Behind the Scenes: Planning a Multi-Restaurant Lifestyle Photography Shoot at Bloomberg Arcade, London

How Raccoon delivered a restaurant and lifestyle photography campaign across 10 venues while managing production, logistics and live trading environments

Creating compelling restaurant photography is about much more than capturing beautiful food. For hospitality brands and destination venues, imagery needs to communicate atmosphere, personality and experience — showing not just what a space looks like, but what it feels like to be there.

When Raccoon was commissioned by ANM Communications to create a new collection of lifestyle photography for Bloomberg Arcade in London, the brief was to showcase the diverse restaurant offering within the destination and create a versatile library of images for social media and marketing activity.

The project involved photographing 10 restaurants, including Vino Teca, Caravan and Brigadiers, while working around busy venues, live service and unpredictable British weather.

Planning a Restaurant Photography Shoot

Successful restaurant photography starts long before the camera comes out.

For this project, Raccoon managed the production process from the initial planning stages through to final delivery. This included a detailed site recce, creative planning, mood boards and scheduling considerations to ensure every venue could be captured effectively.

A key part of the preparation was understanding how each restaurant operated throughout the day — identifying the best opportunities for photography while ensuring minimal disruption to staff, customers and service.

With multiple venues involved, careful scheduling was essential. Each location needed to feel authentic while still creating a consistent visual style across the full image collection.

Managing Weather Challenges and Production Changes

Outdoor and location-based photography always comes with variables, and weather played a significant role in this production.

Due to challenging forecasts, the shoot date was moved twice to ensure the right conditions could be achieved. For lifestyle photography, natural light and atmosphere are critical, particularly when capturing the relationship between interiors, outdoor spaces, food and people.

Rather than compromising the creative vision, the team worked closely with the client to find the right opportunity — ensuring the final images reflected Bloomberg Arcade at its best.

When the shoot finally took place, beautiful sunshine provided the perfect conditions for capturing the energy and character of the destination.

Creating High-Quality Content in Busy Restaurants

One of the biggest considerations for restaurant photography is balancing the creative requirements with the reality of a working venue.

The Bloomberg Arcade restaurants remained open during the shoot, meaning the production team needed to work efficiently within high-footfall environments.

To support a smooth shooting experience, Raccoon provided additional production support through a lighting assistant and digital operator. This allowed the photographer to focus on creativity while maintaining an efficient workflow, managing lighting adjustments and ensuring images could be reviewed quickly throughout the day.

This behind-the-scenes preparation is often what makes the difference between a good shoot and a seamless one.

Bringing Restaurant Photography to Life with Lifestyle Elements

Great hospitality photography is not just about dishes and interiors — it is about people and experience.

To create a more engaging and authentic collection of images, Bloomberg and ANM team members were used as lifestyle talent, helping bring each restaurant environment to life.

The aim was to capture natural moments that reflected how guests experience the spaces: enjoying food, socialising, discovering new venues and enjoying the atmosphere.

By combining carefully planned compositions with authentic interactions, the final imagery provided Bloomberg Arcade and its restaurant partners with content that could be used across social media channels and marketing campaigns.

Delivering Commercial Photography Across Multiple Venues

The final shoot covered 10 restaurants within Bloomberg Arcade, delivering a comprehensive collection of lifestyle, food and hospitality imagery.

The project was completed on schedule, with the team successfully working around live restaurant operations while maintaining a high standard of creative output.

Raccoon has worked with ANM Communications for over 10 years, supporting them across a wide range of photography and video projects. Our experience managing complex productions allows us to deliver consistent results whether working on a single location or multi-site campaigns.

Why Production Planning Matters in Restaurant Photography

For hospitality brands, photography is often the first impression customers have of a venue. Strong imagery needs to do more than document a space — it needs to tell a story.

At Raccoon, we combine creative expertise with production management, helping clients source the right photographers, coordinate logistics, manage teams and deliver high-quality content across locations.

Whether you need restaurant photography in London, hospitality photography across the UK, or a global content production partner, our team can manage every stage of the process.

Looking for restaurant or lifestyle photography for your venue?
Raccoon provides professional food, drink and hospitality photography with experienced photographers and production support across London and internationally.