ALM Photo: Food. Camera. Paper. Action!

Sometimes a client will give you what seems to be a simple request.

Photograph some food.

But then you realize that you don't have a way to lug a lighting setup or a bunch of equipment. Yeah, that happened. I was thinking about all of the different types of photography we do for clients and started looking through some images and found the ones I will share below along with the story of how they came to be. This is why it is always a good idea to hire photographers who can think on their feet and make things happen under less than ideal conditions.

Several years ago, when ALM Photo was based in the Old City of Knoxville in the Jackson Atelier Building, we were asked to head up to Market Square and photograph some new burger platters that would soon be offered at Latitude 35. For those of you who live in Knoxville, you know this was a while ago because Lat 35 is no longer there and has been replaced by what I am sure is an even more exciting restaurant. Anyway, the client was publishing the photos in an article about the new burgers and the images had to be shot ASAP.

Allan was off shooting something else, perhaps even out of town, and so I was limited in my choices of gear. Plus I didn't have a vehicle to transport any gear. It's not that far from Jackson Avenue to Market Square, but it could be if you have to lug gear. I put on my thinking cap. And thought. And thought. And thought some more.

Lightbulb! I'll take a swath of white background paper, some clamps, a camera and taking advantage of the overcast day, shoot outside on the restaurant's covered seating area. Genius! Right? Well, if you know me, you know that I approach things a little differently than Allan when it comes to doing a proper shoot. I am not afraid to wing it. Allan likes to have everything all figured out and, get this, he likes to plan ahead. Scary, huh?

So, I somehow managed to pack up all this stuff and cart it down the street to Market Square. I recall that it was a bit breezy and I was having difficulty with the paper acting as a bit of a sail. I made it to the restaurant with everything and found the chef, explained why I was there and proceeded to set up my little studio out under the covered seating area. I really wish I had a photo of my set up because it was quite the sight. Basically, what I did was clamp the paper to a chair to create a mini-background, found the best light and used another chair as a ladder as needed for some of the looking down shots.

So that's a lot of words to get to the most important part of this story, the photos. I think I had to shoot with a 50mm because Allan had all the other gear with him, so my depth of field was fairly shallow, but I will let you be the judge of the images. Let me know what you think of the results. Seriously. It's been several years since I shot them and it's always fun to look back on past work and think about how you might have done it differently. Allan did not believe me when I told him about my set-up.

Here you go! Oh, and for the record the burgers were delicious. I got to try a couple of them and was quite pleased. Also, except for the big platter shot, I left a lot of white space so the client could crop the images, so the composition does look off. I would have made the composition more interesting if I had more latitude. (Haha!) Enjoy!