The Lantern will Light the Way

I really enjoy shooting food. It’s perhaps because I love food that I like photographing it so much.

One story that I’ve been working on recently, and seems to be exploding in popularity, is farm to table restaurants. These are restaurants who bypass the suppliers and go straight to the farmers and their locally produced food.

The Lantern in Chapel Hill, NC, run by chef/owner Andrea Reusing and focuses on producing Asian food using seasonal and local ingredients.

Their menu includes items such as Black Pepper and Garlic Soft Shelled Crab with Roasted Chile and Lemongrass, the Heirloom Tomato Salad with Japanese Shiso and Shallots and the Lantern Local Pickle Plate.

If you’re ever in Chapel Hill, you’ve got to give them a try. They're at 423 W. Franklin Street.

Not Your Average Run of the Mill

My buddy Ian Curcio has been trying to get me to come down to Spartanburg, SC, for a long time and shoot some models with him.

This past weekend we finally had the chance to make it happen.

Ian secured the models with a little help from his friend Tony Garner, a local actor. He also found us a great location, an old textile mille on the outskirts of Spartanburg.

The shoot was awesome, except for one drawback: It was hot as blazes in the mill.

I think we all sweated out about ten pounds of water weight. There was no AC in the mill, so I can only imagine how hot it must have been when that plant was in its prime and all the machinery and people were working in that little sweatbox.

We had a blast though. The key was to have fun and make some pictures all of us could have for our own personal use.

I think we’d all like to do it again. Except, next time, it will have to be in a climate-controlled environment.