Can you photograph just the details?

Yes. Some jobs need the whole room and some only the detail: a run of drawers, a worktop edge, the hardware. Tell me what matters most when you book.

When is the best time to shoot a kitchen?

When the daylight comes across the units rather than straight at them. I ask which way the windows face before I give you a time.

Does the kitchen need to be cleared?

Yes. Worktops nearly bare, appliances off the surfaces, the sink empty. My guide to getting ready for a shoot has the full list.

Kitchen and joinery photographer, Northern Ireland

15yrs

Nick Gray. Ex Hennessy and Porsche.

Nick Gray, property photographer, at golden hour

Kitchens and joinery

The grain, the edge, the line

A kitchen is months of decisions: the timber, the stone, the handle, the line where a door meets the frame. I photograph it so every one of those decisions can be seen.

For makers, fitters and designers

I photograph finished kitchens and joinery for the people who made them: kitchen makers and fitters, joiners, stone workers and the designers who specified the work.

Every finished job is the best advert for the next one. The photographs have to show the work the way your client saw it on the day you handed it over.

The room, then the detail

I start with the room: the run of units, the island, the way the kitchen sits in the space and the light that falls on it. Then I move in close.

The detail frames carry the craft. The grain running across a door, a shadow gap, a scribe to an uneven wall, brass against painted timber, the veining in a worktop. Those are the frames your next client will study.

Light that shows the material

Stone, timber, lacquer and brass all change with the angle of the light. I find the angle where each one reads properly, and shoot when the daylight rakes across a surface rather than flattening it.

Light sells. I’ve spent fifteen years learning where to find it.

Square and level

Joinery is built square, so it has to be photographed square. Verticals stay vertical and long runs stay level, so a tall larder or a line of wall units stands the way you built it.

Shared with your suppliers

A finished kitchen carries the work of several businesses: the maker, the stone supplier, the appliance brand and the designer. Each of them will want the photographs. Tell me who needs them when you book and I’ll agree the usage with you before the shoot.

Book me and you get me. No juniors, no subcontractors.

Golden Sands Penthouse

Portrush, Causeway CoastInteriorsPlasterOakGolden hour

Textured plaster, herringbone oak and a sculpted island with oak stools under glass pendants. I shot it as the sun went down over the sea, low enough to rake across the plaster and pull out its texture.

Open-plan penthouse living room and kitchen with herringbone floor in golden hour light, Portrush

Kitchen island with oak stools and glass pendant lights in low evening sun, Portrush penthouse

Sun setting over the sea through penthouse balcony doors, two deck chairs on the balcony, Portrush

Plaster shelving with a stone vase and a log store in warm evening light

Shadow of flowers on a plaster wall beside a glass vase and kettle in golden hour light

The Cottage

North CoastInteriorsKitchenBrassDetails

A blush-pink kitchen, knurled brass handles, white render and a woodburner. I let the low evening sun do the work, and shot the brass close enough that it reads as warm metal rather than flat yellow.

Open-plan cottage living room with woodburner and blue sofa in low evening sun, North Coast

White rendered cottage rear elevation with French doors and pergola in evening sun, North Coast

Blush-pink cottage kitchen with white dining table and globe pendants in late afternoon light, North Coast

Knurled brass door handle on a painted door in low evening light, North Coast cottage

Cottage bedroom with pink linen and sage door frames, window light on the wall, North Coast

Questions

Before you book

01
Can you photograph just the details?
Yes. Some jobs need the whole room and some only the detail: a run of drawers, a worktop edge, the hardware. Tell me what matters most when you book.
02
When is the best time to shoot a kitchen?
When the daylight comes across the units rather than straight at them. I ask which way the windows face before I give you a time.
03
Does the kitchen need to be cleared?
Yes. Worktops nearly bare, appliances off the surfaces, the sink empty. My guide to getting ready for a shoot has the full list.
04
Can suppliers use the images?
Tell me who needs them when you book, and I’ll agree the usage with you before the shoot.