Carmels Cucina café photography: the coffee, the food and the people of an Italian café in Wareemba

Carmels Cucina is an Italian café in Wareemba, in Sydney's inner west, where you're greeted with warm Sicilian hospitality as you walk in the door. This café photography set is all about showing that off: the café, the staff, the people who come in and what everyone does there.

There's no styled studio food here. Every photo was taken in the café, so it shows the place, the staff and the customers as they are. Below I've used the shoot as a guide to photographing a family-style café, with a shot list you can take to your own.

Italian café photography that starts with the people

In a family-style café, the people are the reason customers come back. So the people behind the counter come first: the chefs in their white caps and striped aprons, the barista in a black cap, and the staff working side by side at a busy coffee station.

The best of these are moments that happen anyway: a plate passed over the counter, two people sharing the coffee machine, someone watching a milk pour. That gives you café staff and lifestyle photography that feels like your place, not a stock photo.

The coffee ritual

Coffee was a big part of this set, and for most cafés it should be. I photographed it as a sequence: espresso running from the group heads, milk being frothed, steamed milk poured into red cups, latte art on a red saucer, and the stacks of cups and saucers waiting on the counter.

Takeaway matters too. The Vittoria takeaway cups, filled under the machine and then held by a customer at the counter, show the morning coffee run that keeps a local café busy.

The food and the kitchen

For the food, I followed plates from the kitchen to the counter. A chef chopping at the stainless steel bench. A plate of toast, salad and cured meat being dressed with a squeeze bottle. A share plate of toasted bread and a small bowl of a tomato dish carried out to the counter.

Showing the hands that make the food tells customers it's cooked fresh, in house, by real people. It works harder than a perfect plate on a white background.

The regulars and the room

A café is also its customers. I photographed people seated under the chalk specials board and a customer with a takeaway coffee in hand. Warm, low light, the brick counter front and shelves of bottles behind give the set its mood.

A shot list for your café

If you run a café, this is the shot list I'd start with. Shoot each one in landscape and portrait, so you have a photo for every spot on your website and social media.

Your people

Your coffee

Your food

Your room and your regulars

Inner west café photographer

I photograph cafés across the inner west and the rest of Sydney. Business photography is $495 for up to an hour, with up to 10 edited photos and a commercial licence included. For another example, see my Kafeville café photography shoot.