Life in our back yard.

Another installment of images I wanted to capture in a way that reflects life, as I remember it, growing up in our back yard.

Red Currants

Raspberries & Blackberries

Sometimes you just need to do your own thing!

I've given myself an assignment this year to document some of the awesome organic fruits and veggies that my folks and I have grown.  I wanted to capture them in a way that reflects life, as I remember it, growing up in our back yard.

Here's a couple in the series.  Let me know what you think. 

Apricots

Tart pie cherries

What REALLY happens behind the scenes!

In past post I’ve been able to show some awesome thing we get to do at our studio.  What doesn’t get discussed much is all the “not as much fun things” that really makes a studio run.  This is not a “complain session” post, but some of the realities of running a photography studio that many starry-eyed young photographer or clients don’t see.  All they know, and all we want them to see, is we have a fun, clean, organized place to shoot photos and video and everything work’s perfectly. 

Last week, an average week:

1.     It rained and my intern noticed the, 4-year-old roof, had developed a leak.  Had to quickly get some plastic and cover a bunch of boxes so they wouldn’t get wet.  After the rain stopped I went up on the roof and noticed that when the workers had removed a tall brick chimney, one of the bricks fell and put a hole in the roof.  Will have to call the roofer and get it repaired.

2.     It seems like one of our two 12.5 ton air conditioner units was starting to squeal when it turned on.  Called the AC repairman to come change the belt.  I noticed that the pulleys weren’t aligned causing the belt to wear out fast.  More time and money.

3.    I noticed that weeds were beginning to grow in the cracks of the parking lot.  Mix up the weed killer and sprayed.

4.     Noticed that there are some sharp edges on the tile we put in our new restrooms.  I brought in a hand held grinder from home and ground the corners smooth.  This is important so someone won’t get cut and we get sue.

5.    Went through the 150 emails I got in over the weekend.

6.     A client rented the studio for a video shoot.  Need to mop all the floors, empty the trash, and clean all the bathrooms.  Oh, I forgot need to clean all the glasses and coffee cups that were used.

7.     After a wonderful 3 day photo shoot then we worked another 57 hours on retouching, making clipping paths, making zip files and uploading them to the clients server.

8.    Put together all the bills and time sheets too bill photo project.  Invoice client.

9.     Scouted location for upcoming photo shoot.

10  Attend 8 hour conference on photo marketing.

11  Answer more emails

12  Call client to make sure they got all the files and were happy.  They were thrilled!

13  Package up client’s product and ship back to client.

14  Called food stylist to schedule some test shots.

15  Assemble and addressed more direct mail promos

16  Opps, ran out of ink in the printer.  Go to the store and get more ink.

17  Checked my Google Analytics report to see how my sites are performing.

18  Back-up and archive Clients photo files

19  Install new hard drive on server.

20  Meet with Accountant to go over quarterly numbers.

21  Open and sort mail

22  Send email with photos to new Art Director I met.

23  Pre-Production meeting with client about upcoming shoot

24  Phone conference with interactive development company to find a way to upload images to our website easier.

25  Faxed insurance papers to our loan company.

These are just 25 of the things I could remember.  Behind the scene at most advertising photography studios, the mix is 80% business and 20% photography.

Behind the scenes of an advertising photographers studio

This is a great post that truly is the "Behind the scenes of an advertising photographers studio."

http://laurencekim.com/2011/04/28/the-photography-business-and-the-american-dream/

Worth the time to read!

Latest Food Real, more "Visual Branding"

The concept of what an advertising photographer is and does today is being blurred.

We've helping to blur the lines by adding another "Food Reel" to our Vimeo site.  Let me know what you think.

http://vimeo.com/davidmorrisphoto/fresh-and-jazzy-food-reel

Food Photography Trends

Food photography, like fashion and interior design, has numerous visual trends.

We love to shoot with a loose, editorial look. It's one of the visual trends we have been noticing for a while. It’s a wonderful approach for some brands because it projects a more “real” and “approachable” look for their product.

Visual Branding

We recently shot another project for one of our outstanding clients. It was a perfect example of what David Morris Photo offers with regard to visual branding and capabilities.

For a number of years now we've helped develop libraries of visually branded images for various clients. What are "visually branded" images, you ask? Visually branded images are photography and video content that has the look and feel consistent with a particular brand's overall message and values. This way there is message continuity, not only in the logos, copy, and design, but in the photography and video content as well.

Visual branding is harder than it looks. Way before the photography ever begins, we spend time with the client. We familiarize ourselves and gain important insight about their brand. We discuss things like demographics, core values, and the brand's desired message.

For this project, the client charged us with continuing the same visual branding we had designed for them previously, while, at the same time, tweaking their message.

The brand's core values: Natural, Clean Tasting, Fresh, Flavorful, Healthy. It's targeted demographics include "foodies", female consumers, and high-end restaurants. The addition to the brand message for this series of images was versatility.

We normally start with a shot list. As you can see we take all kinds of notes.

Once we have a shot list we put together a reference story board with shot ideas and possible sides and send to the client.

After sending the client reference story boards, we schedule a preproduction meeting or conference call with the crew, food stylist and client. This is where we refine the look and feel of the visual branding, discuss food prep, presentation options, props and backgrounds.

Once the details of the plan are nailed down, our crew sets into motion. Our stylists visit select grocers and specialty stores hunting down top of the line food options. We, similarly, hit the streets looking for any new or unique props (plate ware, silverware, backgrounds) that the client has expressed an interest in. It's important to us that the extensive selection available at our studio stays diverse and up-to-date. I like to do the prop shopping myself since inspiration for a shot often strikes while I'm out browsing. Then it's on to setting up the shot set, refining lighting, pulling prop and background options, and making sure the equipment is working and color-balanced.

Shoot Day:

After everyone has settled in with some breakfast and a cup of our famous coffee (Okay, YOU may not have heard of it yet, but it's pretty famous around here), the photographer (me), client, agency, food stylist, assistants, and production coordinator all go over the day's game plan and discuss the first shot.

Once the shot order has been determined, prep begins in the kitchen, backgrounds and props are selected, and the camera angle is set.

Once the plates are picked, the food is plated and it's off to the set for the beauty shot. A few tweaks here and there, then final approval.

For this project we not only shot stills, but video as well. This allows the client to ensure continuity between both in their visual branding.

Time is critical when shooting food, so we've integrated our video equipment and photo equipment. This saves time and money for our clients, and allows us to do both motion and stills without having to re-style the food.

The results? As you can see, we ended up with a tweaked, yet consistent visual branding message that remained true to the client's brand values.