When you talk about high-end cocktails, the Rum Martinez is one of a kind. It’s a cocktail that you will only find in high-end bars and hotels, partially because of the 17 steps it takes to create it. It’s a rum martini with vermouth, maraschino, bitters, and oak smoke. The smoke infuses into the drink, which is aerated before pouring. This photography series is inspired by the Rum Martinez made by Japanese bartender Takumi Watanabe and executed in perfection by Dutch actress Victoria Koblenko.

I wanted to create a natural-looking mood in the whole series. Our main light was coming through the windows, this light was responsible for 80% of the light that was hitting our subject and the rest of the set. We used two Pulso heads bouncing off a white 2x2 m screen into another layer of diffusion to create a soft look called a 'book light' setup. But the book light setup was too soft for the look I was going after so I added another broncolor Siros 800 S with a reflector acting as a 'sun' and creating a brighter spot in the overall white surface of the diffusion panel.

Inside the room, we kept it fairly simple. As a top light, we boomed a broncolor Siros 800 S with the Octabox 150 cmabove the set acting as our overhead light and gently filling up the shadowy areas. The light on our model was a broncolor Siros 800 L inside a gridded Softbox 120x30 cm. I used a variety of different lenses on my Phase One XF camera from 45mm up to 80mm with extension rings to get really detailed close-ups.

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Credits:
Actress: Victoria Koblenko
Photographer: Jeroen Nieuwhuis
Make-up artist: Michelle Voogd
Styling: Maartje van den Broek
Styling assistent: Noa Klokkers
Photography assistants: Bram van Benthem, Ezra Böhm, Sven van der Velde
Behind the scenes video: Sven Video
Location: De olde Looierij