Like many of his collaborators, Jessica Shadbolt is someone Matt Russell has known for years. After starting her career at London’s River Cafe, Jessica is now co-owner of a pair of restaurants, King and Jupiter, in New York, with two other female owners. Matt Russell joined Jessica on the Côte d'Azur for this Wall Street Journal editorial shoot, a place routed in family history, having gone their as a small child with her family.

Matt’s photographs give an insight into Jessica as a person, showing her at ease with friends and family, cooking a traditional Bouillabaisse for her 40th birthday, laying a table or making lists. Glimpses of the rocky shorelines add mountainous backdrops of Southern France add context. The flavours of this region inspire Jessica’s own cooking.