Individuals who call the Pacific Northwest home are all about celebrating the sunshine days, often times that’s through picnicking, bbqing, happy hours, really anything that involves delicious, unique food creations. It’s about the ooooh and aaaah moments experienced when taking a first bite. When talking with food clients, it’s all about how appetizing the food looks on that package, advertisement, or in store display, with that in mind Studio 3 sets out to create more than just one appetizing moment, but a series that leads up to the big meal. So, belly up and enjoy a pork sandwich meal, inspired by Seattle’s Paseo, food photographer David Bell was all about capturing the tradition of this local favorite:

The sandwich is an absolute mess, one of the messiest foods you can possibly order, yet one of the most delicious. My challenge when approaching this project was ensuring messy not only looked good, but also looked appetizing. This sandwich has a mind of it’s own and is often times hard to contain. It was all about making sure the sandwich looked authentically messy, therefore bringing the viewer into the moment, the moment of when you sit down at Paseo or any table and are served a pork shoulder sandwich. I believe the best part of this series is the overall end result; creating an essence of being there, on a summer day, about to enjoy a delicious meal.

When approached with such a fun project, the whole studio tends to try and get involved, whether it be sneaking pieces of pork shoulder or getting a chance to delve in on the creative process. No one, however, gets quite involved like our staff producer Jen Hitchcock. Read her thoughts on the shoot below:

It’s always interesting when the studio is approached with a food shoot. I am never quite sure what I am going to have to run out and get. Whether, ice cream starts melting too fast and it’s time to replace them with mashed potatoes, or perhaps running to get glue to hold an item together. Luckily with this shoot, everything was 100% natural, I got to step back and really see some magic happen. This series of photos was really a brain child between David and stylist Erika. They worked so well together on this, they couldn’t have made my job easier. It’s always great to see a stylist and photographer really click.

We are all definitely looking forward to the next shoot, hoping perhaps there are enough leftovers to feed the entire studio. :)

Check out the images, inspired by Paseo’s pork shoulder sandwich below:

The Northwest’s bipolar weather patterns have led us to believe that Spring is either right around the corner or Mother Nature is being a tease. We are definitely hoping for the latter. With a week of nothing short of beautiful weather, Friday has us down in the dumps again. The gray overcast blanket hanging over the city has left photographer Dana Jonas weary about going outside, yet inspired to shoot an image that expresses her continuous search for the Northwest’s favorite season, Spring. Read her thoughts on her distress or perhaps her lack of Vitamin D:

Sometimes I just have to shoot what I feel. Oh Seattle, how I love to hate you. Every year come April and May, it feels like winter drags on forever. A part of me refuses to accept that the NW doesn’t get summer until July, so they say. For many of my formative years I lived in hell, otherwise known as Phoenix. I would whine and whine about the sun to no end. I don’t know, maybe I’m being punished. Watch what you wish for!

Check out her fun image below.

Overused, generic stock photos won’t “WOW” customers. It’s the general consensus heard around town, however they are still a visual solution for many. The question we pose is: if your brand was understood, your need was met, and all within budget, would you leave stock imagery by the wayside? Really, who wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars running an ad campaign with a stock image when that same image may be used by your direct competitor?

Lets look at a recent case study that addresses this very issue:

We were approached by a national insurance company who wanted to move away from stock photography in order to have access to their own asset library. Of course, we jumped at the opportunity to work on such a large, forward thinking job.

After sitting down with the client to completely understand their needs, usage, and budget we were on our way to customizing the shoot. One of the main desires acquired was to showcase the craftsmanship of the local Portland community with the end goal of creating extremely diverse imagery, that would be relevant for years to come! Lets break down the numbers for this job…

The end result was an exciting experience that ended up bringing people together. A couple words from our Producer, Rachel, about working on this project:

In order to make a huge job like this go as smoothly as possible you have to have a few things working in your favor: you have to be able to see the small details at the same time as the overall big picture, be very organized, and have a team that you trust thoroughly! Having good people around you can make even the longest, hardest days fly by. And coffee. Lots of coffee.

The countless hours spent searching for that perfect stock image – eliminated! Check out some of the beautiful images that solved our clients needs.

When approaching a shoot, we always like to tell a story. Lucky for us we have a team of photographers that are readily available to help. When it came to this particular shoot, it was all about young love and of course, CUPCAKES. Dana Jonas landed Cupcake Royale as a location and had some fun with frosting and our adorable young models. Clients frequently express the need for “chemistry” in their photos, which makes our photographer Dana Jonas giddy, since her favorite part about being a lifestyle photographer is interacting with the people involved, and of course, the final shot. Read below for Dana’s take on this exciting daytime shoot:

The cupcake shoot was right up my alley; bright colors and a cute couple having fun! Cupcake Royale has such a great vibe to their Capitol Hill location, it was an extreme pleasure to shoot there. The only tough part was keeping my mouth from salivating all over the camera. :) Couldn’t have asked for more enjoyable models; Emma and Weston had a great connection. He even gave her a ride home after the shoot, how cute!!

Clients love Dana for her efficient photography skills and her ability to work with the “talent”, her shots also have a fun edge that has even overshadowed her infectious laughter on set. This girl gets results every time, from shooting asset libraries, to packaging, to ad campaigns, to making a delicious cupcake even more irresistible!

Check out the whole on-set story, in picture, below:

We are absolutely feeling our very own Dana Jonas’ Shocking Goat shoot. The colors are like WOW and the locations are too much fun. With a set full of beautiful models, talented stylists, funky fresh fashion designs, and an absolutely SHOCKING product, we couldn’t ask for a better team to collaborate with. Read below to find out Dana’s insight on this refreshing shoot:

This shoot was a blast! From the one of a kind designer fashion by Alexander Aesthetic, to the great talent from Seattle Model’s Guild and the amazing product which brought us all together, it was definitely a shoot to remember. Dhruva, the CEO of shocking goat, is a hoot and none of this would have been possible without his genius mind when it came to how he wanted his product represented. One of the best collaborations I’ve been a part of to date :) Also, I should give a shout-out to the amazing stylist and producer, Kayleigh Capelle! Oh and don’t mind my potty mouth at the end of the video, haha!

Check out the behind the scenes video to catch a glimpse of the on-set action.

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 See below for images from the shoot: