i was hired to shoot two ads for two chinatown bars.  the manifest and mercury bar are both vibrant, distinctly different bars downtown, and the images shot for the ads reflected those differences.

irreverent, not taking itself too seriously, and fundamentally about having a good time, the mercury bar opted to shoot a picture of a patron’s dog at the bar.  using a fast prime lens, a few strobist techniques, and a high ISO, i pulled the image off relatively quickly and easily.  this isn’t my first canine photo shoot and i’ve got to admit that this was the easiest times i’ve had photographing a pet.

the manifest is a bar that is also open during the day, service coffee and offering free wifi.  they wanted to emphasize the value of manifest as a place to stop in during the day, grab a cup of coffee, and work in….in other words, that the manifest is a space that is good for more than just raging.  they wanted a shot of a model holding a cup of coffee with crowds of people walking by.  these shots were accomplished with the model standing still, using a small aperture and slow shutter speed to blur the people who walked by.  it was more challenging, because it involved a little bit of luck.

both worked out pretty well.  i’ve included b-roll from both assignments in the image gallery!

-a

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