Leeds branding and product photography – Lorna Gilbert Ceramics

N O W  P L A Y I N G : ‘Balloons’ by Dustin O’Halloran // It’s been a while since I dropped in here. Blogging is definitely something I thought I would do a lot of, but in reality is moved between to do lists every week. Life though.

I thought I’d kick off the 2025 entries by talking about my session with Lorna Gilbert, which was just such a privilege to work on, and a big reminder about how partnership in the creative process really can make it fly. Lorna is ceramicist and potter based in Leeds who makes the most wonderful stoneware products - pop over and read about her here. 

I always talk about the importance of connection when working together on branding sessions, and as soon as we met for the first time, I knew I wanted to work with Lorna, so I was really excited when she booked me to spend the day with her at her home studio in Leeds. I was telling her when I arrived that I got this massive wave of nostalgia driving past Roundhay park and thinking of being there growing up and we just didn’t really stop talking after that.

The focus of our session was to update Lorna’s product photography, and we’d had some long conversations about what this might look like. We’d shared images and ideas and that put us in a great position to have an overall structure to the session. Lorna had set up a whole props table and there were so many gorgeous things to weave into the shots. We focused on photographing her pots, mugs and vases throughout the seasons and found real flow bouncing ideas and chasing light around the room. We utilised living spaces to create scenes – if you’re thinking about product photography but not sure where to start, one thing to remember is that it’s amazing what you can create in small spaces.

We then moved to Lorna’s outside studio which I’d been particularly looking forward to. Ever since completing my MFA I’ve had a really deep curiosity about the process of making and using materials to create new things. Watching people at work fascinates me, and it’s one of the main reasons why I really enjoy branding photography sessions. We spend such a lot of time working, but we rarely get to see ourselves deep in that, doing whatever it is that we do.

We were shooting for around five hours which absolutely flew by, and the best bit was Lorna sending me off back to York with a huge chunk of homemade bread. If there’s one way directly to my heart, it’s fresh warm bread.

And to finish, here’s what Lorna had to say about working with me…

“Working with Sarah has been such a great experience - from start to finish. Sarah is enthusiastic and talented and the communication, from our first zoom chat right through to the editing process has been fantastic. I would highly recommend her for your branding shoot. I can’t wait to work with Sarah again in the future.”

If you’re looking to work on your branding photography, and you’re not sure where to start, then you can download my branding brochure here and you can drop me a message to chat.

Let’s get started on your project.