In-house catering

Eating properly while doing this job can be a real challenge on a limited budget. My days can involve driving hundreds of miles with limited choices of food served up by dire motorway service stations designed exclusively for fat families and coach trips. I have the opportunity to prep some sort of packed lunch before setting off, but unless I do an expensive daily shop, my youngest consumes everything within a day or two, meaning there’s nothing suitable remaining for me.

I recently did a full day shoot capturing all the empty rooms in six different new-build houses on a brand-new development in Northumberland. The brief was to photograph each room from various viewpoints so that the resulting images of properly exposed white boxes could be used to add virtual staging elements in their marketing efforts. They’d already generated CGI frames before the houses were finished, but these were to be shots of the real thing.

Shooting six “white box” properties on the same day is a challenge. It’s a boring grind, and you just need to keep going while being consistent. It’s possible to become hungry, dehydrated, and consequently lose concentration, so some form of sustenance is essential. The picture above shows my efforts - a bit of egg mayonnaise, a Pepperami, and a flask of coffee. This was wolfed down in 30 seconds and did the job. Unfortunately, the egg concoction might have been left a bit too long in the car, as I had a severe bout of the Beadnell Bots later in the day.

The glamour of it eh?