I’ve wondered for a while now if tea is going to achieve the same status that coffee has enjoyed over the recent years. Or whether our national obsession with a cheap cup will hold it back. Coffee still has an element of exotic charm to it; tea still comes in a ‘builders’ variety. Tim and Sebastian, who setup Pukka Herbs a decade ago, have laid a solid foundation with their herbal tea range. I photographed the pair last month for a feature in association with HSBC for The Daily Telegraph’s magazine following their recent win in the South West heat of the HSBC Global Connections initiative.
For the lighting I wanted something that felt more like a lifestyle shoot, so nice and bright without any heavy lighting style. It was a beautiful sunny day so the lights were adding to this rather than battling it. There’s an Alien Bee head with a large octobox camera right to the front of Tim and Sebastian with single Elinchrom DX One head bouncing off a white wall behind them. A second Alien Bee, with an umbrella softbox, is camera left behind them both. Lastly there’s another DX One head at the back in the kitchen with a large umbrella acting as fill for the rest of the room.