Cocina Superior - Birmingham, AL Restaurant and Food Photography / August 14, 2014 by nikonic1976@yahoo.com

If you read my post on why restaurants need professional photography, you have seen some of the images I created of Cocina Superior in at Brookwood Village in Homewood, AL. I really felt that they deserved their own full blog post as well!

Cynthia at Cocina contacted me initially about doing photography of the restaurant and food. The owner wanted some updated images and told her to find a professional. She searched for restaurant/food photographers and my name kept coming up. She looked at the work of other photographers and judged mine to be the best (I’m not going to disagree with her)! While we were taking about the conventional commercial still photography I mentioned to her about the Google Maps Business View virtual tour program as well. She had never heard of it before but felt that it would be a benefit to the restaurant. Boy am I ever glad that she did! Cocina Superior is a beautiful restaurant. The styling is upscale, modern, but also inviting. It’s really a perfect fit for Brookwood Village and the Homewood/Mountain Brook area. I knew pretty quickly that it was going to be one of my favorite tours!

Cynthia, Carlos, and I worked great together to create the tour and images that you see. Unlike many food images you see on TV, in magazines, or internet sites, the food you see is all real and straight from Cocina’s kitchen. No food stylists were used. If you go to Cocina and order one of these items, this is how it will actually look!

Now, a pretty restaurant is one thing, but it is the food that truly matters. In that metric Cocina really shines! Everything is amazingly fresh and tasty. I’d actually been a patron before ever getting the job. My friend David, owner of Solar Reflections, takes people there for lunch. So I was doubly excited when I got the call! To demonstrate how highly I recommend Cocina Superior, I’m taking Kelly and Mother-in-law this weekend!

Check out the conventional restaurant and food photography, and Google virtual tour below. To learn more about Cocina Superior check out their Google My Business Page and website (which will be soon redone with the photos I took and tour embedded).

click on thumbnail to view full size image

lick and drag to pan, click arrows to move from one part of tour to next

View Larger Map

Do you have a business in the greater Birmingham Alabama area that you want to improve the image of? Call or email me to discuss what I can do to help!

Monthly Newsletter - Google Insider Tips, Inspiration, and Google News - Tommy Daspit Photographer / August 13, 2014 by nikonic1976@yahoo.com

Today I launched the first in what will be a monthly newsletter. The goal is to provide some useful information on how to use Google more effectively for business, Google insider info, inspiration, and some behind the scenes action of Tommy Daspit Photographer.

In this month's letter I walk you through claiming your businesses Google + Local page. This helps with SEO and allows you to better connect with existing and potential customers!

This month's featured business is The Sonnet House!

Click here to read the newsletter online. If you'd like to be added to the mailing list just shoot me an email and I'll get you going!

Why Professional Restaurant and Food Photography? / August 8, 2014 by nikonic1976@yahoo.com

In the not too distant past succeeding in the restaurant business required a great location, food, and reputation. Make a better soup and the world would beat a path to your door. Ambiance certainly played a role but you could still be successful with a top chef with inspired recipes.

Today’s restaurants often turn to events and catering to fill in the gaps of their normal breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend rushes. Word of mouth has transformed into your reputation online. How has your restaurant been reviewed? What is your rating?

To help with that online presence, a restaurant must now have a website. That website needs to be engaging and appealing to a restaurant customer making decisions in the blink of an eye. People will make a judgment about your business, whether or not to dine at your restaurant, within milliseconds of your homepage loading.

One way of capturing their attention, of holding them that extra second, of getting them to actually look more into what your restaurant is about, it to have amazing photography. In this Instagram generation photos are king. People love photos of food. They take pictures of their food. They share these photos with their friends. They comment on the photos their friends have taken of their food. It can seem a little silly at times but this is the way we communicate with each other now.

Because of the explosion of low quality cell phone pics of food, when a consumer sees a real, high quality, crafted photograph, it captures their attention. It will hold them a second longer. This is why quality professional photography of your restaurant and food is so important. If you want to differentiate your establishment from the masses. If you want the perception of your entrees to be above the average, then you need better photos.

Whether it is with me, or someone else, take the time and budget for a quality professional photographer. Your bottom line will thank you for it!

View more of my restaurant and food portfolio. Click the thumbnail to view larger image.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="2175,2174,2173,2170,2171,2070,2073,2067,1939,1940,1900,1898,1774,1776,1773,1772,1763,1768,1759,1757,1734,1722,1721,1715,1713" orderby="rand"]

Danberry at Inverness - Hoover, AL Assisted Living and Retirement Community / July 25, 2014 by nikonic1976@yahoo.com

When I retire, Danberry at Inverness is the kind of place where I would want to be! Located in-between Valleydale Rd and Hwy 280 in Hoover, is the most amazing retirement community you will ever find in the Birmingham area. The facilities are modern and feel like a luxury resort. They have an art studio, exercise facility, a bar, library, screened in back porch, out door dining, nail and hair salons, massage, swimming, a conference room, medical facilities, private dining, a fire pit, and much more. From the very first time I walked in I was amazed at how nice the place is. I actually overheard on resident say that she’d “already died and gone to heaven” it was so nice at Danberry!

For me, this was an exciting photographic challenge. For the Google Maps Virtual tour, this would be the largest place I’d ever attempted to create a tour of. I knew it would be challenging but I was up for the task! One thing that made it so much easier was all of then cheerful help I got from Lori Krueger (Marketing/Sales Manager) and her team. They worked tirelessly to help make sure each shot and each panorama was perfect. It would have a much more difficult task without them assisting!

Speaking of Lori and her team, I was really impressed on how each staff member knew each residents name and called them by it. There was a real sense of caring and attention to the needs, both comfort and social, of everyone who calls Danberry home. I know that if I had to find a place for my parents to retire to, Danberry would be at the top of my list!

To learn more about Danberry at Inverness check out their website and Google My Business Page. See the conventional architectural commercial photography I created and the 360º virtual tour below!

click on thumbnail below to view image

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="2158,2139,2140,2141,2142,2143,2144,2145,2146,2147,2148,2138,2149,2150,2151,2152,2153,2154,2155,2156,2157"]

click and drag to take virtual tour below

View Larger Map

Sonnet House - Google Maps Business View Virtual Tour - Leeds Alabama / July 22, 2014 by nikonic1976@yahoo.com

I’m thrilled to announce that the Google Maps Business View Virtual tour and conventional commercial still photography images of Sonnet House in Leeds is now live!

The Sonnet House is one of the most beautiful wedding venues in the greater Birmingham area. It was always one of my dreams to photograph a wedding there. Sadly, while I did photograph many beautiful weddings in many beautiful locations, I was never able to shoot one there. Now that I’m retired from wedding photography that opportunity has passed but I think this kind of makes up for it!

The Google 360º virtual tour of Sonnet House is one of the largest and most complex that I’ve done to date. I was excited, but also a little nervous about the challenge. I wanted to make sure that the true beauty of this venue came through in the final product. I wanted Jared and his team to take pride in showing it to potential clients. I think the results speak for themselves! I couldn’t be more proud of how it all came together and I look forward to showing it off to my clients as well.

Click below to see the conventional still images I created and view the virtual tour. You can learn more about the Sonnet House on their website and Google My Business Pages. If you are in need of a venue for a wedding or special event, make sure you check out the Sonnet House!