- Food Photographs -

Recently, I had the chance to do some food photographs for a restaurant in town called Dano's Yo-Sammies (The interpretation of this cryptic name is, as I understand it, as follows: The restaurant is owned by a guy named Dan - the "Dano's" part, they specialize in frozen yogurt - the "Yo" part, and they feature a customizable sammy - as in sandwich - as part of their menu).

While I was eating at Dano's one day, I remarked to the store manager that their current posters didn't really justify the food they served. She acknowledged that they had been taken with a camera phone, and agreed they looked way too dark. I left with an arrangement to come back and take some new ones for them.

It took a couple weeks to get things arranged, because the restaurant management had several events they were focusing on, their booth at the local July Jamboree, for example. Then the general manager left, and I had to reopen communications with Dan the owner, who is a busy guy. Finally, he just asked me to show up whichever day I thought was best, and tell whoever was working the counter to accommodate me.

It seemed like a Tuesday evening would be calm enough. I wanted to use natural light if possible, so I went when the sun was getting low. Unfortunately, a touring group Taiwanese folks arrived at the same time, and kept the one cook busy for a while. In between surges, though, he was able to whip up some prime examples of their monster burger, sammie, bratwurst, and hamburger.

At first, it bothered me that the food wasn't turning out as McDonald's-ad-esque as I would have liked. The burgers were stuffed, a bit lopsided, and way too full of mustard. I considered coming back a different day when the cook had more time to add some extra TLC, but I decided to see what I could do with the meal at hand. In the end, I kind of appreciated the fact that there was an authentic air to the finished photos. The food looks tasty, but also very real. I like that the sandwiches in the photos looks like the actual food you get when you order. Dan liked it too, "beautiful work," he called it, so the extra time spent editing out stray mustard drops was worth it.