So just about a week after my first ever semi-professional photo shoot, I got to do it again, this time at the Blue Talon Bistro. What fun!
We actually did it over two nights this time since Chef was not at the restaurant on Monday (yes, everyone just refers to the chef as Chef). After we did the shots of the dining room on monday, the kitchen treated us to a full dinner which was quite amazing (including wine). Food just kept coming out to eat; I was quite stuffed and was slow to want to move around even the next morning. This is what makes doing restaurant shoots worth it. Tiffany and I spent the whole time chatting it up with the bartender, who is an up and coming graphics designer.
On tuesday , we worked in the kitchen. The Talon’s kitchen is much more of a “working” kitchen as opposed to the Fat Canary’s “show” kitchen. They both get the job done, but the Talon’s does not have a lot of extra room to stand in and the lines of sight are not there, making this much more challenging. But the light was much better and that made taking the shots easier.
I was amazed at the difference in the attitudes between the two restaurants. I realized that a chef, like that at the Fat Canary, who is comfortable having a kitchen that is wide open to the dining room clearly has a more outgoing and gregarious attitude. This attitude carries over to his staff and the feeling in his kitchen. The Talon has a more traditional kitchen, and while everyone was very nice, they were also much more serious and interested in getting work done. You can even get a taste of the difference with the servers and others outside the kitchen.
So much fun; I hope I can get to do this more.