Burning Marshmallow

I don’t know any guy who doesn’t enjoy setting things on fire. I’m no exception. I love watching things burn. Mix this with my affinity for food, photography and well … things that are sugary … and this is what you get.

Additionally, while there may be a debate about the optimal roasting of a marshmallow, I prefer my burnt.

What I enjoyed finding in the stills was the puffs of smoke that burst out like little smoke rings. Air, sugar and fire. What a fun combination with very interesting results.

This video is a series of stills from my experiment. Each marshmallow burn was about 15-30 seconds. I was grabbing an image/frame about every second.

So, next time you’re at a campfire roasting marshmallows, think of all the little things happening that we usually don’t see with the naked eye.

Hmmm … what to burn next? Any suggestions?

-Kyle

Architectural Exteriors – Before and After

Last month we had an architectural photography assignment that took us to Le Conte Hospital in Sevierville, Tennessee just outside of Knoxville. This new hospital is in the Smoky Mountains and on our shoot day we were greeted with snow then clear skies. Thankfully, the snow melted enough to get a few exteriors, albeit with fresh (aka brown) landscaping.

We were able to salvage the shoot with some nice timing, the roof of a moving truck and a little post production. So, all that being said, I thought I’d share a couple before and after shots.

Entrance - Before

Entrance - After

Front - Before

Front - After

Nothing beats a few adjustment layers in Photoshop and some clouds from our own stock library.

Look for a later post with interior photography from this particular job.

- Kyle

Closet Photographer on the Edge?

There are too many puns and jokes that could be made from these situations from a recent architectural photography shoot for Marriott here in Nashville. My first assistant Rory White is lightning fast with his iPhone camera to capture me in precarious situations.

It never fails, regardless of how big a room is, when photographing architecture I always find myself crammed up in a corner, against a wall, or in this case … in a closet. No, there were no skeletons. Just a nice robe for the next guest.

Kyle Dreier stuck in closet.

Or, in this case, where we were rooftop and leaning over the edge three stories up. It was brutal cold with the wind.

Kyle Dreier out on edge.

I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait for a later post to see the finals. It was a good day of shooting and the client was very good to work with. Here’s hoping that we do more for Marriott here in the near future.

- Kyle

Dangerous Architectural Photographer

I don’t know that I’d classify myself as “dangerous” when shooting architecture but, as documented by my trusty first assistant Rory White (and his Swiss Army Knife iPhone), standing precariously on the roof a moving truck might qualify me as a little “risky.”

I spent the last two days just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee in a Sevierville on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains photographing Le Conte Hospital. We were greeted with snow, cold and sunshine. Thankfully we did most of our photography in the warmth of a beautiful new facility.

Maybe a more apropos word for this situation would be “improvise.” In the absence of a lift we were able to make use of a moving truck in the parking lot to get the elevation we needed for an exterior elevation shot. The sun was setting to my back and the building and sky were cooperating as best they could given the circumstances … dormant landscaping and frigid temperatures.

Getting the shot … whatever it takes.

The view from the ground via rear view mirror.

Note to self: Next time bring gloves so Rory doesn’t have to loan his out and freeze his hands.

- Kyle
ps. I’ll post the final images from this shoot at a later date after I process the images.

Nashville Arts ~ Valentine Food

The February issue of Nashville Arts Magazine just hit the stands this week. The creative team lead by Paul Polucarpou and Katie Sulkowski make for a fun group to work with.

This particular feature was driven by poetry from Alimentum: The Literature of Food and written by Paulette Licitra.

On the photography side of things our A-team lineup in the studio was fabulous food stylist Teresa Blackburn, innovative recipe developer Nancy Vienneau, and trusted first-assistant Rory White.

There’s probably a lot that could be said for chocolate truffles, berry cobbler, lemon cake, kiwi tart, chocolate banana parfait and tiramisu, but I’d prefer to let the images do the talking.

Berry Cobbler

Tiramisu

Tiramisu (outtake)

Chocolate Banana Parfait (outtake)

Chocolate Truffls

Chocolate Banana Parfait (outtake)

Lemon Cake with Lemon Liquor

Kiwi Tart

This was a fun assignment. Thanks to everyone involved.

- Kyle
“Yum … that was good!”

New Vanderbilt Hospital Critical Care Tower

Looking at the campus of the Vanderbilt Hospital you’d think there wasn’t any room to fit a new building. Somehow Earl Swensson Associates managed to fit this 200+ critical care tower and integrate it into existing facilities. Betsy and Ken were great to work with on this project, as was my first assistant Rory … always the can-do man on the job. Sandy, you were missed but you deserved a little break.

Probably the most interesting aspect of this shoot was getting into scrubs to enter the surgical area. We were quite the site. The technology in the bi-planner room was amazing. I can only imagine what it’s like while actually being utilized. See the special green lighting in the OR room below which is used to assist during operations.

Critical Care Tower Atrium

Vanderbilt Hospital Critical Care Tower Atrium

Vanderbilt Hospital Critical Care Tower Atrium

Vanderbilt Hospital Critical Care Tower - Nurses Station

Vanderbilt Hospital Critical Care Tower - ICU Room

Vanderbilt Hospital Critical Care Tower - bi-planer operating room

This facility is amazing. I enjoyed photographing it. However, I hope that I don’t have to go there for any other reason.

- Kyle

Food from across the pond

Following are images from an editorial gig for Home Life magazine which is a title produced by Life Way in Nashville. A fun project. Always a pleasure to work with my assistant Rory and food stylist Teresa. And, the art director was great to work with. Thanks Susan for an all around a fun assignment.

Feature Opener - British Food

Chicken Pasties

Bangers and Mash

Potato Wedges

Pudding Cake

There you have it … or as they’d say in the UK … “Bob’s your uncle!”

-Kyle

Trying to Share

I’ve been delinquent in posting recent samples from both food photography and architectural photography assignments to my blog. I’m attempting to remedy my lack of sharing this morning in an effort to start off 2010 on a good foot.

October and November of last year were the busiest I’ve experienced ever. I was fortunate, particularly in light of what so many others are experiencing in the current state of our economy. I spent most of December playing catch up with business matters and other marketing efforts.

Enough of my excuses, how about I show some work.

Stand by … see following posts.

- Kyle

Mega Megapixels

In a world of “more is better” I often find myself fighting for the “less is more” concept. (see Mr. Critical’s prior post) But today, I’m here to tell you, that more megapixels IS better … at least when you couple that with a medium format Phase One digital back, a Hasselblad camera and a superior lens.

First, let me say that not all megapixels are created equal. I’ll go into detail in a subsequent post. The main point is that a bigger sensor size makes for happier megapixels.

So, wanna see what comes from a 31.6 megapixel digital back?

Here’s the final image which is cropped close to full frame.

Here are a few images taken from the image at actual (1:1) size.

Can you see what I mean?

Stay tuned for more happy thoughts and opinions about megapixels.

-Kyle

Planning Ahead

We all know that planning ahead is a great way to make the most of any task. Last Fall (mid-October) I began planning for today … when artist David Arms would show his art in a Fall-like setting.

Because I don’t show client work until it’s published I’ve not shown this image until now. This is an undisclosed location … a bit of a hike but once you arrive you’re in the middle of a lush environment … complete with an abandoned stone fireplace. The Fall colors are fantastic. I love it.

There was one downside to this particular shoot … poison ivy. Two out of three of us got a big dose of it. But, now with that behind us, I’m very happy with the results of our shoot, and planning.

You can see David’s work here: www.davidarms.com

- Kyle

Whisky Business

I couldn’t resist the pun. Forgive me.

Sometimes objects themselves serve as inspiration for me. I’m a sucker for anything old … for the most part … old cheese isn’t top of my list. Anyway, I found this old whisk on a recent outing were I end the day with a car load of photo props I use in my food photography.

So, here is what was in my head the day I purchased said whisk.

Until next time …
- Kyle

Wine Pour – Photography Style

In the commercial photography industry there is a specialty known as a “pour”. This is a test I did yesterday. I think I went through about a dozen or so glasses of wine … shooting, not drinking.

The challenge is stopping motion but at the right time. There are certain equipment limitations which prevail … the most prominent is flash duration. Normally you’d think you can just set your shutter to as fast as you can but flashes to do not sync well when shooting fast than 1/250 of a second … hence the black half of an image … the shutter curtain.

The other factor that plays into this type of photography is the depth of field. The more detail you want to retain aka broader depth of field, the more you have to stop down the aperture, then the more light you need, then the longer the flash duration … leading to more motion blur.

The trick? Many small strobes with very short flash duration. This image is my second test. In my next test, I will be pushing the limits with greater depth of field. Maybe I’ll choose a Riesling next time.

Until then, cheers.

-Kyle

Splash Photography

Well, today was a testing day. Needless to say, the studio is a little more wet than … well … it’s never this wet. It’s been a fun day of red wine, whipped cream and strawberries … not all in one shot.

This is one of the successful splashes. Just like any other day of test shots, today was a learning experience and I’m excited about testing more next week.

You’ll have to wait for the wine and whipped cream …

-Kyle

Willa’s Shortbread – tall on flavor!

It’s Friday and I’m feeling the need to blog. I could probably stand a few laps around the track and a visit to the gym but for now … I’m gonna blog.

A few weeks ago at the Food Network Southern Food & Wine Show I met an industrious and personable gentleman (Eric Rion) who makes a killer shortbread cookie. (The Keylime flavor is my favorite.) As it goes, he hired me to do some food photography for an upcoming Southern Living ad for his product.

I know I’ve many times stated and restated my policy about not eating food off the set. And, I have been faithful to that self-imposed charge. But, when Eric brings extra product which doesn’t even make it to set, then I’ve got to at least give in a bit … and I did. Willa’s Shortbread bites are the ticket!

Below is the shot for his ad. It’s his signature/flagship cookie. Nothing fancy but it sure is good and buttery.

Until next photo shoot … got get ya some Willa’s Shortbread!

- Kyle

Food Photography for Puckett’s

The good folks at Spring Sprang in Franklin, TN did a bang up job on designing a wonderful site for Puckett’s Grocery. I was fortunate enough to be hired to do some food photography to help in the effort.

Now, Spring Sprang has just released a little behind the scenes video of the making of the site. You’ll find I have a small appearance.

Enjoy, if you please.

http://vimeo.com/6209607

- Kyle