What do get when you give Austin, Texas-based commercial and editorial photographer Kimberly Davis fourteen days, 1,900 miles, four cities, eight ice cream parlors, and lots of yummy treats?
One sweet photo series.
Kimberly was recently approached to photograph two Austin locations for AAA’s Texas Journey magazine, but eventually negotiated the entire story to include eight parlors all across Texas, utilizing friends and family to cut costs for the magazine:
A major plus to having families in other cities is being able to stay as a local which didn’t add an additional expense to the magazine. Because the mileages was going to be high, we negotiated a flat fee for expenses like that built in. The art director wanted the story to show people of all ages because ice cream really is for everyone, so I had to make sure I had some diversity at different locations. Most of the people I photographed were at the location and let me photograph them.
At the locations, Kimberly simply approached people and asked if she could photograph them, and was pleasantly surprised that most people not only obliged but were flattered and interested in the project. It made the series not just about ice cream, but about people too.
A prime example is the below photo, featuring Cole— “firefighter, rescue-diver, tall, manly guy “— and his son Graham eating bright blue ice cream at a kids table. As one would imagine, Kimberly said it was the most hilarious photoshoot ever (“thank goodness for strobes, I was cracking up the entire time!”)
One of Kimberly’s favorite places was the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham where she was able to go on the factory floor and eat ice cream right off the line.
Oh, and there was a dog too! Just when we thought it couldn’t get better…
It was pretty funny photographing Oscar the dog eating ice cream too. We put a blue bell ice cream hat on him and he really enjoyed the ice cream…at first. I decided I wanted to do another round with the ice cream a little bit different so we went back outside and by that time he was so over the ice cream that we had to stick little pieces of hot dog in it so he would eat it!
AAA Magazines recently launched an iPad version of its magazine, so they were interested in incorporating video as well. After seeing Kimberly’s Ceviche video, they knew they wanted something similar, but with an ice cream sundae. Kimberly created a yummy Texas inspired sundae with grilled peaches, Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, caramel corn and pecan brittle. Yum!
View the video below:
Looks good enough to eat! Video by Kimberly Davis.
At the end of the day, Kimberly’s favorite part of this journey was meeting people and walking away with not only these images, but with a personal connection. And a gym membership to boot!