Behind the Scenes: The Monster Energy Splash

The Monster Energy splash was the final photo shoot for my major university project, and it was one of the most ambitious. For the assignment, I needed to produce three images that felt connected in style but still stood on their own. I chose to work with beverages, giving each one its own personality while maintaining a consistent look across the series. This shoot was all about capturing energy and impact, exactly what Monster markets itself on. I wanted the image to explode with motion, so I began by sketching a rough concept before building the set in the university studio. The idea was to create a mighty splash that felt both chaotic and controlled, suggesting the drink’s dynamism.

To get the effect I wanted, I smashed up old bathroom tiles with a hammer and carefully arranged the pieces into a jagged, fractured backdrop. Then I filled a large bowl with water and splashed it, literally dropping and banging it against the surface until I captured the right shape of water in motion. Each attempt was different, and it took countless tries to get the dramatic, energetic splash that matched the vision in my sketches.

The final image came together in post-production. I pulled the best elements from different shots: the strongest splash, the cleanest can, the sharpest shards of tile and merged them into one composition. It was painstaking and required a lot of patience, but gradually the chaos became a polished, powerful image. Looking back, this was one of the most challenging shoots of the project, but also the most rewarding. It captured exactly what I wanted to say: Monster Energy as a brand is about force, movement, and raw power, and this photograph brought that to life in a way I was genuinely proud of.