WHISKY / DISTILLERY / NARRATIVE / PORTRAIT
Luxury distillery and whisky photography for a private investor coffee table book
Diageo Casks of Distinction
Client: DIAGEO
Project: Casks of Distinction
Sector: Whisky and Spirits
Locations: Speyside, Scotland
Scope: Portraiture · Narrative · Landscape · Distillery Photography
Duration: 10 Days
Diageo commissioned a ten-day photographic project for Casks of Distinction, a private whisky investment programme centred around some of the rarest and most exceptional casks in its Scottish collection.
This whisky photography collection was created for a VIP coffee table book, designed for existing and prospective investors.
The brief required more than attractive whisky imagery. It needed to communicate rarity, craft, provenance and the quiet authority behind the selection of these casks.
The project focused primarily on Speyside whisky distilleries connected to the investment casks, including active sites and historic ghost distilleries no longer in production. The aim was to create a visual story that could carry the weight of the product: rare Scotch whisky held in bonded warehouses, selected through deep expertise and presented to a high-value global clientele.
Production Notes
- Ten-day location project across multiple Scottish distillery environments.
- Schedule shaped around weather, available light, production access and operational restrictions.
- Exterior landscape photography planned for early morning and evening light.
- Interior photography adapted to each distillery’s layout, lighting conditions and production activity.
- Coverage included portraits, process, product, landscape, cask storage, coopering, craft and atmosphere
- Required one consistent visual standard across a broad range of photographic subjects.
- Final image set produced for a premium printed VIP coffee table book for Diageo’s Casks of Distinction programme.
Approach & Consistency
The shoot was structured around the rhythm of the distilleries and the landscape.
Early mornings and evenings were used for exterior and landscape photography, capturing the atmosphere, geography and sense of place around the distilleries. During the day, the focus moved indoors across working production areas, warehouses, still houses, cask storage and controlled interior environments.
The image library covered portraits, bottle shots, casks, coopering, bonded warehouses and key stages of the whisky-making process. Each element had to feel part of the same world: considered, crafted and premium, without becoming over-styled or artificial.
The photographic approach balanced editorial storytelling with luxury brand restraint. The work needed to show the physical reality of whisky production while still carrying the polish expected from a private investor publication.
Outcomes & Use
The final collection was used to produce a VIP coffee table book for Diageo’s Casks of Distinction audience.
The project created a cohesive visual narrative around the casks, the distilleries, the makers and the landscapes behind them. It gave the investment story depth and texture, moving beyond product photography into a broader sense of provenance, scarcity and craft.
For a clientele buying into rare, one-of-a-kind Scotch whisky, the imagery helped make the invisible value visible: time, judgement, location, heritage and the human expertise behind each selected cask.
Commissions for agencies, publications and organisations across editorial, corporate and commercial photography.
Selected clients include:
· Amazon · Apple · Google · BT Group · NHS · Comic Relief · JPMorgan Chase & Co · Lloyds Banking Group · PwC · NatWest Group · Bank of Scotland · Whyte & Mackay · Grant’s · Diageo · Pernod Ricard · OurWhisky Foundation · Sony · Twitch · Polydor Records · Rolling Stone · The Wall Street Journal · Financial Times · The New York Times · The Sunday Times Magazine · Qantas · British Airways · Boeing · Toyota · Volvo · Bentley · World Health Organisation · Getty · BP · Nike · Scottish Rugby · Runner’s World · Everllence · BAE ·
Much of my work is protected by client confidentiality or privilege.
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