Gravity Check is Locally brewed IPA from the Kern River Brewing Company.
Get a Handle on your Asparagus
Editorial image depicting Asparagus as a paint brush for an article describing various methods of preparing this perplexing vegetable. Published in The Dinning Divas online magazine using the tag line of “Get a Handle on your Asparagus”. Shot in studio using all practical effects (no Photoshop needed) I found an old paintbrush out in the tool shed and disassembled it removing the dried out paint bristles and carefully replacing them with fresh organically grow Asparagus sprouts.
©2015 Eric James Swearingen
#ArtofEricJames
Food Photography Thoughts
Here at the Art of Eric James Studios we take great pride in crafting the highest quality images to faithfully reproduce your culinary creations to a hungry audience.
Food photography and video production is a specialization of commercial photography, aimed at producing attractive images and video of food for use in advertisements, packaging, restaurants publications like menus or cookbooks and is especially useful in social media presentations where it is extremely important to engage your patrons with special offers and current promotions. Good quality food photography can really help counter the foodies that take bad cell phone snap shots and post them to blogs and online review sites.
Professional food photography and video is often a collaborative effort, usually involving the client, an art director, the photographer, a food stylist, a prop/set stylist and assistants, all working in concert to depict the chef’s vision.
Much thought is placed on presentation and mood of the finished image to convey the correct ambiance of each unique restaurants theme and menu. This is usually accomplished by pre-production meetings where ideas are discussed to plan out the details and objectives of the photo and/or video shoot. This insures that during production all required elements needed to produce best possible images will have been acquired as part of the logistical process leading up to day of shoot and that all participating member of the production staff are fully prepared to create the quintessential vision.
Depending on the level of complexity required to achieve the shot, there may be a lot of production equipment arriving day of shoot consisting of numerous studio strobe lights with large soft boxes on support stands with electrical distributions cables along cameras and tripods, monitors, reflector cards, color calibration charts and a food styling kit (just for example). This may take a little space to set up and is best situated away from high traffic areas in the venue.
It is in fact this support equipment that makes the shot! I have to laugh when the first thing someone asks is “Do you have a nice camera?”
Photography is really more about lighting then anything else. In order to visually describe the shape, texture, color and details of any object, you must be able to define it with lighting. The final presentation of all photographs whether it be in the form of digital on a kiosk, smart phone, tablet, computer or in print in a magazine, cook book, billboard, menu or packaging, all of these forms of presentation are in fact 2 dimensional. It is the photographer’s duty to convey to the audience that what they are viewing is a 3 dimensional object.
I achieve this through the effective use of lighting and is what sets the Art of Eric James Studios apart from the other photographers. (or as I like to call them “Faux-tographers”). Even if they have a really nice camera…
For more information call the Studio: 661. 322. 0913
The Mark Restaurant
The Mark Restaurant
1623 19th Street
Bakersfield, CA 93301
Phone: (661) 322-7665
©2014 Eric James Swearingen
#ArtofEricJames
Bakersfield Magazine Cover: Moo Creamery
Moo Creamery is located at 4885 Truxtun Ave. in Bakersfield, CA 93309 (Phone: 661.861.1130)
The shop is quite difficult to find but well worth seeking out. The resent reconstruction by the Bakersfield City planners (Oxymoron) has left Moo creamery without a proper off avenue access. So if you have never been there before, it is strongly suggested that you first go to their website and give the map a good look over and then attempt to find Moo Creamery. It’s worth the hunt, because their menu is amazing! All of the ingredients are fresh locally sourced and prepared daily without the use of preservatives or stabilizers. all sauces, relishes and toppings are made from scratch. The buttery brioche buns baked daily and make a good burger, great! The beef used is ground to exacting specifications and cooked to medium rare resulting in fabulous flavor.
The interior decor is clean and modern with fun bovine chotskies throughout. The staff is attentive and friendly. The owners Jessica and Richard share a common dream developed from diverse backgrounds. A native of Bakersfield, Jessica was exposure to the restaurant industry through a high-quality Los Angeles restaurant/bakery, Clementine, while attending UCLA. She found her niche, and after graduating with a degree in Economics and Accounting, she managed Clementine, working under owner/chef Annie Miler. Annie taught Jessica everything about the restaurant business – freshness, seasonality, customer service and community involvement. Jessica also managed Border Grill in Santa Monica under Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken.
Richard was born and raised in Los Angeles and also graduated from UCLA with a degree in History. After completing a culinary school curriculum in Pasadena, he pursued his dream of becoming a chef. Richard worked as a pastry chef for 10 years in LA, at some of the nation’s top restaurants – Patina and Café del Rey. Jessica and Richard met working together at MILK in Los Angeles.
As Jessica developed her vision, she realized that Richard had the same love for burgers and ice cream as she did. Their combined passion led to the concept of moo creamery.
The ice cream is made with Heavy Cream, Milk, Sugar, Tahitian Vanilla plus unique flavors to create each of the numerous verities. Moo Creamery is the only ice cream shop in Bakersfield that uses NO PRESERVATIVES and no pre-mixed bases. Moo Creamery uses only the finest local nuts from Billings Ranch and Yurosek Farms and uses Callebeaut chocolate from Belgium. The ice cream at Moo Creamery is not too sweet, just flavorful, creamy and deliciousness. Some of the creative flavors include; bacon-love, jalapeno cream cheese, cereal milk…
The pastries are Chef Richard’s creations. He is a classically trained pastry chef and with their two great cooks Juan and Merit, Moo Creamery produces an amazing verity of delightful goodies kept on display in the pastry counter showcases; quiche, muffins, scones, macaroons, fresh fruit turnovers, cookies & brownies. Moo Creamery’s cold case is filled with bread pudding, cream pies, lemon bars, snack cake and much much more. They do layered cakes, cupcakes, macaroons, pies and gluten-free pastries by special-orders.
The 2014 Best Burgers article by Bakersfield Magazine can be viewed by accessing this link.
©2014 Eric James Swearingen
#ArtofEricJames
Doritos® Crash the Superbowl Commercial
Doritos® Curiosity: Mars Landing was entered in the 2012 Doritos® Crash the Superbowl commercial competition under the title of “Planet Doritos”. We did not place, but had a great time with this production. (Guess we were ahead of our time) Many thanks to the crew and cast:
Director/Writer: Eric James Swearingen
Producer/Audio: Dave Pracy
Cinematographer: Michael Fagan
Actors: Doug Patrick, Julie Sims, Dee Cherry, Mike Llewellyn, Zak Glover, Jay Rosillo, Rezzo Sway Giggz
MUA: Ramona Potts of Atomic Kitten Salon
Audio: Mike Lambrix, Jim Gianettoni
Key Grips: Danny Sims, Tyler Johle
Craft Services: Bruce Tisler
Projection provided by: Brent Milton at Pacific West Sound
Additional Lighting by: Kirk Milton at Innovative Concert Lighting
Casting: Richy F.Rich, Charles Wells
Location provided by: East Hills Mall ; Bakersfield, Ca.
Additional product support provided by: Ben & Jerry’s of Bakersfield
For behind the scenes photos of the production go to:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150412911408599.380541.304121628598&type=3
TV for Commercial for La Mina Cantina 2004
Broadcast Television commercial produced back in 2004 for La Mina Cantina in Bakersfield, CA. Shot entirely on a Panasonic HMC-150 camera and edited in Adobe Premiere 5 with motion graphic produced in Adobe After Effects 5.5
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