Adelaide Conference Photographer - Future of Food + Drink Summit 2026

Behind the lens at Food South Australia's flagship industry event

The Future of Food + Drink Summit 2026, presented by Food South Australia, brought the state's food and beverage industry together for a full day of twenty-minute talks running across one main plenary room and several breakout spaces at Morphettville Racecourse. Working alongside Shannon, Emily and Tayla from On The Table Events — a team we've had the pleasure of covering events with before — the brief was to capture the pace and substance of a genuinely fast-moving program without losing the room's energy in the rush between sessions. On The Table Events run a tight, well-organised ship, and that makes our job significantly easier — when the logistics are handled with care, the photography can focus entirely on the moments rather than the margins.

Project Facts

Client: Food South Australia, in partnership with On The Table Events
Industry: Food, beverage and hospitality
Location: Morphettville Racecourse, Adelaide
Shoot Type: Full-day multi-session conference and summit photography
Duration: Full-day coverage across plenary and breakout sessions
Crew: 1 (Frankie Whittenbury — lead photographer)
Objective: Document keynote sessions, breakout panels, sponsor activations and networking moments across South Australia's flagship food and beverage industry summit
Approach: Multi-room coverage balancing fast-paced 20-minute session turnarounds with candid networking and sponsor documentation
Lighting: On-camera flash with diffuser, balanced against natural side light
Deliverables: Curated gallery for Food South Australia's marketing, sponsor recognition and event recap content
Usage: Industry communications, sponsor reporting, social media and event recap content

The light, the lens, and the long game

Morphettville's function spaces have great natural side light, and I worked with an on-camera flash and diffuser throughout the day — enough fill to keep skin tones clean and shadows soft while letting the room's natural character come through. For the presentation screens specifically, I worked almost entirely on the Canon RF 70-200mm, shooting through gaps in the audience to get the on-screen colours and data to read clearly in the final images. The large LED screen behind the stage is a wonderful piece of tech for those in the room — and with the right shutter speed approach it produces clean, legible results in stills too. Balancing flash against natural light while keeping screens sharp is one of those technical disciplines that looks effortless in the final gallery and takes real care in the moment.

A summit that's actually about the future

True to its name, this wasn't a retrospective industry event — speakers were genuinely talking about where the sector is heading. One of the more memorable data points dropped from the stage was the surge in Korean food searches — up 75% — attributed to the cultural wave around Kpop Demon Hunters, a reminder of how directly pop culture now shapes what ends up on a plate. Sustainability was woven through the program too, with rooftop beehives referenced as part of the broader conversation around food systems and biodiversity in South Australia.

Sponsors and producers in the room

The summit's sponsor presence told its own story about the breadth of South Australia's food and beverage sector — Thomas Foods, Foodland, Bickfords Group, Openbook Howden, the Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation, the SA Department of State Development, Madderns, Retailworld, Summit Laboratory Services, MBL and Encore all featured across the day. Networking sessions ran on a genuinely South Australian drinks list — Beresford wines, 23rd Street Distillery's limoncello fizz, and Vale Ale — which made for some of the most relaxed, candid photography of the day once the formal sessions wrapped. On The Table Events have a particular talent for creating the kind of room where people actually want to linger — and that translates directly into better photography.

A familiar face, on the clock

Minister Clare Scriven — someone we've photographed at several events now — spoke during the program before heading straight off to Parliament, which meant working quickly to get clean, usable shots in the narrow window available before she was out the door. It's a pattern we've come to know well across government and industry events — and one that On The Table Events always brief us on in advance so we're ready before the moment arrives.

The bit that doesn't make the gallery

At one point during the day a guest asked how Lewis and I manage to balance work and family life running a two-person studio together. The honest answer, in the moment, was that he'd messaged not long before to say he was sorting gnocchi for dinner solo while I worked through the summit — which is about as accurate a snapshot of what running this business actually looks like as anything I could have staged for a photo.

Frankie The Creative photographs conferences, summits and industry events for organisations across South Australia, including Food South Australia and On The Table Events. If your organisation needs a photographer who understands how to move through a multi-session program without missing the moments that matter, get in touch.