.”

The gang looked through the old books.

5 - The Find.jpg

“Guys, there’s something weird written on the back page of this kids book,” said Mia.

“What is it?” said Arthur.

“I don’t know, I can’t read the writing, it’s in latin. Paula you did latin what does it say?”

Paula started to read.

“Absconde liberi…”

“Absconde liberi, hide the children, et questus tenebris, it’s getting dark. Hide the children, it’s getting dark.”  

Suddenly all of their candles went out. It was dark, the only light coming in from a streetlight outside.

Marco hugged onto his girlfriend Hrista, he was afraid of the dark.

“It’ll be ok,” said Hrista, “I’ll find the candle.”

Marco screamed!

“It’s the man, its the man from the drawings!”

Behind Arthur and Carlos stood an old man with a beard in a jacket, just like the drawings.

His face was pale. His eyes, although sunken, were piercing, staring right at them.

Arthur Hrista and Carlos turned around.

Suddenly the candle went out and 3 sets of blood curdling screams rang through the groups ears.

“My eyes! my eyes!” They heard Arthur shriek.

“Quick someone get the candle,” shouted Paula

“What’s happened to Arthur, Hrista and Carlos!?” shouted Mia.

Carlos, Arthur and Hrista came out of the shadows, their eyes were sunken, they looked burned, their skin was pale. They came towards Mia, Paula and Marco.

“Guys, guys, are you ok?” wailed Marco.

Carlos, Hrista and Arthur let out a loud howl, coming toward the cowering group of three. The old man stood behind them.

“He’s turned them into demons!” shouted Marco.

“What’s happened to their eyes!?” screamed Mia.

As they reached forward life vanished from their faces. They collapsed onto the ground. Marco, Mia and Paula were frozen in shock. The old man demon laid next to the bodies of their friends.

“Isti sunt filii liberos meos.” the old man demon whispered.

“What did he say Paula?” asked Marco.

“Um,” Paula was closed to tears. “He said these are my children.”

“His children?”

The demon man went as still as a corpse.

“Are they alive?” asked Mia.

“They’re not breathing.” weeped Paula.

CREDITS

We host photography meet-up evenings in and around the city of Canterbury. Every time we meet up there is a different theme or area of photography which we explore. This one was in the theme of a 1980s horror flick.

The story and the images are a combined effort of several local photographers, actors, actresses and models. They were taken during one of our photography meet ups hosted over at Pork & Co. In Canterbury.

Each photographer was read the story written by Peter Marsh and then directed the actors/models to pose in their vision for each scene.

STORY & POSTER ART

Peter Marsh - IG PAGE

MODELS

Duncan Calem, Hrista Karapeneva, Paula Kurowska, Mia Sinclair, Carlos Agualusa, Marco Namor, Arthur Palmer.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Keith M Franklin - IG PAGE

Louise Gibbens - IG PAGE

Kamila Lobuzinska - IG PAGE

Peter Sladen - IG PAGE

Meredith Ann - IG PAGE, WEBSITE

THROUGH MY LENS: HOT NUMBERS COFFEE

A KAMILA COFFEE REVIEW

I didn’t have much knowledge of Hot Numbers Coffee, but when my friend Phil told me that he was moving to Cambridge and was working there, I did my research. He suggested going to their Instagram page and said that : “The interior of the place is just beautiful for photography,” it sure looked like it. Phil worked as a barista at Lost Sheep Coffee in Canterbury at that time – my favourite spot for a morning coffee. Then he left. By coincidence, a few weeks later my friend Elina invited me to Bishop Stortford, when I arrived she suggested going to Cambridge. I googled the postcode for Hot Numbers and discovered that they had two shops in Cambridge, not just one. I didn’t have a choice, I had to visit them both! The first one we went to was located on Gwydir Street, it was a lovely place with a modern feel to it. We ordered an espresso, filter coffee and some food. I have never tried better kimchi, which came alongside whipped feta and eggs – amazing! That plus my Rwandan filter, I was in heaven. After that, we headed downtown around 6pm over to the second shop. I had already drank 3 coffees by then so I only treated myself to a flat white to go. I loved the people, the atmosphere, and the funky feel of the place. I will have to go back there again to see Phil and explore their coffee more!

See:

https://www.facebook.com/HotNumbersCoffee/

http://hotnumberscoffee.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/hotnumberscoffee/

Photos: Canon AE-1 on Kodak Portra 400 35 mm film