Photography with Ainsley Harriott’s Couscous Launch at Morrisons Leyland: A Celebrity PR Event Case Study
A PR agency brought me on to cover Ainsley Harriott’s product launch at Morrisons in Leyland, Preston. I knew this wouldn’t be a typical shoot. The brief was clear: capture content for press, social media and UK news outlets. Everything promoted Ainsley’s new couscous range. The turnaround had to happen the same day.
Ainsley was full of energy from the moment he arrived. He went straight into the crowd. He took selfies with customers, laughed, chatted and promoted his new range with genuine warmth. That energy made my job easier in some ways. There was no shortage of authentic, smiling moments to capture. But it also meant staying alert and ready. Those interactions happened fast and rarely repeated themselves.
Working PR events like this is a different discipline to weddings. The core skill stays the same: read the room, anticipate the moment, and get the shot without getting in the way. At Morrisons, that meant working around store hours, staff and customers. The PR team set a tight schedule, not me.
The real pressure came after the shutter clicked. Outlets waited on images for same-day publication. I edited and delivered high-resolution, print and web-ready photos within hours, not days. No second chances. No reshoots. Just fast, accurate editing under a deadline that didn’t move.
This is the side of event photography people don’t always see. A countdown clock runs quietly while you try to get colour grading and retouching right first time. It takes years of experience to build that skill. That’s exactly why PR companies and brands come back to Kyle Mac Photography for events where the pressure is real.
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