How we shot some of the best BBQ in the world

Well, if you're a fan of BBQ anywhere in the world, you've most likely heard of the" World Famous" Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que. They've gotten rave reviews from Presidents, sports stars, celebrities, foodies, and of course by yours truly.

We had the privilege of being asked to shoot their food for the new website.  Joe's Kansas City is now selling their world famous Bar-B-Que all over the USA from the website.  Now, if you're in Memphis or Seattle and need a great BBQ fix, all you need to do is order it.

This was an especially gratifying project since it's a locally owned company and we're big fans!

Joe's KC came to us and said we want some great photography,
but we don't want our photography to look like all the other companies selling BBQ on the web.  We want the photos to capture the authentic and real look and feel of our product. The shots should look as if the pit master just took it out of the hot smoker.   We don't want it to look perfect.  We want it to look authentic with some meat drippings on the surface, the utensils to be a little messy.  We were fortunate to find a hundred year old butcher block table for our background. It is 12"thick and three and a half foot in diameter and made out of one solid walnut log.  It set the tone for the whole shoot with it's authentic wear and cracked surface.  To finish out the authentic and real look, we shot with all natural light and let the shadows go a little dark.

Here are a few fun images from behind the scenes, along with a few of our favorite final shots.    

Food Stylist prepping the brisket for it's close-up.

David about to get slapped for moving the styled food.

Clients and crew taking a well deserved lunch break.

Final image

Yummy Ribs

My favorite burnt ends!

Details, Details. It's All About the Details.

When you shoot commercial and advertising photography, it is all about the details. One needs to pay attention to the little things to produce an outstanding image.

Although it isn't evident to most people at first glance, you can tell the difference between an image where the details were focused on and one where they weren't when you view them side by side. 

Why is focusing on the details important you ask?

1. In many cases, an expert eye up front will save time on back-end post production.

2. Details can help showcase the quality of a product.

3. Details play a part to help differentiate one brand from another.

Some of the details we pay attention to when food is involved are:  

1.  Ensuring the background and serving ware are clean. No dust, drips, spills, etc.

2.  Making sure the design of the food is pleasing. No faces in the food, no tangents, etc.  

3.  Confirming the correct number of food items called for in the serving size.

If you're wondering about detail number three above, you wouldn't believe how many consumers count every single piece of food in a photo and complain if they don't get that many pieces!

Having emphasized the importance of details, you must remember to have some fun on set too.

David with his magnifiers ensuring the gumbo mac & cheese dish is spotless.

Is David making sure the plate is clean or David mooning the crew? You decide!

Our Food Stylist topping a shake with whipped cream. A little photo bombing by the Chef, too.

The sushi is on set and ready for its close up!

Cheesy biscuits. Nom nom nom.

David working with our Photo Assistant while focusing on the lighting details.

Crew & clients on set.

David and the Art Director getting photo bombed by our Photo Assistant!

                                   

Looks like the Art Director is brewing up something new for the shot.

You can tell it's the last shot of a project when the wine glasses and beer start appearing.
A toast to a great shoot!

A Dutch Master Inspired Shoot

Most photographers can count on one hand the number of times they pitched an idea to an agency and the client went for it. This project was just that!

Our friends at Woodruff Sweitzer came to us because one of their clients wanted to shoot of all the ingredients that went into their product. "Do you have any ideas?" they asked.  We said we'd think about it and get back to them in a couple days.

After doing a little research on the product, it seemed to have a very Alaskan wilderness feel. David called the Woodruff Sweitzer team and suggested creating a set similar to a rustic Alaskan hunters cabin, with an appropriately rustic table on which to place all of the ingredients. "What the heck!" David said. "We might as well go for broke and make it look like an old Dutch Masters painting!"

Well, to David's surprise, both the agency and client loved the idea!

Now what? How do we pull this off?!?

Fortunately, the final deadline allowed plenty of time to gather all the props and get the food products researched, ordered and assembled. It goes without saying that adequate time to prepare upfront really makes a difference to the final outcome of a project.

We ordered a rustic wood background, fresh salmon and trout flown in from Seattle, smoked leg of lamb, wild boar prosciutto, venison, turkey, berries, flowers and so much more. We researched and locally sourced the perfect table to shoot on. It just so happened though that the day we went to pick the table up, it was on sale, and all three Kansas City stores were sold out. Fortunately, we were able to find a similar table available in town. Wowza, that was a close call!

On shoot day, everything went flawlessly. The creative team's direction along with David's vision and our food stylist's top notch styling resulted in a final image that everyone was elated with. We collaborated well and had fun along the way.

David didn't have anything in his portfolio that looked at all like his vision, yet the agency and client trusted that we could pull it off.  He will be forever grateful for their trust. This project specifically reinforces that just because a photographer doesn't have an image of a red shoe or kid playing basketball or a "__fill in the blank__" in their portfolio, doesn't mean they can't shoot exactly what you need and make it look awesome.

We truly believe that if opportunities for photographers and agency creatives to collaborate happened more frequently and sooner in the creative process, there would be more innovative and eye catching advertising imagery in the marketplace.

Please keep throwing challenges like this at us, and we'll keep knocking them out of the park!

David adding some finishing touches to the set.

Our Food Stylist unpacking the white quails she sourced that morning in Nebraska.

Sarah Hunt, aka "The Fish Whipper."

Fresh trout, anyone?

Nothing like a little jump rope with the sausage links!

Putting some final touches on the image in post.

A little input from the creative team.

Working with the wild life painter to makes sure the colors look right on the new packaging.

We were thrilled to have our friend Steve Sweitzer on set a few weeks before he retired.

David and Sarah's version of the final image.

Launching a New Brand – Part 3

Thanks for joining us for our final installment in this three part series on launching a new brand. If you've followed along, you know that we've discussed what it takes to prepare for a large photo and video shoot, how many people it actually takes to pull off a production, what factors are taken into consideration when planning and prepping and how decisions are made on set.

One of the components of this multifaceted project was a video to announce the launch of the brand into the marketplace. Our client challenged us to capture all of the following in a two minute video – the ease with which a number of their products could be prepared, customers in a restaurant enjoying the prepared products and multiple testimonials from actual brew pub owners talking about why they liked and used the products.

Add to that a script that was still in flux days before the shoot began, some extremely short deadlines, the logistical aspect of shooting at four locations, confirming models, extras, food recipes, props, etc...you get the idea. While it was a lot to wrangle, capture and edit, it was a challenge we were totally up for!

Shooting in the studio and on location in Kansas City, Grand Rapids, MI and Springfield, MO, we captured days of video footage. We can't say enough about how wonderful the video crew, food stylists, production coordinators, talent agency and others we're surely failing to remember were, and how they were the ones who really made this large production come together.

A special thank you to Isaac Alongi who DP'd, edited and colored this video project. Without his talent and flexibility, the end result would not be nearly as beautiful as it is.

It truly takes a village, and we've got a great one surrounding us!

Be sure to check out the final video.

Our Assistant Food Stylist making sure we have enough fries in the bowl before shooting begins.

Getting the thumbs up from talent!

Our Food Stylist putting the final touches on the hero plate of food.

The Associate Creative Director reporting back to his team at home on how the shoot's going.

Making sure everything is lookin' good on location in Grand Rapids, MI.

We used a two camera set up for the Brew Chef interview videos.

Q&A with a local Brew Chef about why he uses these products.

A fun little clip of David directing the talent...or was it him just
saying out loud what he needed his assistant to bring him?

Click on the image to play the launch video.

Some Storytelling and A Little Southern Cooking

We've been shooting some projects lately that tell more of a visual story than straight-up product shots. The concept of these projects has been to entice the viewer with mouthwatering food and invite them into the world we've created. Let us walk you through a couple of the stories.

I know you can smell warm peanut butter cookies with a hint of coffee from the Java Jam drizzled on top. You can feel the ice cold, creamy milk as it hits the back of your throat, chasing the tasty cookie. You can also imagine yourself in that warm, sun-drenched kitchen listening to the birds chirp through an open window on a lazy weekend afternoon. Can't you?

Fresh local milk and Java Jam topped peanut butter cookies

It's summertime in the South. Someone grabs an old, weathered table and drags it under a huge oak tree for a picnic on a steamy afternoon. On the menu? Spicy Southern fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits smothered with Tupelo honey, pickled tomatoes from the garden, cabbage slaw and fresh squeezed lemonade. Finger-lickin' good!

Summertime Southern fried chicken with pickled tomatoes

Some "behind the scenes" captured while shooting these two images...

It's turkey time!

We had some fun recently shooting for the Turkey division of a long time client. As always, behind the scenes and out of sight of the camera, everything tends to look a little different.

An interesting challenge with this project was we needed to find a way to photograph four farmers once and have the ability at a later date to change out the food they were holding. We decided the best solution was to choose one plate and one platter that we would use over and over again. We made a support device that would hold the empty plate and platter in a fixed position that allowed the models to hold them differently expressions and body positions. 

Whenever there's a chance we will shoot additional images that require the same look and feel (lighting, spacial relations, perspective, etc.), we craft drawings and take measurements of everything on set. This allows us to recreate the exact set-up and shoot more food that can be photoshopped onto the plate and platter we originally shot with the farmers. And an added bonus – by keeping the plate/platter supporting device thin, we have minimal retouching! 

Model and food set all in one.

Our hero turkey shot that will be placed on an empty platter our farmer is holding.

Stylist Sarah Thompson Lift getting our GQ farmer ready for his close-up.

Always fun to photobomb the food stylist.

It never looks the same from the back of the set.

I always have to have my hands involved in something, to the chagrin of the stylist.

How about a little left? No right. No left! It looks perfect just where you had it. (:-)

Putting the final paint stripper touches on the bird.

Wardrobe, please!

Farmer gear.

Any time there is a chance we will be shooting additional shots that need to have the same look and feel,
our assistant takes tons of measurements and photos so we can recreate the same look again. Thanks Ben!