About The Crafted Lens

I’m David Jones, a photographer based in South Wales. Through The Crafted Lens, I make photographs for independent food and drink businesses that want people to see more than the finished product.

I’m interested in the people, places and processes behind what we eat. A bottle of milk has a story that begins on the farm. A loaf has a story before it reaches the bakery counter. When those parts are photographed together, the images give a business a sense of place and help people understand the care behind its work.

My background is in documentary photography. I have an honours degree in the subject and have taught photography at Merthyr College. I also made Time Lines: Keeping Steam Alive, a photographic book about preserved steam locomotives, the people who restore and operate them, and the visitors who come to see them. Different subject, same curiosity about the lives surrounding it.

That approach runs through my food photography today. I can make a carefully lit product image, but I also want to know where the ingredients came from, who made the food and what details make this business its own. I work with independent producers, bakeries, cafés and restaurants across South and West Wales to build images that can tell that fuller story.

If that sounds like the way you’d like your business to be seen, let’s talk.