A few weeks ago we got a call from the folks over at Kashew Cheese requesting a meeting to discuss shooting their new dishes and specifically their new pizzas. For those of you in Saigon, Kashew Cheese makes plant based alternatives to lots of your favourite dairy products and oh man I wish they were around when I was Vegan in the early 00’s. Atlanta was super vegan friendly, but even as a pretty adventurous omnivore, I happily eat Kashew Cheese’s offerings on a regular basis. The little kid in me destroys their chocolate cashew milk. Anyway, the conversation about the project quickly evolved into a chat about art, life and design. My type of meeting and I knew this was going to be a fun one. Aesthetically, they loved the way the sun peaked through the trees at one of their locations and wanted to showcase that light in the work. While I love natural light, I don’t like waiting around for it and then it disappearing minutes later. In travel photography, I don’t mind it because its the journey not the destination…. or something like that. But when there’s work to be done and a limited timeframe to get it done, the need for consistency and controlling variables are super important. So, naturally I responded, “Oh we’ll just make our own sunlight and play God.” With a chuckle and a raised eyebrow, they gave us some leeway and off we went creating some really fun images. All of these were lit using my studio strobes and we had such a good time making some interesting lighting setups. We wanted an inviting casual feel and opted for pretty minimalist styling to let these dishes sing without any distractions.

We’ve opened up the books for more food projects in July, so reach out and let’s tell some stories!