Cheers to Summer with Miller Lite's Beer Cubes!

Working with DDB Chicago's creative team, the brief called for something that had never quite been attempted at this scale: beer served alongside perfectly crafted model ice cubes, photographed to capture both the structural precision of the concept and the refreshing, summery feel of the Miller Lite brand. The tension between those two things, clean geometric form and loose summer energy, was the creative challenge at the center of every lighting and composition decision.

Working with model ice, fabricated props designed to photograph exactly as real ice would without the melting and inconsistency that comes with the real thing, requires its own technical discipline. Surface reflection, the way light passes through the material, and maintaining the illusion of authenticity all have to be managed simultaneously. The crew at Throop Studio in Chicago was exceptional. Without that level of production support, the concept simply doesn't work.

The final images ran as part of Miller Lite's national summer campaign. For commercial food and beverage photographers, this kind of assignment, where the concept is genuinely new and the technical bar is high, is exactly what the work is for.

Commercial beverage photography by Dhanraj Emanuel, available nationwide for advertising, CPG, and brand campaigns.

I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of this campaign and work with such a talented team. It was an opportunity that pushed me to explore new horizons, problem-solve on the go, and ultimately create captivating imagery that brings the spirit of summer and the joy of Miller Lite's Beer Cubes to life.🍻

Client: Miller Lite

Agency : DDB Chicago

Production: Shel Burks

Studio: Throop Studio

Agent: Emissary Artists

ECD: Ben Wolan

ACD: Aaron Willard

CD: Patrick Almaguer

AD: Lane Hedler

Copy: Analisha Santini

Executive Producer: Adine Becker

Prop styling: Lorrie Jamiolkowski

Beverage stylist: Michael Nakumura

Photo assistant: Joe Bankmann

Digital tech: Nate Smith

Retouching: Aaron Willard, and Mickey Chesky

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