The Engine Room, Derby Riverlights — Hotel & Restaurant Photography

From a menu launch to a monthly retainer

The Engine Room is the bar and restaurant at the Holiday Inn Derby Riverlights; part of the Starboard Hotels group, who franchise and operate a number of hotel properties including Holiday Inn and Marriott venues. It's a proper restaurant in its own right; bold flavours, in-house smoked meats, hand stretched pizzas, a full cocktail menu, the kind of place that takes its food seriously and needs its photography to reflect that.

This one started as a menu launch shoot and turned into an ongoing monthly relationship. Which is usually how the best working arrangements happen.

The menu launch — black and white flatlays

The first brief was straightforward; new menu launching at The Engine Room, needed photography for the website, social media and marketing materials. Clean, commercial, consistent.

We shot on both black and white backgrounds; giving the marketing team flexibility depending on where the images were going. White backgrounds for anything digital or print where the food needs to pop cleanly; black backgrounds for a moodier, more atmospheric feel that suits the restaurant's identity. Both approaches were shot across the key menu items; the smoked meats, the pizzas, the grill dishes and the small plates.

The way I approach this kind of shoot is collaborative from the start; working with both the marketing team and the management on the ground to plan what's needed before anyone picks up a camera. Pinterest boards, a clear shot list, agreement on which dishes are priorities. That planning is what makes a menu launch shoot run efficiently rather than spending the first hour working out what we're doing.

The monthly content — atmosphere, interiors, service

Once the menu launch images were done and landed well, the conversation turned to ongoing content. The Engine Room needed a consistent stream of social media content; atmosphere shots, interiors, service moments, the kind of imagery that makes someone want to book a table rather than just look at a dish.

The monthly retainer works well for this; one hour a month, photo and short video content, planned in advance and shot efficiently. Each month we look at what's coming up; seasonal menu changes, promotions, events, anything worth capturing; and build the session around that. The planning still happens the same way; a conversation with the marketing team and management, a shared reference board, a clear idea of what we're going for before I arrive.

The result is content that feels considered and consistent rather than grabbed and uploaded; which is what separates a hospitality brand that looks like it has its act together from one that clearly doesn't.

Starboard Hotels — and what's coming next

Starboard Hotels operate a number of properties across the UK and I'm currently working with the group on upcoming shoots including the Marriott in Birmingham. It's the kind of relationship I enjoy most; a client who understands the value of consistent photography and has the infrastructure to use it properly.