Food Photography and Dallas

It's no secret to anyone that has spent any time in Dallas that we have a LOT of restaurants. Well, we have a lot of churches, strip clubs, malls, movie theaters, and grocery stores too. But for the sake of this entry, I'll focus on the restaurants.

I love food. And the more I shoot photos of food, the more I enjoy that aspect of photography as well.


There are some funny things about shooting people. They get sick, relatives pass away, their cars break down, they forget to set their alarms... The list goes on. Things come up. People need to reschedule or cancel. But I have never had a donut call in sick.



A few years back I was supposed to be married. The engagement was called off about two weeks before the wedding date. I had been taking a break from shooting at the time and decided that creative expression would be the perfect medium to help clear my mind after that ordeal. It opened my world in ways I could never have imagined.

A good friend of mine (and business partner in a number of ventures, most recently Atomic Hedgehog) caught the photography bug around that time. He says that it was from seeing the enjoyment I was experiencing while shooting. Apparently joy is contagious. Who knew?

I was shooting people, he started shooting food. But here is where it got a little frustrating. I had been shooting off and on (between dating insecure women for the most part) for around 10 years. 4 months behind the camera and my friend was shooting better than I ever did after 5 or 6 years. So in a lot of ways, I inspired him to pick up the camera, and he inspired me to start shooting food. Incidentally he has been shooting people lately. Life is funny sometimes.



I initially picked up the camera to create art. I might have used the camera as an excuse to talk to the occasional college girl at the time as well, but that's part of the fun. And here I am enjoying photographing food. Life is good.

Thanks Theresa and Dao

Theresa has been on my wish list for longer than I care to remember. I think I first saw her photos around two years ago, and I was sold. I finally had the opportunity to work with her and the wait was well worth it. Here are a couple of shots from that day.




Dao is Theresa's cousin. She came along to the shoot and ended up volunteering for a few photos as well. And I am glad she did. This little pocket-sized ball of awesome is a natural. I love what we created and my door is always open to her as well as Theresa.

In part of the shoot, Dao's hand slipped off the fabric. I'm not a fan of posting out-takes, but this one was just too cute to pass up. I also included one of the finished shots from her shoot. I love my job.

Hoshi, some sake, and a sheet

Saturday was my fourth drunk shoot. I drink, the model drinks. We aim to get drunk. This was no different.

Since I tend to overthink a lot of my shoots, every now and again shooting something with no planning can be a total blast. That's why I do these occasionally. It's just good to break out of your shell.

She showed up with a few bags, and a few outfits, and a bottle of sake. I cracked open some homebrew hard cider and we started. My favorite set from the night was this. One strobe, reflector only, pointed down at the blanket we were under. Roll around, go for the JBF hair, and just let the images flow.

Thanks Hoshi. This was our second shoot and I cannot wait to bring you back for our third.