The White Swan, Shawell — Restaurant Photography
Our restaurant. Every season.
This one is different to every other project on this site; because The White Swan was ours.
In 2020 I joined my chef partner Rory in running The White Swan in Shawell, Leicestershire; a long established Michelin recommended, 2 AA Rosette restaurant that Rory had been part of since 2012. I came in on the operations side; front of house, management, the day to day of running a serious kitchen and dining room. And somewhere alongside all of that, I started photographing it properly.
The access you get when it's your own place is something no client brief can replicate. I was there for every menu change, every seasonal tasting menu launch, every quiet Tuesday morning before service when the light through the dining room windows was doing something worth capturing. I knew every dish before it was plated. I knew what Rory was trying to say with each one.
Natural light, real food, no fuss
Everything here was shot on natural light; no studio setup, no artificial lighting, no over-styled backdrops that bear no relation to how the food actually arrives at the table. Just the light that was there, the dishes as they were plated, and enough time to get it right without holding anybody up.
The White Swan had two distinct menus running alongside each other; a seasonal tasting menu that changed with what was available and what Rory wanted to cook, and a bistro menu that gave the kitchen more room to breathe on quieter services. Both needed photography that felt considered without feeling staged. Food at this level has a confidence to it; it doesn't need propping up with props and tweezers. It just needs the right light and someone who understands what they're looking at.
What the images were used for
Website, social media, menu design, press. When you're running a restaurant with a Michelin recommendation and two AA Rosettes, the photography needs to do the same work as the food; tell people this is somewhere worth going to before they've ever sat down.
A note on shooting your own restaurant
There's something slightly strange about photographing a place you're also responsible for running. You're never quite off duty. But it also means you never phone it in; every image matters because you're invested in it beyond the professional. I think that shows in the work.
Since stepping back from the restaurants this is the body of work I'm most proud of; not because it's the most commercial, but because it's the most honest. Every dish in these images was made by someone who cared deeply about it. My job was just to make sure that came through in the photograph.
If you're a restaurant looking for photography that treats your food with the same respect your kitchen does; let's have a chat →
Or if you're curious about how I work; read more about me → or see pricing →