Food Photography•
on July 27th, 2010•
Last week I did another shoot at Ubuntu’s wonderful biodynamic garden. I shot close to sunset, and I was feeling a bit frustrated with the images until the lack of light forced me to bring out my studio strobes (lugging those around along with the hundred foot extension cords was a lot of fun). With better control of the lighting situation I was able to create a few really nice images that felt much more painterly than the sunlit ones.
Artichoke in Ubuntu Garden
Squash Blossoms
Lavender drying in Ubuntu's barn
Food Photography•
on June 1st, 2010•
When brainstorming ideas for Ubuntu Restaurant’s new website, I had the idea of using x-raying vegetables from Ubuntu’s biodynamic garden for icons. These shots, styled by Chef Jeremy Fox, were originally intended just to serve as style guides for the x-rays which I would take at the Palo Alto Imaging center with the help of my friend, radiologist Dr. Larry Chan.
Above, beets and radishes with Chef Fox’s “edible dirt;” below, squash and squash blossoms.
In the end, some of the above shots made it into the site, while the x-rays will be used in a future project.
Above, squash blossoms; below, radishes.
Web Design•
on May 28th, 2010•
In early August 2010, we finished work on the first phase of the Stone & Leather website. Led by biodynamic farming consultant Jeff Dawson, Stone & Leather is a unique company that makes fashionable belts and cuffs with the finest Brazilian quartz crystals and American made leather.
Using a template developed in conjunction with Taksu Media, the site also uses our product photography to highlight the unique range of belts and cuffs.
Red & Black leather belt
Wine cuff
Belt & cuff on model
You can check out the site at www.stoneandleather.com
Coco & Guiness, the Scottish "hairy coos"
This past March we did a fun staff photo shoot up in Ubuntu Restaurant’s biodynamic & organic garden; though I was there to shoot the staff, the real star of the shoot was their Scottish highland hairy cow Coco, who just had a baby, named Guinness. Click here or on the image above to see a slideshow video of the shoot.
The Ubuntu staff, including executive chef Aaron London (on left)
Ubuntu Staff; top row (from left): Louis Vargas, Aaron London, John-Paul Kuhn. Bottom Row (from left):Stagiare, Stephen Thorlton, Carl Swanson, Justin Yu
We recently did a project for a boutique winery in the Napa Valley called Lion’s Run, who wanted their wine label re-designed, along with some collateral marketing material. It was our first wine label project, and we learned a lot in the process (including the arcane requirements of the TTB, the bureaucracy governing what must and must not be on alcohol labels.)
Lion’s Run produces a high-end cabernet from grapes grown on the slopes of Mt. George, a 2000 foot mountain on the east side of the Napa Valley. Early mockups of the label played with the idea of the mountain’s silhouette.
The version below would take advantage of the digital printing process, where each label in the series could be unique. Here, 3 of the twelve bottles in each case have 1 segment of the ridge-line; when placed next to each other they would form the entire silhouette. This idea didn’t make it, but we hope take advantage of this variable facet of digital printing in a future project.
The final version ended up being the most simple and direct: a large logoscript L, with foil embossed “Lion’s Run.” This helped to convey the brand’s high-end, slightly masculine image, and incorporate the winery’s traditional background within a clean, modern design.
