Food and Interior Photography for Glowbird at The W Nashville

A few months back the Jose Andres Group and Aura Communications reached out to me needing a photoshoot for their new concept Glow Bird at the W Hotel in Nashville, Tn. I was stoked to have this opportunity. They needed a mix of food photography as well as some photos of the restaurant itself. They needed a vibrant and sun soaked vibe to go along with the rooftop pool and bar atmosphere. So that is exactly what we set out to do.

Sun soaked poolside lounge vibes.

The W staged the restaurant and pool area for us and that is where we started and finished the day. We capture various angles of the bar, pool, and deck areas. The goal was to create a vibe with the photos. Warm tones really make these photos fit the vibe.

A beautiful view of the Glowbird Bar with Nashville in the background.

The Glowbird logo features prominently.

I loved the way the sun and shadows played on this tile mosaic.

We moved to photographing food next. The Jose Andres Group brought in several of their team members from the D.C. area to cook and style the food for the shoot. We used all real food that was actually edible for this shoot. It is always great when we can use the real thing cooked by real chefs. We allowed the chefs vision to shine though. We used a hard light source to keep the sunny vibes going. We moved around the restaurant with the food so that we could capture the right vibes.

We then photographed cocktails at the bar and poolside. The main goal was creating the feeling of having a cocktail at the rooftop pool.

The longer I’m in commercial photography the more I realize that commercial photography is not just about creating solid images. It is about creating a vibe. Setting a mood. Creating emotion. It’s about more than just pretty pictures. The emotion is what sells the concept. The vibe and the feeling are what keep people coming back.

If you have a hospitality property and need amazing food photography use the contact form to reach out. I would love to chat about your photoshoot needs.

Urban Sprout Micro Green Food and Product Photography

Urban Sprout

Like most shoots this one begins with a story. About two years ago my family and I went to the farmers market in downtown Murfreesboro, TN. I decided to take my DJI Osmo along with me this particular Saturday. I thought I could get some cool video footage to put together for my instagram story my intention was to do a story around purchasing a tomahawk ribeye from one of my friends who owns a local farm and then tossing it on the smoker. While at the farmers market we ran into one of the newer vendors and struck up a conversation. This vendor happened to be selling micro greens. For those not in the know micro greens are essentially baby greens they have very intense flavors that are really amazing. One thing led to another and a few months later we were in the studio shooting.

The Request

One of my most common requests is to photograph content that bridges the gap between food photography and product photography. In this case, a local Micro Green grower reached out to me to create a catalog of images that they could use on social media and on their website. The company needed to show off their products both as a living and growing plant in a lifestyle setting and also more traditional photos of each individual micro green packaged for sale. Both types of imagery are vital to this client.

The Work

For this particular client, I have broken your work down into three sections. Simple packaged product imagery in a lifestyle environment, images of the greens in a lifestyle environment and finally true lifestyle images. For this client, we decided to use natural light coming through the studios south-facing windows. The south light would give us consistent light throughout the day. We opted for natural light because the client wanted to give a stronger sense of nature in the photos.

Packaged Shots

For the packaged shots the client received a gallery of images of each micro green on a solid white backdrop, own a white planked surface and also Ono a white planted surface with some minimal props.

Give Me More Greens!

The next part of this shoot was to capture each of these micro greens in a bit more organic of a setting. Take a look!

Lifestyle Hero Shots

For this next batch of images we wanted to get to know the micro greens a bit better. These shots are closer in showing more detail and texture and shot from table height for the most part.

Wrapping It Up

Working with the micro greens was a really fun project. I got to try several varieties that I had never had before and even took home a tray of the popcorn greens and the reddish greens. We were able to spend a full day in the studio and build a great content library for the client to use..

Nick Bumgardner is a food and product photographer based out of Nashville, TN.