Buchanan Studios Blog

In honor of the upcoming warm weather a couple of images from a recent shoot for a local FroYo franchisor. Since these were for Point-of-Purchase and menu displays, we really needed to shoot the real thing, as opposed to manufacturing an artificial stand-in. This, of course, presented some challenges. This project was for a small start up franchisor so facilities were limited. Ideally, we’d shoot in a walk in freezer. Cold, but it works. However there was no freezer large enough to hold us on site, and no budget to build/rent one. Option two, thanks to our food stylist, Harry McMann, draw the product out of the machine (which isn’t as easy as you might think) and quickly move it to the closet sized walk-in that was available. Harry then spends the next few minutes strategically placing the fruit and other toppings as needed. Finally, leave it alone in the freezer for 15 minutes or so to harden up. That way it’s got an extra 30 seconds on set before it starts to fall apart. And it really is that fast. In shooting variations, we could see the yogurt softening up in about 1 minute.

Client: YogiCastle
Food Styling by Harry McMann

I had an opportunity to work with a great agency in Chestertown, MD recently. We spent a day at a bakery in town there shooting all kinds of wonderful products. 

Client: Village Bakery Cafe
Agency: Benchworks

Food styling by Harry McMann

mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, mint leaves

When things get slow (and they have) I like to take some time and noodle around in the kitchen and studio and see what I can come up with.  This latest pairing came to me in a Robitussin stupor.  (summer colds are the worst.)   What a great job I have, even when hard a work on product development I still get to eat well.

This month’s recipe is for sour cherry pie, perfect for the heat of summer.

Get it here