The story behind the gin:
David Hamilton's photography has turned up on BBC Scotland, Disney+ and National Geographic. Most of it happens somewhere much quieter though: in the mud at Ruchill Park finding unique creatures, or waiting out the light in an Ecuadorian rainforest for one florescent green bee to land.
That search has taken him from Ruchill Park in Glasgow to Kew Gardens, Lake Como, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, and most recently the forests of Ecuador. Same instinct wherever he lands: find the tiny, overlooked thing nobody else stopped for.
He shoots handheld, often stacking dozens of frames into a single image just to get one insect's eye, wing or shell entirely in focus. Get close enough and the colours are almost unreal, fluorescent greens, blues and pinks on a beetle's shell or a bee's back that most people would never stop long enough to see. It's the kind of process that takes hours for one usable shot, and most of what he's chasing is something people walk past every day without a second look: a beetle on a garden wall, a damselfly on a blade of grass, a bee in a hedge.
We've followed his work for a while. What got us was the patience. Everyone else chases the big view. David chases one wing, one shell, one moment of colour, and won't move until he's got it.
This isn't the first time we've worked with him either. David's contributed photography to past Wildfire releases before Madness was ever an idea, the same kind of ongoing relationship a label designer has with a brand. Madness is the first release built around his own name and eye, rather than work done for someone else's.













