Exploration Is An Addiction

With this being a record-breaking hot summer, I’ve stayed inside doing some of my own work. Exploration is a wonderful learning experience and it helps to get the juices flowing. Once I get started and I see things happening it’s hard to stop…one thing inspires the next thing and before I know it the whole day is gone… Pure Joy!

 

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Tuning Up The Eye

As I mentioned in a late 2014 post I’m involved with a couple of great local photographers who get together on a monthly basis and do self assigned projects as well as go on field trips around the state to shoot, discuss photography and of course try to eat great food…sometimes we wonder if photography is just an excuse to eat! We all have a great time and the experience keeps us learning to see. Below are some of my images from trips to Cleator, Crown King, Winkleman, Kearny, Oracle, Mammoth and Rock Springs.

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More From Bar-S Foods

Happy first two weeks of 2015! We’ve been lucky to be associated with the good folks from Bar-S Foods for several years. Here are a few recent projects, web site images, packaging in association with the McCormick Brand and some recipe photos.

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Gila Bend And Globe Az.

When I think about making photographs it’s nice to be simple and quick…minimal equipment…no restrictions and just react to my surroundings. I spend so much time in the studio (which I truly love) it’s good to get out and see. Here are the results of my two short trips.

Gila Bend:

Globe:

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Sweets For The Sweets

 

I just finished a little project for Fairytale Brownies. They wanted to create some fun  editorial style still lifes for social media depicting an assortment of holidays and occasions.

Happy future holidays!

 

 

 

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One Camera One Lens

I was in Italy this past September. I’ve never been out of the country before other than a trip to Vancouver Canada or Nogales Mexico, which is not saying much! My work takes place in a dark 2000 square foot studio shooting things that don’t talk back…still life, food and product. I saw this European trip as an opportunity to shed the constrains I place on myself in my daily photographic routine. I decided to take one camera and one lens. My choice was the 50mm lens which best resembles our own visual view of the wold as seen through our eyes. I wanted to shoot the people, places and tables-scapes that I immediately responded to without any preconceived notions.

My approach to shooting people was to shoot mostly from the hip (literally) I didn’t want anyone knowing they were being photographed. This was very exciting because I never really knew what I was going to get, and that didn’t matter.  I let my intuition and understanding of the field of view of my lens guide me. After each day of shooting I would go back to the hotel and look at my files and enjoy the surprises.

I let everything I shot be quick, spontaneous and completely composed in the full frame of the viewfinder. I kept a promise to myself that I wouldn’t crop my way into a better picture…it must all be there in frame or forget it.

So here are some of the results…Enjoy!

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Tacos And Tequilla!

I think it’s great that Phoenix keeps adding unique restaurant venues with fresh menu ideas and ingredients. The Taco Guild is a perfect example of this movement towards the creation of the overall experience of dinning out.

We were contacted by the creative folks at the James Agency to do the food photography for the website. The restaurant is in a refurbished old church with a mid-century modern feel so it made perfect sense to style and shoot the food in a rustic and believable way. So lick your chops and enjoy some of the images and the way they were used on their site.

This how they fit into the template:

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Holiday Recipes

It’s getting to be holiday time and Sprouts Farmers Market is ready with some new and unique recipes to spice up the season. The studio was asked to create a series of recipe shots with a “Bon Appetite Magazine” feel where things are styled more loosely and have a believable feel. The creative director built the surface we shot on and the stylist choose a rustic approach to the propping.

A special thanks goes out to Tim, Maggie and Dina as well as the food-stylists Kim and Jill and my assistant Rob!

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Tin Can Alley

What can I do when it’s hotter than hell outside and all my projects have wrapped  and I have some time on my hands…I know, create a challenge. Go to the store and buy a bunch of canned fruit and canned veggies and have a studio play date. It’s always a good exercise to try to find  beauty in the most banal things that are always around us on a daily basis.

So here are the results of a day of play!

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Sprouts…

I recently had the opportunity to work with the good folks at Sprouts Farmers Market shooting people on location and yummy baked goods in the studio. We had a ton of  bread, muffins and cookies at the studio… we could have fed a platoon of carb loving people…in the end all the goodies were donated to local food banks…of course less the stuff the crew inhaled!

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