The Guinness Storehouse, St. James’s Gate

 

Photos of the Guinness Storehouse

This summer I was commissioned by Diageo to photograph the Guinness Storehouse. Located at James’s Gate in Dublin City Centre, it’s one of the most iconic structures in Ireland. In fact it’s the most visited tourist destination in the country. Photographing the building was a dream come through. The lighting is very subdued in the building and shooting was quite challenging.  The client required a full set of marketing photos encompassing architectural photos as well as photos of the visitor experience throughout the Site. Most shooting was carried out of opening hours to have the building free to myself. I used my architectural, fine art and commercial photography experience to produce images which capture the raw character of the building. The guys at Diageo have been amazing and supportive. A dream client. I enjoyed every minute of shooting the place.

Guinness of course is an institution in Ireland and the Storehouse is well worth a visit. Especially the Connoisseur Bar where you can get probably the best tasting Guinness on the planet! Here is a link to the Storehouse in case you want to find out more about it.

For the first time I used a 35mm camera system. Mainly a Sony A7r and Canon Tilt Shift lenses. I also occasionally used a Canon EOS 5D Mark iii when shooting hand held model shots. I must say the Sony A7r was a delight to use. The electronic viewfinder was a revelation coming from shooting with the Hasselblad H3D and it’s terrible screen. The quality of the sensor, the incredible dynamic range and the portability of this tiny camera (and I mean TINY) is amazing. Shooting with the Hasseblad on a view camera would not have been possible on this project, simply because of the short shooting windows I had to photograph the place. Speed and a view camera do not go hand in hand! Plus the subdued lighting suited the Sony better. I could use higher iso when required and the higher dynamic range really suited the subject. I did miss using the view camera shooting the project and was great to get to use it again recently.

 

Old pipework Guinness Storehouse
Old pipework Guinness Storehouse
Old pipework Guinness Storehouse
Old pipework Guinness Storehouse
Model displays Guinness Storehouse
Model displays Guinness Storehouse

Here you can see more photos of the project in my portfolio gallery