{ the jaunty magpie }

I've clearly been a shutterbug of late. Which isn't a bad thing.  I'm very fortunate to get photo gigs now and then, shooting what I love -- FOOD. I've been working with Black Bottle, a longtime favorite tavern/gastro pub in Seattle, getting their menu photographed, as well as their great space in Belltown, as well as their Bellevue location. I spent a mostly sunny afternoon crawling all over the place to get just the right angle, craning over food while standing on chairs, all the photo-acrobatics that anyone who's done this before totally gets. And it's kind of a good core workout -- I was a bit stiff the next morning. But doing what you love, oh man, it hurts so good!

I definitely don't get to do this kind of work all the time. This was a total treat for me, just going with the flow, chasing the light all day, trying different angles. I don't use a tripod, I prefer swapping lenses as the mood strikes, laying on the floor to get just the right wide angle, balancing on furniture to do overhead shots -- everyone has their own style of shooting, that's just mine. It was a creatively invigorating day, to be sure, and the shots turned out beautiful! I loved every second of it, even sifting through hundreds of shots to weed out the "meh" ones, and doing color/light balancing in Photoshop for hours -- I love it all. For as many late nights and long hours spent doing my usual freelance work, it's really nice to have these creative Treat Yo Self days, when you can embrace the frenetic creative energy and use it to help tell a story through photos. Even if it's just for a few days out of the year, it's the moment where you have to pinch yourself and say, I truly have a Dream Job.

Jaunty Fine Print: Photographs by Denise Sakaki