It’s been awhile since I had a cover shoot. This one was shot back in Sept. We shot 3 or 4 different foods for possibility’s. We had a food stylist and 2 art directors on set. The stylist made the biscuits and prepped them. I helped stack and arrange them, picked the color for the background. I also made a decision to keep every thing skewed to a warm color balance as that was the felling I wanted to convey, warmth and comfort. We shot it in the new house, in the dining area. It has a sky light and 3 large windows. Of course it was overcast and dreary that day, so I lit everything. I want to give a shout out of thanks to Deanne O’Connor and Kathrine Dayton, the art directors at Our State magazine. They have been awesome to work with and they keep giving me more and more assignments! I am so happy to be back shooting full time!

Here is the November 2009 Our State cover  and an inside spread they made from one of the out takes!

So my great friend Willis Loughhead and his lovely wife Emily tied the knot recently in Montauk, NY. Willis is an incredible chef who has helmed some of the best restaurants in the country, and Emily is an incredible pastry chef. When they met, it was all over. They decided on a wedding out on the tip of Long Island in the early fall. They love Montauk and get away to visit as often as they can. I was very excited when Willis called and invited me to the wedding. He went on to say that he would be honored if I were to also take the photographs for them, but that if I wanted to just chill and be a guest, he would be equally honored with that also. I of course said that I would be honored to be the photographer. The wedding was my kind of wedding, very chill, very low key, a fun ceremony that didn’t last very long. Willis and Emily decided that we would do some off-beat bridal portraits before the ceremony at one of their favorite places, the Clam Bar, which is basically a road side shack with awesome food and some tables under umbrellas. They felt these kinds of photos were much more in line with their style than a more formal set of photos. After a quick steamed lobster and some Dom Perignon,  we headed off to do some quick pix in the dunes, then it was back to the Manor for the ceremony. The service was officiated by their friend who wore a seersucker suit with orange socks and white bucs! It was on the lawn at the Montauk Manor overlooking the  water. After the ceremony it was off to the Surf Lodge for the reception. A great sunset and an awesome clambake/grill was on tap, along with kicking music and even a visit by to police! ( just a noise warning, no one was arrested! ) I was assisted on this shoot by another great friend Cary Conover who took an excellent set of photos. I am now neck deep in editing this set of pix, but thought I’d share a few here. I know Willis and Emily are back from their honeymoon and are probably anxious to see some pix! ( remember guys, this is just a little tease, there are many more to come ) - pt

I know it’s been a bit since I last updated, but I have been super busy for the last few weeks. The new house keeps throwing us surprises and fun. I will be posting photos of our rehab once it is all finished. We had a party and that was a blast, although quite a bit of work getting everything ready. After the party I had 3 days of 3-4 shoot days, then it was off to Montauk, which could be my new favorite place on earth. In Montauk I shot the wedding of a great friend of mine, Willis, with another great friend Cary Conover as a second shooter. The wedding was awesome and I hope that Willis and Emily had a great time in South America on their honeymoon. After the wedding, Lesley and I spent a couple of days in NY staying at the Cooper Square Hotel, which I have to say was pretty awesome! It is one of those funky boutique hotels with an awesome view of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building looking uptown. NY was fun, I’ll talk some more about that in the next post. We finished our trip with stops in Freehold, NJ, Philly, Harrisburg, PA and Harpers Ferry, WV. We then got home and I was super sick for about 5 days, then better for 2, then massive ear/jaw ache for 5. That could have been a disaster as we thought it was tooth related, but a trip to Miami, where I am tonight, and a visit to the endodontist has ruled that out. For now.

So, what about all the work I’ve been doing? Well, I can finally show some! I’ve been working the last 3 months for Charlotte Magazine and Our State Magazine, both NC based publications. I’ve done some work thru the assignment division of Getty Images, including one gig for GQ Magazine and Bombay Sapphire Gin for their best bartender contest. I’ve done some local work in Charlotte for a restaurant called Mez with an awesome art director, Jeff Moss. There is even more work, including a cover shot, upcoming and I will post that work when I can. But until then here are some layouts from Our State and some images form the other shoots!

From Our State, this is an awesome German restaurant in Hickory, NC, the Old German Schnitzel Haus.

Shooting at the Hampton Farms Peanut plant was one of the best and most fun assignments I’ve had in a long time!

This is bartender Stefan Huebner of Cosmos Café in Ballantyne, NC

These are some of the ads that Jeff put together with my shots from Mez, in the Epi Center in uptown Charlotte.

This is a shot of one of Mez’s most awesome dishes, Prawns stuffed with Goat Cheese.

A shot of the WXYZ bar for Charlotte Magazine

These were shot for a review of the NODA restaurant the Crepe Cellar, I have not seen the printed piece yet so I picked a few of my favorite shots.