out of this world: annabelle breakey for olly
When it comes to the world of vitamins and supplements, Olly is in a universe all its own. “They come to me once or twice a year for a new product launch,” explains photographer Annabelle Breakey, “and every time they do, they up the ante a little bit. The photography becomes more and more stylized. More and more Olly.”
Multivitamins, sleep aids, skin and nail boosters, immunity defense, mood support, reproductive health supplements; Olly has their hands on just about everything under the wellness sun. “I love living in the Olly world when the occasion comes,” Breakey says, listing a few product names—Miss Mellow, Beat the Bloat, and Happy Hoo-Ha—as exemplars of the brand’s personality. “They're not shy about anything. They go all-in and get wacky. But, at the same time, the images are so beautifully presented and executed. It's all really thoughtful and high-level.”
The styling of Breakey’s Olly images rivals those of Dutch still life paintings, where every included object captivates with equal doses visual allure and symbolism. The tableau for Lovin’ Libido swings toward the salacious, offering the imagination a sliced papaya and a bunch of anthurium blooms, while Miss Mellow’s mise-en-scène includes an aromatic candle and a Zen Garden rake. In all, colors are saturated and precision reigns supreme. “There’s a lot of study and creative storytelling that goes into each image,” Breakey shares. “Each shot is a new environment that’s being brought into the universe.”
Per Olly’s request, Breakey builds the images with each product and object on its own layer, allowing the final assets to be infinitely moveable and adaptable to a range of aspect ratios, uses, and placements. If a product leaves the line, its layer is easily made invisible in the multi-product shots. If an ingredient is removed from a specific formula, that too is effortlessly whisked away from any label wrappings it appears on. “Because of this method, the post-production imaging is very intense.” she notes. “Intense, always very dynamic, and extremely energizing.” Afterall, if Rome wasn’t built in a day—surely the world of Olly wasn’t either.