Maria Maria: A Family Tradition // INFLUENCE Magazine
The Workmans photographed food and environmental portraits at Maria Maria restaurant in Tallahassee for INFLUENCE Magazine's feature on the family-owned Mexican restaurant.
Maria Maria: A Family Tradition // INFLUENCE Magazine
INFLUENCE Magazine assigned us to photograph a feature on Maria Maria for their Spring 2024 "Food" section. The story, written by Rochelle Goff, profiled the family-owned Mexican restaurant and its founders, and our assignment took us to the restaurant in Tallahassee for a combination of food photography and environmental portraits.
Restaurant photography that combines food and people is one of the more demanding editorial assignments because you're managing two completely different types of photography in a single session. The food needs to look its best, the people need to feel natural in their space, and both need to work together across a multi-page magazine layout. At Maria Maria, we were photographing the dishes, the interior of the restaurant, and the family behind it, which means every part of the session required a different approach.
For the food photography, timing and coordination with the kitchen are everything. Dishes like tostadas, chile rellenos, and tamales are best photographed within minutes of being plated. The textures, the colors, and the way sauces and toppings sit on the plate all change quickly, so you need to be set up and ready before the food comes out. We used Profoto lighting to give us consistent control over how each dish was lit, ensuring the colors and details read accurately regardless of the restaurant's ambient conditions. We worked with Canon lenses that let us get close on the plating details while also pulling back for wider compositions that showed the dishes in context.
The environmental portraits of the Gamez family and staff needed to feel connected to the restaurant itself. Maria Maria has a casual, welcoming interior with brick walls and wood tables, and the images needed to reflect that character. As Tallahassee photographers, we've photographed a number of local restaurants for editorial features, and the ones that are family-run have a particular energy that comes through when you let the people interact naturally in their space rather than over-posing them.
Food and restaurant photography in Tallahassee is a growing part of our editorial work, and features like this one for INFLUENCE Magazine are a great example of the range of stories the publication covers beyond politics. We enjoy assignments that let us document the local food scene and the people building it, and Maria Maria's story is exactly the kind of feature that reminds us why we love photography in Tallahassee.
This feature was photographed by The Workmans for INFLUENCE Magazine and appeared in the Spring 2024 issue and was written by Rochelle Goff. The Workmans are a husband-and-wife photography team based in Tallahassee, Florida, and we work with publications across the state of Florida, in Washington D.C. and around the United States. You can explore more of our editorial photography in the archive, see more of our work across our website and connect with us on how we can best serve you!
Florida House Celebrates 50 years on the Hill // INFLUENCE Magazine
Florida House Celebrates 50 years on the Hill // INFLUENCE Magazine
The feature in INFLUENCE Magazine
From Ads to Auteur: Communications savvant Kevin Cate // INFLUENCE Magazine
From Ads to Auteur: Communications savvant Kevin Cate // INFLUENCE Magazine
The feature in INFLUENCE Magazine
Three Questions for Insurance Expert David Altmaier // INFLUENCE Magazine
The Workmans photographed David Altmaier at The Southern Group offices in Tallahassee for INFLUENCE Magazine's feature on Florida's insurance industry.
Three Questions for Insurance Expert David Altmaier // INFLUENCE Magazine
INFLUENCE Magazine assigned us to photograph David Altmaier for a feature in their Fall 2023 issue. The story, written by Peter Schorsch, was a Q&A on Florida's insurance landscape, and the portrait session took place at The Southern Group's offices in Tallahassee.
Lobbying firm offices are a setting we know well as Tallahassee photographers. We've photographed portraits at firms across downtown and Adams Street over the years, and each one has its own layout, its own light, and its own visual identity. The Southern Group's offices gave us a professional backdrop for the session, and for a feature like this where the portrait needs to accompany a focused interview, the images need to feel polished and confident without being stiff.
For a single-subject portrait session in an office environment, the approach is about making the most of the space you're given. You assess the layout, identify which areas give you the most ideal backgrounds and the most interesting depth, and then build the session around those spots. We used Profoto lighting to give us control over the portrait quality and ensure Altmaier was lit consistently regardless of which part of the office we were working in. Office lighting can be inconsistent from room to room, and having our own setup means the images maintain the same level of quality across the full set.
We tethered to our MacBook Pro running Capture One during the session so we could review the portraits at full resolution in real time. For a feature where the magazine may only use one or two images, every frame matters, and seeing the details on a larger screen while you're still working lets you make precise adjustments to expression, posture, and composition before the subject's time is up. Tethering is a standard part of our workflow for portrait sessions at professional offices because it helps us work efficiently within the time window the subject has available.
Political portrait photography and professional headshot work at lobbying firms is a consistent part of what we do as editorial photographers in Florida. The subjects are busy, the sessions tend to be compact, and the images need to serve both the publication's editorial needs and the professional standards of the subject. We bring the same level of preparation to every office session whether it's for INFLUENCE Magazine or any other publication we serve in Tallahassee.
This feature was photographed by The Workmans for INFLUENCE Magazine and appeared in the Fall 2023 issue and was written by Peter Schorsch. The Workmans are a husband-and-wife photography team based in Tallahassee, Florida, and we work with publications across the state of Florida, in Washington D.C. and around the United States. You can explore more of our editorial photography in the archive, see more of our work across our website and connect with us on how we can best serve you!
Jeremy Susac: Seeks a Sustainable Future for Construction and Florida // INFLUENCE Magazine
Jeremy Susac: Seeks a Sustainable Future for Construction and Florida // INFLUENCE Magazine
The feature in INFLUENCE Magazine
Straining for Visibility, GOP Contenders Not Named Donald Trump Put Pen to Paper // INFLUENCE Magazine
Straining for Visibility, GOP Contenders Not Named Donald Trump Put Pen to Paper // INFLUENCE Magazine
The feature in INFLUENCE Magazine
Jason Delgado: Camera-ready to report on Florida's Politics // INFLUENCE Magazine
Jason Delgado: Camera-ready to report on Florida's Politics // INFLUENCE Magazine
The feature in INFLUENCE Magazine
