Summer Blockbuster Snack Time....

Unwind With Popcorn

Popcorn is a universal snack choice. Its aroma is unique and unmistakable, in theaters, shops, and at home. It signals a time to relax and enjoy. Certain food is known to help slow you down and relieve stress, and popcorn is one of them.

Specialty popcorn is one of the great products that originate from right here in Chicago. In fact, it's been the official state snack in Illinois since 2003.

A bit of background: Although Native Americans are often credited with first popping corn, there is actually evidence of it in the Far East long before Columbus came in 1492, and archeological speculation that corn was popped in Mexico thousands of years ago.

Then we have the eternal question, why does popcorn pop? The short answer is that pressure builds up inside the kernel, creating an explosion of sorts. Today, specific strains of corn are grown for popping purposes. And we're glad to hear it.

We were privileged to be able to shoot for Garrett Popcorn Shops® and showcase their extraordinary popcorn, flavors and natural ingredients.

Learn more about Garrett Popcorn Shops, a Chicago tradition since 1949.

Sticky Sweet S'mores Bars...

Sticky Sweet S'mores Bars

Pan-baked S'mores

What’s the one unique treat that conjures up all your best memories about camp and camping? Just the mere mention of S’mores, or any of its ingredients, recalls a great time in the great outdoors. Forget about the poison ivy, the hard mattress, the bee stings, the long hikes, the Snipe hunts. Toasting S’mores over a crackling fire, then biting into this combo of sweet creaminess and crunch erased all the bad memories, and soothed your aching feet and back.



With staying power stronger than its predecessors, the Mallomar or Moon Pie, S’mores, were enjoyed as early as 1927 – by Girl Scouts no less – as mentioned in their handbook,
“Tramping and Trailing.”



Sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker, a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate melt into a gooey mix that won’t be found in any other confection. There are always modifications or suggestions for improvement – add peanut butter, use a cookie, chocolate chips or even nuts - but the original is still the best.



Until now. Did you know that you could microwave S'mores? Have you ever put one in your toaster oven? Better still, are you aware that it's possible to capture their flavor and texture in a bar?



Try these easy peasy recipes and you'll be amazed and have a couple dozen S'mores to share, without a campfire, long before National S'mores Day on August 10th.   

Steamed & Seasoned Baby Potatoes

The perfect side

Meat and potatoes, chicken and wild rice - some of the best foods in the culinary world are enhanced by their pairing. The side dish doesn't always get the credit it deserves for making the meal complete. These baby Yukon Gold potatoes are steamed perfectly, so when the skin is pierced, the potato is so soft and creamy, it practically melts in your mouth. The potatoes are buttered before cooking for even more savory flavor, and often get another touch before serving, for good measure.

To light this shot, we used a very large soft light source from the left rear, and a point light source from the right rear.  To fill in contrast, we had a light coming in from overhead, and a hand-held mirror, from the front.

These gems were pretty easy to shoot and even easier to make.

Rib Tip Ragout...

As the weather starts to cool off and fall begins, comfort food sounds really good. Nothing warms you up more than a thick, hearty soup or sauce. Our shot features a special mocha sauce with meaty rib tips - great with crusty bread and a fine Oktoberfest beverage.

Rib tips marinated and cooked in mocha sauce.

We wanted to present comfort food in all its glory. Our client requested a shot from above to capture the meat as it cooked. The challenge was to project light into a deep pot that would normally tend to absorb light. So to start, we brought in a very large, soft light source from the left. This light allowed us to capture a lot of highlights on the meat, and started to give the pot itself some definition. The light was very directional from the left, so we needed to fill in on the right side. To accomplish that, we brought in another large soft light source from the back right. This light helped to control the contrast on the pot and the surface or background.

Our shot started to have a breath of life, but the hero (the stew) still appeared flat/dead. When shooting sauce, it’s practically a mirror that reflects the light source back, so the light source had to be broad. But if we put a box above, it would tend to look very flat, so we needed to get some fall-off. To do this, we hung a 4x8 white card directly on top of the camera (since we were shooting straight down). We then took a point source of light and aimed it at the card. This allowed us to have control of where the highlights appeared, and also gave us some nice fall-off of light where we needed it. 

Finally, we brought in another point light source from the back right to focus some spectacular highlights on the meat. Yummm.

Ragout created from leftover rib tips in mocha sauce

Magical Mojitos....

The summer is winding down and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate one of the last 90 degree days in Chicago than with an ice cold mojito.



Watermelon Mojito - garnished with a watermelon spear and mint leaf


A mojito is potentially a very dangerous drink. If it’s made just right, it tastes so good that you aren’t aware of all the rum inside… until it’s too late. Of course, depending upon your schedule and your plans, a bit of rum may not be the worst thing in the world.

This shot was inspired by what we assumed would be the last 90 degree day in Chicago this year. We went out to lunch, sat outside on a patio, played some bags, and enjoyed some mojitos in mason jars. What a perfect end to the season.

When setting up this shot we wanted to show a cold, refreshing drink to toast the end of a beautiful summer. In lighting, we wanted an outdoor feel so we had to create a sky and a sun. We placed a huge flat high above our set, toward the left side, and shined a large point source through it, with no modifiers on the light. This gave us our sky and the light of a partly cloudy day, but that wasn't enough, we needed some directional light from our sun. So we brought in another point-light source from the back left, a little lower than our sky light. That gave our sun light some direction, and also reflected nicely on the ice in the jar. As you would expect, the shot was very contrasty, so we brought in a white card on the right, very close to our jar, just outside the frame. This card bounced some of that sun’s light back onto the jar and opened up the lighting.

Over all, the lighting was fairly simple and highlighted all aspects that we wanted to accentuate.






Mint Mojito - garnished with a lime and torn mint leaves
We lit this mojito almost exactly the way we lit the watermelon mojito. The difference between these shots was that we dropped the camera angle to show more of the mint inside the jar and brought a soft light from behind to add to our sky light. The addition of the soft light made the scene a bit more flat, as though more clouds had rolled in, making the mojito itself the superhero.

3-Way Grilled Corn on the Cob...

Corn on the cob is a perennial favorite this time of year, and hot off the grill, it’s even better. Grilling corn on the cob changes up this traditional side dish; in fact, most kids don’t even consider grilled corn on the cob a vegetable! When we set up our grill for the upcoming football season, we will definitely have corn on the grill, right along side of the burgers and dogs.

To light this shot, we needed a large unbroken light source to catch all the places the butter had melted. We put a couple of those light sources around the product. One was from the back right and directed toward the left. Beyond that, we had a small point light source from the back left. Even with the soft light sources around the set, we noticed a bit too much contrast, so we put a white card up, over the top of the set, to reflect some of the light back down and fill in the shadows.

Butter is a challenge. The butter started to melt instantly, so we had to move fast. Needless to say, we had to melt the butter a few times to get the effect we were looking for.

Mushroom Ravioli...

Making your own ravioli isn’t a job for beginners, but the taste is well worth the effort.

You can see how this shot developed in the "how we did it" photos below.

Once the pasta is created, you can craft the stuffing – cheese, spinach and meat are all fine options, but mushrooms are the pièce de résistance. Don’t bother with a marinara or Arrabriata sauce for this recipe. A basic garlic and oil sauce, aglio olio in Italian, with a winning combination of fresh basil and chopped walnuts, topped with crushed red pepper, shows off the shape of the pasta and complements the mushroom flavor without overtaking it.

Lighting the set was fairly simple. We created a window-lit setting, by placing a large, soft light source on the right, slightly to the back. This light accentuated the beautiful highlights on the sauce that coated each square of pasta. Since the light was relatively close, the inverse square law (the power of the light will be inversely proportional to the square of the distance) was making the left side of the plate darker than we wanted. We brought in a small white card to bounce the light back and fill in the shadows.  At this point, the ravioli appeared somewhat flat and needed a enhancement.  From the back left, we brought in a small point source light to catch the rim of the pasta and add the ‘punch’ we were seeking.

The Stand-in:

Click to Expand

The Moist and Tasty Pork Chop....

Nothing says summer, like grillin'...

A griller's choice and challenge,


     An outdoor feel was a must for this summery shot. To keep control, but still have the natural light look from an afternoon sky, we placed a point light source to come from the back right. This light gave us direction and also produced all the specular highlights on the chop.

By doing this, our indoor set became a realistic afternoon sky with a controlled, simulated sun. To create the look of a natural light, you can't just create a sun, you also have to create a sky. We put a large white flat behind the set and wrapping around towards the left, thus creating a sky-like impression and producing a large, unbroken highlight on the sauce. Since the front was going a little dark, we filled in with a mirror to light the front and captured the delectable details of both the meat and potatoes. 

The shoot was fun, fragrant and we all spent a lot of time licking our lips.

White BBQ Pulled Chicken Pizza...

Pizza comes many different ways.  Size, shape, layering, are all something that are different depending on where you are in the country.

A unique White BBQ sauce accents this wonderful pizza.

Chicagoans traditionally think pizza is thick, hearty and the sauce goes on top.  Other Chicagoans think pizza should be on a thin cracker like crust.  This particular recipe is a lot lighter and had more of a crisp taste to it, thus we wanted to keep the crust thin.

The product has a lot going on with it, so we wanted to keep everything else simple and clean.  Our client had this wonderfully weathered pizza stone, and it was an obvious choice when propping to use it.   We had a very large soft light source coming in from the right, to give us our main light direction.  We also had a soft light source coming from directly behind to help give some incidence on the surface and parts of the pizza that have a sheen.

To add some interest, we put a glass shower block on the surface to play with the soft light.  That glass block is giving us the white incidence on the back right of the frame.  The left side of the fame then got empty and dark, so we put a small measuring cup of parmesan cheese to break up that negative space.  We didn't want our shot to be completely flat with soft light, so we brought in a point source from the back left to punch up the contrast and make the shot come alive.

The front of the shot was going darker than we would have liked, so we put a white card on the front left to reflect some of our main light coming from the right, then used a hand held mirror on the front right to reflect the point source light back onto a desired part of the product.

Creamy Pesto with Asparagus over Pasta...

Some people say they don't like too much green food, or even not at all.  Those people have no idea what they are missing.

Pasta and a homemade pesto, topped with shredded parmesan cheese.

This shot was shot for a client.  They really wanted to feature the food, and they realized that with all the pasta, it could get confusing what was going on.  We decided to come in tight and really focus on the heart of the dish.  The propping was all done by our art director who did a fantastic job of splashing the right colors together to feature the pesto.

To light this shot, it was actually very simple.  Our main light was a very large soft light source from the right side.  We wanted to give the natural light looks, so we didn't over light it.  We then put in a small white card close to left side of the bowl, which really filled in the dark holes created by our "sun".  Then to give it just a little bit of pop, we gave it a point light source from the back left.  The food stylist did a great job of keeping this very simple and elegant.  Food styling wise, this shot could have been a nightmare if the stylist wasn't careful.  Pasta can be very difficult to style properly.

Fresh Fluffy Doughnuts...

Homemade doughnuts are amazingly tender and delicious.  The dough itself isn't terribly sweet, so the coating of sugar doesn't make them cloying at all.  A mix of cinnamon and sugar or your favorite frosting would be just as delicious.

These are traditionally a cold weather food, but since its near April in Chicago and still 20 degrees, why not?

These small doughnuts were made for a client, but we shot them separately to get a different perspective.  We just had to come in close and tight on them to show off the cinnamon and sugar.  They were still hot enough that putting them in set, we were a little worried they would crumble apart.  To really show off the texture and to give a clear idea of how much coating is on these doughnuts, we used just a few point source lights.  One from high and to the back right, to skim across the face of the 2 forward facing heroes.  The other was low and to the back left to skim and give an edge light to some others.  In addition to that, we had a soft light overhead to control contrast.  We spilled a little bit the topping onto the surface, and put some empty glass ware behind to give some extra interest.

All and all, this was a very simple shot made delicious by the food itself.  Sometimes, the photographer and food stylist have to work some magic, but simple is sometimes better.

The Aroma of Steak...

The power of smell is amazing.  We shoot a lot of food in our studio, but nothing has the ability to gravitate people to a set more than a fresh steak.  The smell fills the studio, and everyone wants to try it.

A savory mushroom crust surrounds tender beef filets in this recipe, aside from the red wine reduction.

This Shot is just one from a 2 week shoot with this client.  The shoot was for a cookbook for the client, and should be ready to purchase in the next few months.  I shot this with our Sinar Digital back mounted on a 4x5 view camera.  I wanted to get low and really close on the subject, to really show the   "meat" of the shot. (pun intended)  I used a 150mm lens, wide open. 

For lighting, the client and art director wanted to portray a more natural light.  In my mind, I envisioned the window coming from the right.  So to create that light source I used an 11'' Speedotron bare reflector and aimed it at a bank of white cards.  This gave me a very large soft light source, which gave me the beautiful highlight on the right portion of the filet.  I then brought a small white card close and on the left, to reflect that light and fill in the left side.  That card is giving a small highlight on the front left side of the filet.  The shot also needed some directional light, so I brought in a few point sources. 

One was from the back left, which gave some nice specular highlights, and really made crust separate.  Another was directly behind; this was a small point source with very low power, and it is providing the rim lights for the green beans.  At this point the overall contrast of the shot was too much, and the Red Wine Reduction on the plate wasn't getting any light, so I put a softbox on a boom overhead.  This filled in some of the shadows and reduced the overall contrast.