Restaurant photography

I was contacted by the marketing team at Tria restaurant, located in North Oaks, Minnesota about a half an hour outside the Twin Cities downtown Minneapolis, for some social media content creation images in an editorial lifestyle photo style of their European French inspired restaurant. When collaborating with the team on this project I was asked to photograph the staff, a chef’s portrait, the restaurant interior and exterior, menu entrees, with additional lifestyle scenes of some of their essential entrees and specialty bar drinks and cocktails, all for them to use to promote their brand through the restaurant’s website and social media channels. This photoshoot was on location at the restaurant (on a very cold Minnesota early January day!) so some light travel was involved along with bringing some professional lighting for the portraits and to be used as fill lights where needed. Overall this shoot was similar to documentary or storytelling photography or a “day in the life” of the restaurant’s daily operations in order to visually show its brand.

In order to prepare for a restaurant lifestyle shoot there is a lot of pre-production involved with the client. As the professional photographer you will need to know if there will be talent or models hired (and who will be hiring them, you or the client), a hair and makeup artist, a food stylist, the timeline of the the project, and the day of shoot timeline. This process can sometimes take weeks of coordination before the shoot is scheduled so you will need to be very hands on so you are meeting your clients needs and making sure no deadlines are missed.

Restaurants or venues looking to hire a food and drink photographer to document an image library for them should consider a photographer who is also proficient in art direction and has experience scheduling and hiring third party vendors for the production if needed. Now this shoot did not require all of what I previously mentioned but we did discuss some of these things in the initial stages of the project.

I chose to photograph these food and beverage subjects in a natural window light with a fill flash to add an extra crisp pop to the drinks and dishes. It was in the later afternoon on a winter day so the sun was setting earlier and I used that to my advantage. The sun being lower in the horizon allowed for direct sunlight on a sunny day without a harsh contrast in the shadows. But take a look at some of my favorite images below to see for yourself!

Fresh out of the oven warm pot pie dish in a lifestyle table top setting with bread and a buttery Chardonnay glass of white wine.

The restaurants family event dining room set in a warm and cozy Italian theme inspired home with the wooden cabinet and dining room table with chairs.

Steak with mashed potatoes entree topped with fried onions.

Waitress preparing orders in the kitchen during the busy dinner food service

Plate of mussels in a lifestyle food setting on a classic dining room table top

Motion blur of a server passing by while guests eat in the dining room.

Manager and bartender posing with some specialty drink cocktails at the bar.

Restaurant chef seasoning a pot of stew in an industrial kitchen.

Cozy image of a date night surf and turf dinner special a Caymus vineyards bottle of red wine next to a warm fireplace on a cold winter night.

Waiter portrait holding two glasses of wine white and red in the dining room of Tria restaurant.

A delicious looking cocktail in a coupe glass with natural light on a wooden bar corner.