Cooking up an image

Reflected in a mirror, Trudy Henricks of Arcadia eats lunch
at the Anvil Inn in the little town of Cicero with
her granddaughter Lindsey Singleton, who was visiting from Westfield.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

For each issue of our bi-monthly Howard County Living magazine (which is rapidly approaching its year anniversary) we profile a unique and interesting restaurant. The magazine is focused on those readers in the upper income brackets, so all the articles are focused on things they would appreciate, such as the Anvil Inn in the little town of Cicero.

The restaurant's been open for about 30 years. Two years ago it was bought by a woman, Kimberli Baker, and her husband James DuPont. Baker grew up in Cicero and moved away to Phoenix where she met DuPont. Together the two started a catering business. Two years ago the couple were in Cicero and saw the restaurant was for sale, deciding to buy it.

As I was waiting for Baker to come out from the kitchen, I saw the image above. These are the kind of things I really love to see. Its got a lot of areas to look, a couple different layers of images that together with the story tell a reader a lot about the restaurant I think. The customers are lit with the natural light coming through the windows, while the painting is lit using a strobe and pocket wizard left of the frame.

Anvil Inn Chef Kimberli Baker talks about the Italian-style steakhouse she and husband James Dupont have owned for two years.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

This is completely lit with strobes. I hope it looks fairly natural. Some days lighting (that is lighting I manufacture, as opposed to natural light) comes fairly easy, other days it can be a struggle to create something interesting.

This was pretty easy with all the locally created artwork on display, I knew I wanted to try and get that into the photo somehow. There is a strobe off left of the frame with a small softbox on it lighting Baker. Behind her on a shelf in the background is another strobe focused on the painting to bring a little more light than the spotlight already there.


Fortunately for me, I had been working on my lighting skills for about a year before we started the magazine. And I'm still working on it. Like I said, some days it comes naturally. Once the mag started, I was expected to do pretty much all the lighting. It can be a lot to shoulder when you're the only one who is doing it, but I enjoy it. Fortunately, an assignment like this I'm given more time to work on it, which allows me to play around with some different lighting setups.

Even more fortunate, I recognized the opportunities the magazine gave me to try out things like this. I can say that there are some people I know who do not recognize these as opportunities, rather seeing them as albatrosses. That's a shame.


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