Today we had a 2-hour commercial food photography photo shoot at 4-year-old restaurant Firehouse 37 in San Ramon. The chefs in the kitchen were very productive, but we found a good balance of making sure I was able to shoot extremely fresh food without too many dishes stacking up in my queue. Everyone was very nice and accommodating, and I'm glad we finished up before the lunch rush. Can't wait to come back here for some architectural interiors.
Rebecca needed a new business portrait for her LinkedIn profile, so I went to her home, helped her pick out some wardrobe options and provided a little skincare product to reduce shine. I then found an outdoor location near her home that I thought would provide a nice, natural backdrop for her portraits. I used the sun as backlight and my Profoto B1 with 30" softbox as the key light. Rebecca's son held a reflector camera-right to help reduce the overall contrast.
Eight executives who are rarely in the same city at the same time for this tech startup came together to get their professional business portraits taken at their Hayward property. We shot in 3 or 4 locations for each individual over the course of a few hours – shooting both indoors and outdoors.
Rangoon Ruby has multiple locations in the Bay Area, but these photos of their delicious Burmese cuisine were taken as they came out of the kitchen at the Burlingame location. Every dish looked delicious and piping hot, straight from the talented chef working a couple dozen feet away from my food lighting setup. Enjoy the photos!
I was hired to shoot a group of 10 executives at a luxury kitchen appliances company in Burlingame. The intent was to stage an area in the warehouse that would subtly showcase some of their products but mostly be about the people. To make it more engaging, we wanted to show some interaction between the people. Not challenging, except for the fact that in order to get the best lighting for each person, I had to shoot each person individually without anyone else in the frame! I worked with branding expert Krista (Personify) on this project – she spearheaded the concept and layout of the shot, which we referred to day-of, getting the actual setup quite close to the mockup (thankfully!). After Christal Caladio (Artistry by Cristal) polished each individual's hair and makeup, I photographed them in one of the positions we'd outlined (or two or three). The camera was on a taped-down tripod and the lighting was dialed in, so (in theory) it would be pretty easy to pick the best shots of each person and merge them all in photoshop.
Rootstock Wine Bar just added to their Los Gatos location by opening a stunning new property in Cupertino off Stevens Creek Blvd. I took some interior and exterior twilight architectural photos for the company to show off the design of the business. Most of the photos are in my signature panoramic-style – and no, there's no HDR imagery here! I haven't tried the food or wine yet, perhaps in an upcoming shoot...
This was a dual restaurant shoot – with the goals to shoot some of Cafe Cruz's more popular dishes as well as get some lifestyle portraits of some couples enjoying the nighttime ambience indoors near the fireplace and outdoors on the patio – by another fireplace and a fire pit. Lots of good stuff, this is one of my favorite restaurants in the Santa Cruz area! Enjoy a few photos below:
These are some of the best photos from a multi-day photo shoot at the fine restaurant MacArthur Park in Palo Alto. We had an aggressive list of objectives for the photography – to be used for marketing (print and web), advertising and general promotion. We shot some great BBQ food dishes (their specialty) – both by themselves and with people/hands. We also shot lifestyle portraits of customers enjoying themselves – at the bar and at the dining tables. I'll describe the photos in more detail below – enjoy!
Brenda needed some portraits for her new real estate venture, but she wanted more of a natural lifestyle feel to the photos than your typical executive headshot. She sent me a few sample images for the look and feel she was going for, so I suggested a natural light shoot at Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz. It’s very rustic, with lots of old buildings, barns, distressed wood textures, rickety fences – the perfect backdrop for Brenda’s vision.
Brenda needed some portraits for her new real estate venture, but she wanted more of a natural lifestyle feel to the photos than your typical executive headshot. She sent me a few sample images for the look and feel she was going for, so I suggested a natural light shoot at Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz. It's very rustic, with lots of old buildings, barns, distressed wood textures, rickety fences – the perfect backdrop for Brenda's vision. Luckily it was overcast, so the natural light was going to look great. Plus, with all the rain we've had this January (thanks El Niño!), we got some great green fields in the background of many of the photos, giving them a lush feel. Brenda has a great natural smile and a youthful, dare I say Santa Cruzian, look to her. Beautiful outside and in, I had a wonderful time getting to know Brenda and getting some great shots of her true personality. Enjoy a few of my favorites below:
Semiconductor company ASML has a brand new building in San Jose, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Clean lines, modern materials, open work environments and bold splashes of color make it look like a truly futuristic workplace.
This was an EPIC all-day photo shoot shooting over 60 staged dishes created by 14 chefs and many other people. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, but super happy with the results. We started out with some portraits of the female chefs then quickly launched into food, food, and more food.
