When South Carolina announced shelter-in-place orders and the economy started to contract, photographer Cameron Reynolds knew she’d have to be proactive and take advantage of this opportunity. She made a list of several brands she’d been wanting to work with.
One of those brands was Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits. As a fan of their food, Cameron had been wanting to work with this company for some time. The photographer noticed that the company was in the midst of a rebrand that aligned with her own style, so her offer to work with Callie’s came at a perfect time.
I offered to shoot their products and share the images for their use on web and share on my social media as well.
Cameron sent a message to the biscuit company through Instagram, where she was promptly given the email address of their marketing director, Tarah Catalano. The marketing director was looking for two different shots for Callie’s website and accepted Cameron’s offer.
We talked through the shots she needed and decided that they would ship me the product to shoot the following week. Tarah gave me total creative control which is the benefit to reaching out and offering to do work like this.
Due to the stay-at-home orders, Cameron’s options for shooting locations were limited. Access to studio spaces was limited, and her own kitchen was not large enough to set up the lighting she would need. So, once Callie’s products arrived, Cameron set to work for about three hours in her friend’s brightly lit, photogenic kitchen. Her time was limited due to personal childcare and her friend’s schedule, but still Cameron was able to get all of the shots she needed and practice new skills along the way.
It’s fun to get to take the time to mess around a little when you’re shooting alone and can do whatever you want without the pressure of having a client right there. Practicing techniques and lighting is something I don’t get to do a lot anymore, so this was a good chance to do that too.
During the shoot, Cameron focused on getting the right angles on the food and finding symmetry in her shots. She wanted to minimize the distorted look that can make a plate look like it’s falling off the side of the image.
I learned how much distance my different lenses need and particular settings in order to minimize distortion and played around with focusing at different distances too.
In addition to getting the right angles, Cameron had to include elements in the images that would visually suggest how Callie’s products taste. This included dashes of chives and bowls of pimento cheese.
The hardest shots to get were the ones with pimento cheese. For some reason, I struggled to get the two bowls of pimento cheese to look natural. I finally got a shot I was happy with, but it took a lot of small adjustments and moving the bowls all around.
When I lived in Charleston, I looked forward to walking to Callie’s for my Saturday morning biscuit fix. I wasn’t sure if I’d get any opportunities to do any actual shooting during quarantine so was really thankful when Callie’s agreed to collaborate.
After the shoot, the photographer and her husband enjoyed Callie’s biscuits for days. Cameron was happy to get the opportunity to work with a company that’s near and dear to her heart. Her shots of Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits can now be found across Callie’s website and social media pages.
Check out more of Cameron’s work at cameronreynoldsphotography.com.
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