A Spirited Business // Tallahassee Magazine
The Workmans photographed Ology Brewing Company's distillery team and products at their Tallahassee facility for Tallahassee Magazine's feature on the brewery's expansion into vodka and rum.
A Spirited Business // Tallahassee Magazine
Tallahassee Magazine assigned us to photograph a feature on Ology Brewing Company for their May/June 2021 issue. The story, written by Bob Ferrante, covered Ology's expansion from craft beer and coffee into distilled spirits, and the assignment took us to their facility off Powermill Court in Tallahassee to capture photographs of the team, the distilling process, and the products themselves.
Brewery and distillery photography is one of those assignments where you're balancing people, products, and space all in the same session. Ology's facility has a lot of visual interest; there's stainless steel equipment, bottles on shelves, the distilling setup, and the taproom and beer garden that regulars already know well. The challenge is making all of those elements feel cohesive in a magazine spread rather than like a disconnected collection of detail images. You need portraits of the people behind the product, close-ups of the bottles and the process, and wider compositions that give the reader a sense of the space.
For the product photography, we used Profoto lighting to give us control over how the bottles and glassware looked. Photographing glass and liquid is tricky because you're dealing with reflections, transparency, and the way light passes through different colors of spirit. A bottle of clear vodka behaves completely differently under lights than a bottle of rum, and getting both to look good in the same visual language takes some attention to how you position and modify the light. We also photographed portraits of lead distiller Jason Grant and members of the Ology team in and around the production space, using the equipment and environment as the backdrop rather than pulling them out of context.
As Tallahassee photographers, we've watched the local craft beverage scene grow over the last several years, and Ology has been a big part of that. We've photographed their space for other assignments as well, including the 10 Places to Chill feature we did for INFLUENCE Magazine. Having that familiarity with the location and the team helps when you're working on a tight editorial timeline because you already know the layout, the light, and the spots that photograph well.
This kind of editorial photography sits at the intersection of food and beverage, portrait, and commercial work. It's one of the areas where photography in Tallahassee has a lot of room to grow, and features like this in Tallahassee Magazine help put the local scene on the map for readers across the region.
This feature was photographed by The Workmans for Tallahassee Magazine and appeared in the May/June 2021 issue and was written by Bob Ferrante. 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!
Beers at Dawn-Thirty // Tallahassee Magazine
The Workmans photographed food and beverage pairings at Madison Social in Tallahassee for Tallahassee Magazine's feature on the breakfast beer trend across North Florida.
Beers at Dawn-Thirty // Tallahassee Magazine
Tallahassee Magazine assigned us to photograph the food and drink imagery for a feature in their March/April 2021 "Gastro & Gusto" section on breakfast beers across North Florida. The story, written by Thomas J. Monigan, covered craft breweries and bars from Tallahassee to Pensacola, and our assignment was to capture food and beverage photographs at Madison Social here in Tallahassee.
Food and beverage photography is its own discipline, and it's one we really enjoy. The goal is to make the reader want to reach into the page and grab what's in front of them. With this assignment, we were working with both plated dishes and poured drinks, which means you're managing different textures, colors, and levels of detail in the same frame. A breakfast plate like chicken and waffles with syrup has warm tones and a lot of visual weight, while a beer or cocktail next to it is translucent and reflective. Getting both to look their best in the same image takes some thought about how you light and compose the frame.
Madison Social gave us a great environment to work in. Restaurant photography in Tallahassee always involves working within the realities of the space; you're fitting your setup around tables, service flow, and whatever natural light the room provides. We used Profoto lighting to give us consistent control over the food styling while keeping things moving at a pace that let the kitchen plate dishes fresh. Food photography has a short window; once something is plated, you have a few minutes before it stops looking its best, so the workflow has to be efficient.
We worked with Canon lenses that let us get in close on the details of the food while still being able to pull back for wider compositions that showed the full table setting and the drinks alongside the plates. The variety of pairings in the story gave us a chance to create images with different visual personalities. A dark stout next to a breakfast plate tells a different story than a bright citrus beer next to eggs and hollandaise, and those differences give the magazine's art director options when laying out the spread.
As Tallahassee photographers, we've worked with a number of local restaurants and bars for editorial assignments, and food photography is one of the areas where photography in Tallahassee continues to grow. There's a real food and craft beverage scene here, and publications like Tallahassee Magazine do a great job of showcasing it.
This feature was photographed by The Workmans for Tallahassee Magazine and appeared in the March/April 2021 issue and was written by Thomas J. Monigan. 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!
Color Her Vivid // Tallahassee Magazine
Color Her Vivid // Tallahassee Magazine
We teamed up with Rowland Publishing for the feature in Tallahassee Magazine.
Savory Selection // Footprints - Hilton Sandestin Beach Magazine
Savory Selection // Footprints - Hilton Sandestin Beach Magazine
The feature in Footprints - Hilton Sandestin Beach Magazine.
2020 Pinnacle Awards // 850 Business Magazine
2020 Pinnacle Awards // Tallahassee Magazine
We teamed up with Rowland Publishing for the feature in 850 Business Magazine. This can also be found in Emerald Coast Magazine.
H3lp is at Hand // 850 Business Magazine
H3lp is at Hand // Tallahassee Magazine
We teamed up with Rowland Publishing for the feature in 850 Business Magazine.
Pandemic Pivots // 850 Business Magazine
Proof Brewing Co./ Pandemic Pivots - 850 Business Magazine
Covid affected different businesses differently and everyone had to make adjustments. It was amazing to see how TLH community pivoted to survive the pandemic and serve the community. We were thankful to be a part of sharing the story of how Proof Brewery adapted and started making hand sanitizer. We teamed up with Rowland Publishing for the feature in 850 Business Magazine.
A Brightened Future // Tallahassee Magazine
A Brightened Future // Tallahassee Magazine
The Governors Club is an iconic staple in Downtown TLH. They’ve recently been through a large renovation, so it was great getting to photograph the space and see how they’ve honored their history while modernizing the club for Tallahassee to enjoy. Thanks to Barry for your hospitality and Tallahassee Magazine for the opportunity to capture content for this story.
Haute Happenings: About #COVIDwear // Tallahassee Woman Magazine
Haute Happenings: About #COVIDwear // Tallahassee Woman Magazine
The feature in Tallahassee Woman Magazine
Culinary Excellence // Emerald Coast Magazine
Culinary Excellence // Emerald Coast Magazine
We teamed up with Rowland Publishing for the feature in Emerald Coast Magazine.
The Life of Marta // Tallahassee Magazine
The Life of Marta // Tallahassee Magazine
It’s not everyday I get asked to photograph someone who doesn’t have much time to live. In the fall of last year, we partnered with Rowland Publishing on a project. I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Marta while she was in her final weeks of life at Big Bend Hospice. She shared her story of fleeing Communist Cuba and making a new life here in the United States. Her smile lit up the room and her joy was contagious. It’s interesting how today, contagious seems like such a bad word. There are so many things that can be contagious and not necessarily in a bad way. How can we be joyful and how can that joy be contagious to those around us?
