It’s Friday, and it’s time for a drink. Recently, Austin, Texas-based commercial and editorial photographer Kimberly Davis shot for The October issue of The Local Palate. For the story, she traveled to different locations to photograph bartenders and their signature cocktails, producing mouth-watering images that would make take anyone’s mind to happy hour. Here, she gives us an inside look at her “Toast of the Town” tour.
“The image where Joyce Garrison is pouring liquor on the ice was a happy accident when a strobe didn’t fire. This was also the first time I used a 60″ Softlighter for the portraits and I really like the lighting on those.”
Above, Bill Norris, a bartender at Midnight Cowboy whips up a “Smoke and Mirrors” cocktail. This cocktail is mixed tableside, where an orange peel is squeezed over a flame to release oils into the cocktail. Kimberly encountered her only challenge of the shoot with this drink, saying:
“The only challenge was catching the flame for the orange essence at Midnight Cowboy. The bartender counted down for me and the strobes helped freeze the moment. We got it on cue every time. He even singed the hair on his hands a little!”
Despite the challenge, this was Kimberly’s favorite part of the shoot. Who doesn’t love lighting drinks on fire?
Above is the Quin Quina cocktail at Weather Up. Weather up has a fancy decor with marble, copper, and liquor kept in perfume bottles.
Despite her typically light and bright style, Kimberly went slightly moody for this shoot, to blend the style of locations. Her client was happy, and she is receiving positive feedback so far.