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.

Peg Leg Porker Bourbon and Sauces Shoot

Peg Leg Porker recently reached out for some fresh photographs of their new bourbons as well as a brand new sauce line and seasonings. I hopped at the opportunity to work with the Peg Leg Porker crew again. We always have a great time on set together talking about good bbq, good whiskey, and the state of the Nashville food industry. 

We started out with the hardest photos first the bourbon. These required a bit more tricky of a lighting set up to achieve. We wanted the dark background, but also needed so see some bottle glow. The key to good bourbon and beverage photography is to manage highlights and reflections. We don’t want to eliminate them completely because it will look fake and boring. They need to be reigned in to make a compelling photo. 

Consistency is the key to working with brands like this. Each bottle needs to look similar so that they look good grouped togeather

We then moved to some sauces. The magic sauce here was to keep a similar setup to the bourbon, but eliminate the backlight. The sauces are much more opaque so they don’t need a glow. The Peg Leg Porker white sauce is the best in the biz right now. I keep a bottle in my fridge all the time. We added in a few photos to so the color and consistency of the sauces.

We finished up with some photographs of the new seasoning line. We kept things simple here too. But we added some detail images.

This was a fast and furious half day of shooting. When we have a good team, that knows what they want to achieve we can get a lot of work done in just a half day of shooting. 

Nick is a commercial photographer based in Nashville, TN. He loves photographing BBQ, Food, Whiskey and Products. This shoot combined all the things. If you have a shoot coming up please reach out using the contact form.