Nutella = Yummy.

So we've been doing a lot of images in the studio with strobes, and so today we decided to play a little with our windows. You may not have had a chance to taste Nutella - it's one of those European things - but if you see it, buy it, spread it, eat it. It's yummy.



Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Shatto means tasty.

I've been working for a few years with the wonderful people at Shatto and SHS and have loved seeing the packaging design/packaging advertising evolve in new and exciting ways. So, here's the latest products (which I think you can already find in your neighborhood grocery stores). A new ice cream flavor with new ice cream packaging and three new butter flavors with radically new packaging. This stuff not only looks great, but it tastes delicious!




Credits:
Shatto Milk
SHS
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Our work....in print. Always cool.

Tearsheets are pretty darn fabulous and we had some odd ones last year - ranging from priests, to hangover cures, professional football (soccer for you American folk) and the architects and union workers who build the stadiums and even a clock maker who restores historic clocks - the really big ones. I love the variety of the projects we get to cover, and while I do have my favorites it's phenomenal fun to be working with so many wonderful subjects.







Credits:
Room 39
Sporting KC
Populous
Architect Magazine
Historic Preservation Magazine
Columbia Magazine
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Here's the rub...Part 3

This was the last part of our recent mailer campaign and while the salmon shot is a really simple image, it's definitely one of my favorites. We tried a variety of different hanging techniques to support the salmon. We tried using the whole fish and variations on it, but ultimately we found Adam (my wonderful assistant) was a great prop to get over the scale of the fish and show off a fun way of supporting it. Trina did a fantastic job of peeling back the skin, one of the outtakes was so perfect where we trimmed the skin it just looked like we did it in post, so we finally worked with this solution, where we pinned the skin back and kept the rub strictly on the exposed portion of the fish.

Meanwhile we worked with Sarah to get the "Bake" image just right - here we tried a couple of different models and wound up finding the blonde skin and long hair of Haley Middleton was a perfect match.

Definitely a fun shoot, a wonderful mailer and thank you to everyone for all the kind comments we've received.

PS. The rub does NOT work as a sunscreen.






Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Stylist - Sarah Thompson Lift
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Why do I do it...

So I typically use the blog to show off the new images, so I wanted to try and post some stuff that's a little less shoot based and a little more me based. I occasionally get asked "how did I end up here", pretty much all the time - it's the accent I think - and while it generally relates to me being in America and talking in a strange way, I think it could equally relate to my photography. So yeah, how did I end up here. I started off in a very different direction; I was going to be an architect, like my father, and wound up doing an exchange program to the University of Kansas - there's a long story there - and then wound up designing retail interiors and exhibits all over the country - several long stories there. I loved it, it was a really cool job with some really exciting projects...and then I started photographing them.

That was that.

I just bought a camera from Best Buy, and twelve months later I was done, I chatted to some wonderful full-time professionals, who critiqued and advised and helped me adopt the best practices. I went to the library and read, I picked up the camera and practiced, I looked and looked, at my work and other people's work and then just walked out.

So why?

I love the camera, I love the physical nature of capturing that fragment of time, that moment, I love the technique, the multiplicity of options to solve almost any visual option. I love the incredible range of styles.

That's why I do it.

So I take a lot of photos, a lot of photos, and sometimes I get asked what my favorite image was. Last year I finally had time to go home at Christmas and see my family for the first time in four years...yep, it sounds soppy but my favorite image was this outtake that really took things full-circle for me. There are some images I want to frame, some I want to frame and have in the house, but I don't have many images that make me this happy.



Credits:

Mum and Dad

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Here's the rub....Part 2

Part two of our mailer campaign recently went out and again, thanks for the ongoing feedback. On this one we opted for a postcard mailer so we could show off the artwork a little larger. This time we opted to use the rub as a hair tonic with my good friend (and fellow photographer) Phil Peterson stepping in to model for us. Also, that's Kate's hands are doing the rubbing. On the food - Trina prepped a beautiful tied pork roast and this was one of those occasions where we got to eat the props - we finished shooting this one just before lunch and without any obscure adulteration to the food Trina finished it off and we just sat down to reflect on a great shoot. Thanks to Sarah Thompson Lift who styled the head rub shot and made sure Phil left with his eyesight in tact - safety first.

Part three is coming up next. I hope you are enjoying the images.






Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Stylist - Sarah Thompson Lift
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Here's the rub...

So it's been a while since we last did a physical mailer, so we knew we had to come up with something that would stand out, amuse people and show off some really nice images. We were coming into Spring and Valentines Day was just around the corner, so we figured we'd make it a gift, with a twist. Kate, our resident genius, came up with the double entendre of a meat rub - so we could show some portraiture and some food imagery with a twist - in this case we went for "Give your meat a little rub...THIS MEAT" as the copy and went with a good old fashioned Kansas City strip for the meat. Thanks as always to Trina Kahl and Sarah Thompson for their fabulous styling skills as well as Chris Galloway our perfect "find" from Kate's morning workout at the gym. We heard some great feedback on the mailer and apparently there was a lot of use of the included BBQ rub. This is part one of a three part series - so get ready to see some more wonderful imagery soon.






And for those unfortunate folk who didn't receive the mailer we're sorry, but here's a look at the package:



Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Stylist - Sarah Thompson Lift
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Some fun with syrup.

Recently I got approached by the wonderful Layne Haley to take some photos with her. Layne's one of those collaborative artists who like to create work for fun - I like that. So she wanted to photograph some waffles and make some yummy in-studio photos. So that's what we did. The big question now is what are we going to work together on next?




Credits:
Layne Haley
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Fruit & Light.

One of the big advantages of having a bloody huge studio is that I get to play around sometimes. I'm really enjoying working with some reflections and translucency recently - so here's a couple of quick shots from a very relaxing afternoon. Enjoy.





Credits:
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Fun with Booze. I love my job.

We got these cool glasses from Boulevard brewery and came up with the idea of trying some really stark product shots with strong reflections. Then we added some cocktails and wrapped up with some coffee. It's just another play-day at the studio...with booze.








Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Assistant - Adam Caselman

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Change is Good

“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.” - Author Unknown

Change is inevitable, it’s the only sure thing in life. Things are changing at Alistair Tutton Photography. We now have an on-staff retoucher/assistant in Andrew Hoxey and with my addition to the staff we now have a studio manager as well. We are growing and looking forward to all the future holds for us. New opportunities with current clients and opportunities with new clients.

Who am I you may be asking yourself? My name is Kate Crockett and I joined Alistair in mid-March as studio manager. I am very familiar with change and the opportunity it can bring. I am a navy brat who moved 11 times in 13 years and have enjoyed a variety of experiences in my over 15 year career in marketing. Change always brings some level of trepidation with it, like learning to work with new people, my least favorite - learning new computer programs or sometimes it’s just learning the names of your co-workers - granted here it’s learning the names of all four pups and yelling the right one at the right time to avoid incident. But change also brings with it excitement at the opportunities yet to be uncovered.

I look forward to the excitement of helping Alistair Tutton Photography expand it’s opportunities and I am thrilled to be working with such a great group of people. We are looking forward to launching an updated portfolio on our website so stay tuned for that very soon. In the meantime if you see me at any upcoming networking events please say hi and if you are in need of a puppy fix feel free to stop by the studio for some time with our furry friends.

Credits:
Assistant: Andrew Hoxey and Natasha Frederick
Retoucher: Andrew Hoxey

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