From Text to Table: Creating Wall Art for Midtown Reserve

A unique blend of food photography + branding photography.

As a photographer, there’s nothing as exciting as getting a message from one of your favorite clients saying, “I have an idea for a project!” 

That’s exactly what happened back in June when Gabby W., General Manager at Midtown Reserve in Cedar Rapids, sent me this text. 

The Idea

Right away, Gabby let me in on a little secret - Midtown Reserve was expanding! 

They were known for being a premium steakhouse, a one-of-a-kind fine dining experience you can’t find anywhere else in Cedar Rapids. 

But the Midtown Reserve team wanted to offer more - more seating, more types of food, and more drinks. So they were adding a new space: Midtown Reserve Bar&Lounge!

The Bar&Lounge would have an upscale bar atmosphere, with an updated cocktail and food menu (featuring things like Wagyu burgers). And it would be walk-in - unlike the main restaurant, which was reservation-only. 

To create the right vibe and bring the space to life, Gabby wanted wall art - but she knew any old stock art from Wayfair wasn’t going to cut it. That’s where I came in!

The Planning

I responded to Gabby’s text with a, “Hell yeah!” and we set up a meeting to talk about her goals for this shoot. 

Gabby and the Midtown Reserve owner, Kory Nanke, had a vision: large, black-and-white wall art showcasing the actual food and drinks the Bar&Lounge would offer. Sophisticated, yet personalized to set the tone for the space. 

Before we even talked about what to shoot, we had to decide how we were going to print this wall art. 

The Bar&Lounge was going to be a darker, cozy space with low lighting. And it was a bar, where drinks and food might get spilled - so this art had to be resilient. 

After some research, I found the perfect solution: metal prints. They would pack a visual punch in black and white, help reflect light in the dim space, and be splatter-proof! 

With that decided and pricing approved by the Midtown team, it was time to get into the really fun stuff! 

The Shoot

I came into the restaurant on a weekday before they opened. Jerrad B., the head chef, had picked a few dishes from the Bar&Lounge’s new menu. He and his brother Ryno B. - who is the head chef at Raging Ryno’s - spent an hour in the kitchen, cooking up mouthwatering burgers and steaks while I snapped away. 

This is one of the most challenging - and fun - things about food photography: you only get one shot (no pun intended). Chefs aren’t going to make the same dish over and over for the shoot (that would be a giant waste of amazing food!), so there are no do-overs. 

Instead, food photographers like me have to be efficient and quick. I have to know how to light the space, what angle I want, and how I want to frame the shot so that I nail it the first time, as they’re making the dish. That’s why you’ll see me contorting into all kinds of funky positions to get the perfect shot! 

I spent another hour with Gabby - who is also the bartender - shooting while she worked her cocktail magic behind the bar. We used smoke, water vapor, and plenty of pouring and splashing to create super-dynamic images.

The Editing

Then came the most time-consuming part: editing! 

After a lot of tough decisions, I narrowed my hundreds of shots down to less than 20, picking 2-3 shot options for each piece of wall art. I edited these top picks so the Midtown Team could really get a sense of what they would look like when printed. From there, Gabby selected the final images - 6 in total, one above each table. 

But we weren’t done yet! These wall art pieces were going to be large - 40” x 30”, to be exact - and people would sit inches away from them. I knew they had to be perfect down to the tiniest detail - so I called in a consultant for a second opinion!

I sat down with the consultant - a local fine art photographer - and reviewed the final 6 images. Together, we fine-tuned the image shadows and highlights to be just right. Only then did the final files get sent off to the photo lab to be printed! 

The Finished Project

I chose a local lab I had worked with before and trusted: American Color Imaging in Cedar Falls. When they were done, I drove up there myself to get them (they took up a good chunk of my mini van’s trunk!) and hand-delivered them to the Midtown Reserve team. 

Together Gabby and I carefully unboxed them, with a lot of Oh my Gods! and So cools! And Love its! as we saw the final pieces for the first time. They truly packed even more of a punch in person than I was expecting - they were so vivid, even in black and white!

Midtown’s maintenance team hung them above each table using stand-off photo mounts. These mounts raised the pieces slightly off the wall, giving the art a 3D quality and making it pop even more against the dark teal paint. 

Final Thoughts

From that initial text to seeing the final pieces hanging above the tables, I had a blast bringing Midtown Reserve’s vision to life. It’s so exciting to see how the pieces add to the overall atmosphere. 

This project is also a perfect example of just how much collaboration goes on behind the scenes between a business and their photographer! Talking financing with Kory, coordinating with Gabby, shooting with Jerrad and Ryno, selecting the final images with the team, consulting with another photographer, working with the print lab, and supervising the maintenance crew as the photos were hung - creative projects like this take a village, but the result is always SO worth it! Thank you to the Midtown Reserve team for entrusting me with this idea.

The Midtown Reserve Bar&Lounge is now open! If you haven’t ever been to Midtown Reserve - or even if you have - I encourage you to try it. If you want excellent food, drinks, and atmosphere, do not sleep on Midtown Reserve!

And if you have a vision you want to bring to life for your business, whether it’s wall art or digital photos… give me a call! I’m here to help you make it a reality.