Kyle Dreier | Food Photographer - Nashville, TN » Food Photography

Popular Photography Spotlight

Kyle Dreier — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:57:48 +0000

The January 2012 issue of Popular Photography Magazine features a small profile about my food pairings series. Magazine articles always make me a little nervous—seems that regardless of how the interview goes the article ends up sounding like it’s about someone I don’t know. Sometimes the facts are incomplete or the adjectives are a bit grandiose for my taste. I’m doing my best to just let it go, relax and enjoy the fifteen minutes of fame.

Get the Popular Photography iPad app or download PDF to see the complete article.

There you have it—twelve more minutes and counting.

- Kyle

Antique German Cookbook Journal

Kyle Dreier — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:09:47 +0000

It’s no secret that I have some German in my blood. What gave it away…my last name? Well, I like to bask in my German heritage which sometimes leads me on scavenger hunts for Germanesque stuff and junk—which often end up as props on set.

I ran across this beautiful old (1917 to be exact) handwritten cookbook and I couldn’t resist. The cover title “Koch Recepte” literally means “Boiling Prescriptions.” I’m not sure where to go with that…was boiling a popular craze in the early 1900’s or is it just an odd German to English translation?

The penmanship in this book is wonderful and I fell in love with the well-used and aged pages. Apparently there were two or three contributors to the writing in the book based on the different handwriting styles. I’d like to think it was a sweet old couple who enjoyed cooking (or boiling) together and trying new recipes. Can you image what life was like before the AllRecipes.com app?

So, what’s a food photographer gonna do with this neat old cookbook? Setup a still life or two, of course.

Most recently a page from this book found its way into a shoot we did just last week for an editorial client, but those images won’t be public for another eleven months though, so feel free to check back with me then.

Glücklich kochendem,

- Kyle

Making Food Art – Hot Dog, Mustard & Ketchup

Kyle Dreier — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:30:01 +0000

In a previous post “Want Hot Dog with that Ketchup and Mustard” you saw the evolution of a hot dog on canvas. Here’s a little video footage of the action from behind the scenes.

photography: Kyle Dreier
food styling: Whitney Kemp
footage: Kyle Dreier, Rory White
editing: Matt Huesmann

So, what do you think? Wanna come play with us some day?

- Kyle

Behind the Scenes on Location

Kyle Dreier — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:00:16 +0000

What do you get when you put together a fine crew of people and lock them up in a house for two weeks with lots of food? Well, that’s kinda what we did except we weren’t exactly “locked up” together against our will. We did spend two weeks on location at two different houses and we did have loads of food. We also had loads of fun while we worked very hard to accomplish much in a short amount of time. Aside from a few things—mysterious “events” in a “vacant” house built in the late 1800s, stealth mega-chiggers and a spontaneous rain storm on our outdoor party set—the shoot went well.

Week one at location one:

Week two at location two:

Video: A little sample of our little rain on set.

And that’s a wrap. If I had to do it over again, I’d choose the same crew—everyone was wonderful! And, the client was wonderful as well. You can see the final images in their layout in “Let’s Start Something” blog post.

- Kyle

Big Cannoli. Really Big.

Kyle Dreier — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:15:29 +0000

(ring, ring …)

Hello, Kyle Dreier speaking.

Hi Kyle, this is Katie at Food Network Magazine.

Hi Katie, what’s up?

Are you available to shoot a five-pound cannoli?

Um, a “five-pound cannoli?” Count me in!

- – - – - – - – - – -

Well, that’s pretty much how this assignment got started. Food Network Magazine’s editorial calendar included a story on “Big Food” and who’d a thunk that Nashville’d be the home of a cannoli that rivals the size of an NFL football.

Upon arrival at Savarino’s Cucina (located in the Hillsboro Village area of Nashville) we were greeted like long lost relatives—Italians are so good at embracing strangers (figuratively and literally).

Graciousness pours naturally from Corroda and everyone in his restaurant—even the regulars treat you like family. “Italian” plus “Southern” certainly makes for a generous helping of hospitality. Had we not been on assignment we would have accepted the offer to stay and partake in the wine and food.

Savarino’s Cucina famous Cannoli
Weight: 5.43 pounds
Length: approx. 13 inches

What next? Who knows, but I’m ready.

- Kyle

Want Hot Dog with that Ketchup and Mustard?

Kyle Dreier — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:12:20 +0000

There’s no doubt that art influences my work. (How could it not? Countless semesters of art history lodged themselves in my sleep-deprived brain many years ago.) Sometimes the influences are more apparent than others. In this case the influence is more of an homage to the artist. Let’s just call this a food inspired homage.

There’s another level of “influence”…by those working with me on set…and when working on personal work such as this the influences are heightened to a spirit of collaboration. You’ve likely heard me say this before but I’ll say it again—what you see in my photography is a team effort. I value greatly what everyone brings to a project (doesn’t mean it’s all good but it is all valued). Forgive me for sounding trite, but my work is an example of “synergy”—our combined effort is greater than the sum of us working individually. (I’m sure I totally butchered that definition but you get the idea—together is better.)

Allow me this—work must be fun. If it’s not fun then what’s the point? I’m big on the process, as well as the results, being fun. That being said, I like working with fun (and highly creative) people. This project included food stylist Whitney Kemp and first assistant Rory White—both artists in their own right. And to top it off, what’s more fun that ketchup, mustard and a hotdog left to their own devices?

Alright, I’ve droned on long enough. Here are the results from our fun-art-influenced-collaborative project.

Here is the final piece of art work, ready for hanging…or eating.

And then there’s also this impromptu outtake from our creative collaboration.

I’ll give you one guess to name the 20th Century artist who inspired us. Don’t let me down.

-Kyle

Let’s “Start Something”

Kyle Dreier — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:47:05 +0000

In a way it seems like just yesterday but at the same time it seems like a long long time ago—in June we spent two weeks with the fine folks of Publix Super Markets on location here in the Nashville area. The result is the Start Something brochure designed to be similar to popular “inspiration boards” for party planning and events. It was great (and sometimes “interesting”) two weeks at two different houses (I’ll have more on that in a followup behind the scenes post). For now, here are layouts from the brochure which just recently went into their thousand-plus stores. Nice job Karen!

Cover

Picnic Party

Kid’s Birthday

Sports Fun

Shower Celebration

Holiday Party

Graduation

Family Occasion

Dinner Party

I can’t overemphasize the appreciation I have for everyone involved on this project—Karen, Scott, Paul, Nan, Rory, Ian, Joel, Tony, Dede, Caroline, Aaron, Mollie, Rusty, Hunter, Lisa, Laura, Laure, Sandra and…I’m sure I’m forgetting someone. It was a huge, fast and fun undertaking.

- Kyle

Push-Up Pops Cookbook

Kyle Dreier — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:23:11 +0000

Back in September I mentioned (and sorta teased about) the double-top-secret cookbook project I was working on with local author and blogger extraordinaire Courtney Dial (soon to be Whitmore). Well, the cat is out of the bag … the publisher (Gibbs-Smith) has announced “Push-up Pops”—available March 2012.

These new push-up gizmos are reminiscent of the orange sherbet push-up pops I grew up with, but these modernized versions host all kinds of creative delectable treats—from chocolate brownie sundaes to frozen peach bellinis. (Confession: I can actually personally vouch for exactly how delectable these two particular treats are … er, uh … were.)

Big thanks to Courtney, her faithful assistant (and mom) Phronsie Dial, stylist Caroline Brewer, first assistant Rory White and retoucher Tony Richardson for what was a fun, fast and furious five days of shooting 35 different push-up pop recipes.

Also a special thanks to the eleventh-hour spouse crew for grabbing dinner (yes, dinner) for the crew, meticulously sorting sprinkles by color and lending a hand with props and gear. Getting across the finish line was a huge team effort.

- Kyle

ps. You can pre-order the book at amazon.com

Twenty-Two Foot Shrimp Bowl

Kyle Dreier — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:00:51 +0000

When you’re working in the studio on a relatively small food photography set and focused on a normal sized bowl of shrimp and noodles you don’t really think about the final photograph being enlarged to this! Yowzers!

Thanks Ryan for sending this over.

I’m still waiting for Wok Hay to make it into our market here in Nashville. (Tapping foot with anticipation…)

Oh, and the image? It’s Teriyaki Prawns Udon Soup Bowl.

What’s next…a 30 foot egg roll?

- Kyle

Artisan Pizza

Kyle Dreier — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:00:47 +0000

There are a number of aspects of my work that I enjoy—one of the recurring highlights is working with artists passionate about what they do. I’m using the word “artist” in somewhat of a broad sense—food stylists, prop stylist, assistant, or in this case an accomplished chef.

In general, what I observe about fellow artists is they seek creative ways to express their vision or fulfill a need in the marketplace, they are driven to excellence and they appreciate and respect the art and ideas of others with whom they are working. Such was the case when working with Director of Product Development and Corporate Chef Jim Filaroski of J. Alexander’s with restaurants scattered throughout the South and Midwest.

We spent a day with Chef Filaroski at the J. Alexander’s Franklin, TN location where his vision for artisan wood-fired brick oven pizzas is being developed with artful inspiration. His ingredients, techniques and presentation are well planned—leaving nothing to chance. It was a fun day…and yes, I can personally vouch that his creations taste as good as they look.

Hungry yet?

- Kyle