I am someone who likes the seasons to be, well, seasonal. I like my summers to be hot and my winters to be cold. Nashville’s weather has been all over the place this winter, and despite my traditional season feelings it’s been kind of fun. A few weeks ago we had a record snowfall and got a weekend of white. The next weekend it was 65 and sunny, and I was able to enjoy a beer and an amazing cheeseburger at The Stone Fox on it’s final weekend (RIP). Today it’s snowing again. I am glad overall that it’s back to winter, but that day of 65 and sunny definitely gave me a little spring fever. When the weather begins to warm up people come out of their winter comas and get back in action.

If you have been following us you know we’ve been shooting an ongoing project with the Nashville Food Truck Association. We have been inside the trucks, met the chefs, tried samples and seen the amazing things that they can do. That is part of the reason I’m getting spring fever. I know when the weather warms up and outdoor festivities start back that there will be food trucks galore. There is something refreshing about being at a party or festival on a nice day in spring and seeing the abundance of food options to choose from. I have tasted a lot of what these chefs offer, and it’s safe to say that I am excited about seeing what they’ll have cooking come spring. – John

See more food trucks here.

ROLLING FEAST – SOUTHWESTERN/AMERICAN

SMOKE-ET-AL – MOBILE SMOKERY AND CATERING

SMOOTHIE KING – FRESHLY BLENDED FRUIT SMOOTHIES

One of the hardest things for me to do as a photographer is to get out and socialize (see also: “network”). I think many of us creative types find it hard to muster up the gumption to go to an event, meet potential clients, chit chat and try to develop new relationships that may or may not lead to working together. Being social like that doesn’t come natural for me.

Now on top of actually being social, we as business owners have to also engage socially in digital media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Not only are we faced with something that might not come natural, we’re dealing with finding the time to do so. Hmmm, shall I spend time on Instagram or should I edit these images from yesterday’s shoot? I’d rather edit yesterday’s shoot. Um, deadline. Needless to say, we’re all juggling more than this or that. We’re juggling dozens of choices for how we spend our time.

I think this notion also rings true with many businesses these days. There’s so much going on. Everyone’s plates are full. On top of that, being active on social media doesn’t always come easy or natural. It takes concerted effort. It takes planning. It takes resources. And, as my social media presence will attest, other things end up taking priority.

Speaking of concerted effort, planning and resources, we’ve been working with Cracker Barrel and their advertising agency for a while now in helping develop food photography in various forms for their social media plan. While we work with talent, on and off location, various in-store and at-home scenarios, the food is always priority. Here are a few Instagram examples of the photography we’ve produced with the agency and Cracker Barrel.

I can say with out hesitation, I’d much rather help our clients with their social media than work on our own here. Socialite? Not so much. Food photographer? Definitely.

– Kyle

Happy New Year!!!

At Dreier & Company, 2015 was a great year, and we are ready to blast into 2016 at light speed (had to make a Star Wars reference). We stayed busy last year and had the opportunity to work on a lot of fun food shoots. One of my favorites of 2015 (which will actually continue into 2016 *insert ‘thumbs up’ emoji*) was our project for the Nashville Food Truck Association (NFTA). We have photographed 52 food trucks so far. It’s been a blast getting to meet the owners and the creators of these traveling restaurants. It’s also been a lot of fun trying the food. I am always excited to go to an event where food trucks are out, because it opens up a world of lunch/dinner possibilities. It’s nice to be able to sit back and say “what am I in the mood for” knowing whatever you’re in the mood for is on a truck close by.

Now I know that it has been unseasonably hot and that can get you down (I personally like the cold), but there is a silver lining to the winter being mild. Warm weather means more people outside which means more food trucks, and that certainly isn’t a bad thing. – John

See more food trucks here.

MOOVERS AND SHAKERS – MILKSHAKES AND FLOATS

PITA PIT – HEALTHY PITA SANDWICHES

RIFFS FINE STREET FOOD – KOREAN STREET FOOD

It’s food truck Friday…on a Tuesday. Sorry for the delay as we’ve been doing some renovating at the studio, and it has kept us quite busy.

Anyway, this past weekend I went to the WeHo market in Nashville, Tennessee. It is an art market featuring a lot of booths for artists to sell their work as well as an art crawl. Here in Tennessee, winter hasn’t quite reached it’s full potential so the weather was pretty nice; and where there are people (and decent weather) you can bet that food trucks will be around.

This past Sunday I tried Electric Sliders. They offer small slider burgers in 1, 2’s or 3’s; and they are awesome. The menu changes pretty frequently and they have a couple of specials, but I had to go with just a classic cheeseburger. Let me tell you it was great. It is amazing what can be be cooked in a truck. Before the cold keeps us all inside, I recommend getting a taste of some of Nashville’s food trucks. They are delicious. – John

See more food trucks here.

MAGGIE MOO’S MOBILE SLAB – PREMIUM ICE CREAM

MUSIC CITY RICE AND ROLL – FILIPINO-SOUTHEAST ASIAN

A LITTLE ITALIAN – ITALIAN FOOD

When we say “recent work” here it’s really relative. We typically don’t show work the minute we do it (or even the month) but, we do get excited about work we’re doing for client and like to do a little show and tell now and then. These images are from a July photo shoot with The Buntin Group advertising agency here in Nashville. You might be saying “I thought you were just a food photographer.” My answer is yes, but we also deal with food related product. In this case, the Chinet cut crystal line of plates, glasses and cutlery. Here are a few images from our shoot with them. – Kyle

I have always loved pasta. I lived in Perugia, Italy, for a summer when I was in school; and let me tell you, there isn’t much better than being in Italy, sitting outside looking over the countryside and having a huge plate of pasta for dinner. (The good wine didn’t hurt either.)

Earlier this month, we spent a few days with a restaurant chain photographing their pasta dishes. One of my responsibilities as digital tech is making sure we are holding focus. While doing this I noticed how fun pasta is when you are zoomed in 100% (AKA pixel to pixel). Seeing all of the linear movement and shape of the pasta inspired me to make it the subject of this month’s “up close” blog post. However, we can’t show the images from our recent pasta shoot yet, so I decided to pull some pasta images from our archive.

Be sure to check out other up close posts here.

– John