I photograph what people eat and what they drink, from a base in Marseille, for restaurants, hotels and spirits brands. Studio in the 4th arrondissement, no travel charge across the city or out to Aix, Cassis and Toulon.
In Marseille, “food photographer” covers three jobs that have no reason to be confused. A restaurant that wants its menu photographed does not have the same problem as a hotel feeding booking platforms, or a spirits brand whose visual will end up on a billboard. The number of images, the length of the licence and the crew involved have nothing in common.
Knowing which of the three is yours is what makes an honest quote possible, instead of a polite price range.
A menu is photographed at the pace of service, not against it: a protocol agreed with the chef before the day, a workstation out of the way, a running order for the dishes decided in advance. On a day shot during real service, expect twelve to eighteen finished images.
A hotel shoot feeds three image banks that follow different rules: the website and booking platforms, the press, and social media. Framing them separately from the shot list avoids paying for the same trip twice.
Packshot, serve, bar atmosphere. Glass, label and ice are three separate problems, and none of them is solved in post-production. It is also the one field where French alcohol advertising law (loi Évin) has a say in the shot list.
“Southern light” gets sold a lot and discussed seriously very little. In Marseille, midday light is hard and often comes through a south-facing window that burns out the whites of a plate in a fraction of a second. The mistral clears the sky: wonderful for a rooftop, disastrous for a tablecloth or a cocktail foam.
In practice, that means checking which way the room faces before setting the shoot time, and arriving with what it takes to diffuse daylight or replace it entirely when the venue does not allow it. A room in Le Panier with a single north window gives steady light all day; a sun-drenched terrace on the Corniche leaves a two-hour window, or calls for a full artificial lighting setup.
The studio in the 4th exists for exactly that: when an image has to be repeatable, held identical over forty frames, or delivered without depending on the weather, it is shot indoors on a controlled background, and the location stops mattering.
The studio is in the 4th arrondissement, which puts the Vieux-Port, Le Panier, Notre-Dame-du-Mont, La Joliette and Les Docks less than twenty minutes away. Across all sixteen arrondissements, travel is not charged.
Each kind of venue has its own constraint, and it is better known before a date is set. A rooftop with no shade needs diffusion and a written plan B, because the mistral does not wait. An open kitchen means placing the workstation out of the way before the kit is even unpacked.
Beyond the city, Aix-en-Provence, Cassis, Toulon, Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Menton are within a day, with no travel charge either. Paris is three hours by train and gets the same terms, with several productions already shot and published there.
Marseille is readily associated with restaurants and hotels, rarely with brand campaigns. That is a misreading: on 3 and 4 September 2025, Monkey Shoulder brought the bartenders and ambassadors of its global programme here, not to London or Paris, for its annual Camp Monkey. Two days of seminars, a cocktail competition and a tour of the city’s bars.
An international brand that picks this city is after something specific: September light that no studio can fake, bars that keep their character when they are full, and a scale where everything is within walking distance. Covering an event here also means no travel time to negotiate in an already tight schedule.
A menu is rarely photographed on its own. A restaurant redoing its visuals almost always needs the dining room, the kitchen team and the cocktail list at the same time. Grouping these on one day costs far less than three visits, and produces an image bank lit the same way rather than a patchwork.
What remains is the running order: the kitchen during the rush, the dishes between services, the empty room before opening, the cocktails once the bar is set. Deciding that the day before saves two hours on the day itself.
The number of dishes matters less than people think. What moves a quote, in order: the length and scope of the licence, whether a food stylist is involved, the number of output formats required, and whether the shoot happens during service.
A photograph is not sold, it is licensed for a given use, duration and territory. The same image on a restaurant website for two years in France, and on billboards plus packaging for five years across Europe, do not cost the same. That accounts for most budget differences in this trade.
A food selection. The full gallery also covers hospitality, drinks and cocktails.
On 3 and 4 September 2025, Monkey Shoulder held its Camp Monkey in Marseille: the annual gathering of its bartenders and brand ambassadors from around the world. Two days of coverage, four briefs in one, from posed portraits to live reportage in the city’s bars. The case study gives the brief as it arrived, the order it had to be delivered in, and what the brand did with it afterwards.
Reviews published on Ahoueke Hilaire’s Google listing, reproduced here word for word.
J’ai eu l’occasion de collaborer avec Hilaire sur plusieurs projets différents et j’ai particulièrement apprécié son approche du métier. Au-delà de la qualité technique des photos, il sait réellement comprendre un plat, mettre en valeur les détails et retranscrire l’intention, l’humain. Les échanges sont simples, professionnels et agréables, avec une vraie capacité à s’adapter aux contraintes d’une cuisine professionnelle. Un travail précis, créatif et toujours réalisé avec beaucoup de sérieux. Je le recommande vivement pour tout projet de photographie culinaire.
Nous cherchions un photographe capable de shooter à la fois nos chambres, notre spa et la carte du restaurant sur trois jours, sans mobiliser une équipe entière. Hilaire est arrivé seul, a travaillé en lumière naturelle le matin et au flash pour les ambiances du soir, et nous a livré 180 images retouchées en dix jours. Nous les utilisons depuis sur notre site, nos réseaux et nos supports de vente
« Nous avions besoin de packshots et de visuels d'ambiance cocktail pour un lancement national. Hilaire a construit les recettes visuelles avec notre ambassadeur, géré les fonds, les glaçons, la condensation, tout ce qui fait qu'un cocktail tient à l'image. Les visuels sont partis en PLV et en digital sans retouche supplémentaire. »
Je recommande fortement Hilaire. Nous avions un enjeu de cohérence : cinq adresses, cinq styles photo différents. Hilaire a proposé une direction visuelle unique et l'a tenue d'un établissement à l'autre. Il comprend vite les contraintes d'un groupe, il est autonome sur place et il ne perturbe pas l'exploitation.
Nous souhaitions des Reels de préparation, pas seulement des photos. Hilaire filme et photographie sur la même session, ce qui nous évite de bloquer le bar deux fois. Les vidéos de verse au ralenti tournent encore un an après et on grandement contribué à la visibilité de l’établissement! Un prestataire fiable auquel nous ferons de nouveau appel sans la moindre reserve!
Nous sommes une petite affaire, on ne pouvait pas se permettre une production. Hilaire a proposé une demi-journée avec une sélection resserrée, au prix annoncé, sans extras surprises. C'était exactement le bon format pour nous.
J'ai été client d'Hilaire pour de la photographie culinaire, son talent et sa passion ont rendu grâce à nos plats ! Un véritable professionnel avec qui j'ai hâte de travailler à nouveau
Je recommande vivement! Hilaire est professionnel, disponible et à l’écoute. Il a su s’adapter à notre projet, budget et a fourni un travail irréprochable! 5*
The brief form takes three minutes and asks the questions that matter: where the images will live, for how long, and on which channels. That is what makes it possible to reply with a real figure rather than a polite range.