Happy to participate in the great cause.
Just picked up my recent work titled Coffee is Life printed on a photographic paper quality, mounted and framed.
The work will be exhibited and available for sale as a part of The Coffee Art Project at The London Coffee Festival 28-30 March at the Old Truman Brewery-check the festival page for venue and ticket details.
Fifty percent of the profit will go towards Project Waterfall, the charitable component of UK Coffee Week. It aims to raise more than £1 million to deliver safe drinking water and sanitation projects for up to 100,000 people, specifically in coffee-producing countries in Africa.
I had the idea in my head for some time, but very limited time to execute it.
After a reminder email, I’ve pulled myself together and organized the photo shoot in my home studio.
I started setting up the scene creating a background with a roll of black velvet material casually shaped, so the light reflects on the creases. It added an element of elegance.
Then I carefully placed the coffee beans inside the paper filter, which I shaped as a cone and put inside the Turkish coffee pot called Ibrik Cezve, I got as a present from my sister travelling to Istanbul. I didn’t want the beans to touch a freshly washed pot, as this would make them unusable till the next morning grinding – simply not same quality. I’ve then got a warmly toned small bag as a basis for the pot and a few loose beans resting on it. As a final element, I’ve added a 20s style hat, which I got in Camden a few months ago as a prop for a different photo shoot. The hat is made of hundreds of red beads and is a gem in my prop cupboard, being a versatile and useful piece enlivening the simplest of outfits. The reason for adding this is, the red symbolizes blood, blood is life, and both are being invigorated by the very coffee you consume.
I used a few lights for my concept and photographed it in different takes and angles, each focusing on a different element of the scene. Afterwards, I was working on Lightroom and Photoshop to edit and finish the photo shoot. I delivered it to the Coffee Art Project staff: http://www.coffeeartproject.com/, who will take care of a display. You may see the work live at the festival, more info at the organizer website: https://www.londoncoffeefestival.com/