Arlo Cafe Bistro’s Food & Family

I LOVE ARLO! The food is tremendous the staff are just gorgeous and the place is run by one of the nicest families you’d hope to meet. Susan & Lucas are perfect hosts and the kids Otis, Lola, Arlo and Luna (a cool 4 letter theme) are often in there munching on the cakes looking super edible themselves.

The photography brief was to capture food, staff and family in a two hour window so luckily my experience in 2 of my specialist areas, food and portraits made it thorough yet enjoyable. I was shooting the kids (people often snigger when I use this term- but you know what I mean..) whilst the chef whipped up the new international menu.

The food photography was executed on the wooden tables in the cafe and I used a mixture of natural blue toned light to highlight the clarity of the food & with the warm glow of tungsten light in the back ground. For any budding food photographers, use a macro lens and a shallow depth of field for food photography. You dont need it all in focus, just the tasty bits and be prepared to work fast to get the freshest look.

The staff portraits were shot as the team worked which created a lovely informality with lots of fun expressions and movement. They then cleaned up then chowed down for a low key meal & meeting coupled with a predatory photographer. They seemed game (thanks Dan)! For more images taken of family & staff, or just to check out the food menu check out their site on this live link http://arlojesmond.com/category/general/