I don't even remember how we came up for the concept of this shoot. Perhaps it had to do with Tim and I both being ex-smokers, but loving the way smoke looks as it wafts gently, creating patterns reminiscent of incense burning. It also may have been the dining table we own, something that Tim picked up at a thrift store during his divorce. In any case, we came up with the idea to shoot a scene that looks like an old diner breakfast back when men were men, they smoked, drank black coffee, and ate eggs and bacon for breakfast.
The prop shopping may have been the most fun part of this shoot. We scoured antique stores here in Austin until we found the perfect gold ashtray, bought some cheap tableware from restaurant supply stores and even hit some Dollar Stores. We started out using sad battery-hen eggs you get in the Styrofoam containers (wrong on so many levels) but the yolks were anemic, so we ended up using our favorite brand, Vital Farms, which promises bright orange, sunset-colored yolks. We even bought Pall Mall cigarettes and pink packets of sweetener to complete the look. Tim came up with the composition to include the table's metal banding framing the bottom of the picture, and we set up the hero shot that way. Then I nabbed some overhead shots of the table. We also loved the ripped look of our red vinyl kitchen stools, so we included that in the background for the test shoot of cigarettes and coffee.
I hope you enjoy these images as much as we do. Gross, but pretty, right?
Studio Brisko, Portland Food and Product Photography