opening a new restaurant is never easy. there are a lot of things behind the scenes that need to be taken care of and then there are the things in the front of house that needs attention. you have to worry about the menu, the equipment, the staff and making sure that the decor is in line with the basic theme of the restaurant. often times it's not the food itself you have to worry about as much as making sure people know about the food. that's where i can help.
the good people at calgary's newest sushi restaurant GOHAN Sushi Lounge asked me to help with the photography of some of their exquisite and colorful menu items to help promote their opening to the local community. the shoot was broken up into two parts: 1) photo work with a model and 2) photo work with the food itself.
i decided that using a jet black backdrop for the shoot would really help make the vibrant colors pop and to add some refined elegance to the images, i used a black glass table to help highlight the reflections of the dishes as well as the food. so armed with a small softbox, continuous light strobes and my 105mm nikkor macro lens, i think i managed to capture some stunning images which hopefully not only delight your eyes, but perhaps your taste buds as well.
having spent a dinner there just recently, i can assure you that the food is delicious and worth your time to check out. the staff are very passionate about their menu and want to make sure you leave with a desire to come back with your family and friends. i'm reminded that there is nothing better for a restaurant than customers feedback and word of mouth business to keep the kitchen busy.
GOHAN is already open to the public with a grand opening scheduled in the coming weeks. and for those that have a knack for creating delicious food, GOHAN is holding a contest where you can submit a recipe to the restaurant and the winning roll will be featured on their menu for an entire month! (time to work on my spam, over-easy egg and garlic fried rice roll...)
so what about the model shoot? below is one of my edited images and then below that the final image which is currently being used by GOHAN for their social media advertisements as well as their front of house banner. those with a keen eye will notice how the image was photoshopped to replace the patterned badge on vanessa's right shoulder with the logo of the restaurant. in the coming weeks, i will share some of the other stunning japanese inspired images vanessa and i worked on in our shoot together.
de jesus. goto gohan. out.
