Tuna for your Soul

I know, I know, you must be saying to yourself, “Tuna for your soul, really?” Yep and especially when it’s served up at The Uptown Cafe in Butte, Montana.

I had a job to shoot recently for a magazine and ended up in uptown Butte, at the properly named Uptown Cafe. If you haven’t been to Butte, you must go. And granted from all outward appearances you may find yourself asking, “Why the hell did I come to Butte. It’s got one of America’s biggest super-fund sites, The Berkeley Pit (which is worth paying to $2 to go look at) it’s not the prettiest looking town, and again it not the prettiest looking town.”

With that being said once you scratch a little beneath the surface you find Butte to be a wonderfully rich town with a ton of character and flavor left over from it’s mining heyday. Not only with architecture, but the people and it really isn’t that ugly of a town.

Not only do the people have a rich cultural history, but they know how to cook. So it seems fitting that Guy Graham head Chef, Co-owner and partner Barb Kornet, would establish their restaurant uptown in Butte.

It’s a great place and features local art on the walls and has a definite charm that says not only do these people like what they do, but they have a passion for it. That was extremely evident in not only their presentation, but their attention to detail.

So now I find myself lighting tuna…

The reason I am posting a couple food pics here and telling you all about Butte is because I really wanted to plug a favorite site of mine called Strobist

Now I am not a big flash guy and I just recently started to experiment with some different methods of multiple off camera lighting using small strobes, but I will have to tell you that even if you aren’t a big fan of those little strobes you have packed away in your bag, you may become one after reading David Hobby’s site, Strobist.

I have started to incorporate some of David’s tricks into my commercial work and I will tell you the doors that start to open up when you become extremely mobile and versatile are awesome.

For these food shots , I just used a very simple setup of one Canon 580ex flash firing through a white umbrella a couple feet away from the dish. I fired this setup using Pocketwizards.

Using these strobes on stands with remote firing capabilities makes it very easy to move.

After reading Mr. Hobby’s blog, I caught the bug and ordered up some Pocketwizards a few umbrellas and stands and have not regretted it. It has become I huge asset in my bag.

So just wanted to throw a shout out to David Hobby for his amazing resources and knowledge he has given us and also a shout out to Butte for providing Montana with some character and a great restaurant, The Uptown Cafe.