Join the michaels team in this recorded version of a Facebook Live Broadcast at Whitehart Bar in Melbourne as we put the new Fuji and Hasselblad Mirrorless Medium Format Cameras in a head to head shootout on a cocktail photography project.
Transcript :
Okay! Hopefully, we are live!
It’s John Warkentin for Michael’s Camera!
I’m here with Stephen and Justin, and we’re next door, in what used to be the parking lot of Michael’s Camera, but it’s now Whitehart, and Whitehart is a swanky little shipping- container-style bar, with great food, great cocktails, craft beers. It’s the dream and, I guess it’s the completed dream of Steven here.
(Steven adds, “And my wife, Sabrina’s.”) Oh, and Sabrina of course. Sabrina is not here to join us today, but we see her quite regularly; and, they’re a great team at Whitehart, and we like to think of Whitehart as the local for Michael’s, Of course, a lot of the staff from Michael’s come over here after work, and enjoy the beautiful environment.
Now, I’ve been very lucky in that Steven has hired me to shoot some photos for it; and one of the things I’ve done, (and, actually I’m just going to excuse myself from the scene here, as I grab my iPad) (Steven says, “Keep rolling!”) because there’s a reason why we are here today.
(Oh, I’m grabbing a coffee – Steven’s made us all coffee). (Steven says, “Well, it’s actually (Erin). Beautiful (Erin) over here who made the coffee. Quick cutaway.” [gestures to someone off camera]) (Oh, (Erin’s) made me coffee! Yes, yes!)
So, I’ve got Peter Michael’s son, David, on the switcher, and sort of handling our live broadcast here.
(Steven says, “Hey, Dave!” [waves to someone off camera])
And, we’ve got Harry, who is over on our secondary camera here.
[laughter] [Steven moves out of view] [Steven greets Harry and David.]
And we are just getting ready for our shoot up.
We are bringing over the Fuji GFX (Well, actually it’s sitting in its case over there); and we’ve got the Hasselblad X1D coming over now. These are two exciting medium-format cameras that we’re really lucky to have available for testing, and purchasing of course, at Michael’s.
And, we wanted to do a little shoot up.
So, our topic today is cocktail photography.
Now, Steven had me shoot the opening gala here at Whitehart, about, what, two months ago now?
(Steven replies, “Yeah, yeah, absolutely.”)
And, part of what I like to do when I do social photography is I shoot a few of the drinks; and, of course, the bar staff here at Whitehart did a beautiful job.
So, we’re live broadcast here, but I’m just going to see if Harry can bring in here… If you can see… [holds up iPad] [camera zooms in to iPad]
So, Harry should be zooming in on my iPad here, and these are some of the cocktail shots that we did, about… (Steven asks, “Which ones are those, Justin?”) (Justin replies, “Ooh, that looks like an old fashioned, I’d say. That’s the (Peggy Sour) that decorates one of the (___). This is our old cocktail menu. You guys are actually getting a sneak peek today at our new winter list. So, we’re shooting our new cocktails today.”)
So, these guys are (in a container, unfortunately). This is our (Tuck) cocktail, our beautiful (Pertemps Earl Gray) spritz that we did for the summer. Actually, that’s strawberry gum, tincture, sparkling wine, Martini sour…“ [flips through images on the iPad] )
(Steven says, “Great shots!”)
(Justin agrees, “Awesome images, (___).”
(Steven responds, “(___))
So, I like to have a little bit of fun with these things.
Now, we’re going to use a little bit of lighting, a little bit of natural light.
The rain has stopped, and the sun is out. So, we’ve got quite a combination. There are lots of great settings here, right. There is various jungle theme greenery growing around use. We’ve got tables. We’ve got bars and all the usual sort of bar things; beautifully stocked up here are multi-levels of black straws. (Are these cocktail grills? [John reaching for something at the bar])
(Justin responds, “They’re skewers, (cocktail) skewers.”)
(Cocktail skewers?)
So, we’ve got all sorts of little props to make some interesting cocktail shots. We’re going to use a combination of (pro photo) lighting, and natural light; we’ll mix and match these things.
And, Jason, sorry, Justin and his team are going to produce the new winter list, yeah.
(Justin agrees)
(Steven agrees enthusiastically)
So, that’s our mission.
Hopefully, we’re going to achieve two goals here – well maybe even three - we’re going to do a live broadcast on Facebook with multi-cameras, which is exactly what we’re demoing now. So, hopefully, you’ve seen a couple of switches between two different camera feeds as I’ve been talking with guys here; and we’re going to demonstrate a product photography shoot, and our brief is basically “Make beautiful pictures of cocktails in their natural environment.”
Cocktails live at Whitehart.
So, that’s what we’re all about.
And, lastly, demonstrate using these interesting new medium-format mirrorless 50-megapixel cameras.
So, these are the top of the line for commercial photographers.
(Steven says, “Business.”)
Yeah, exactly!
So¸ these are the sort of cameras that a person who’s professionally shooting product photography might be considering; so, we want to give it a bit of a head-to-head test.
So, stay tuned!
Hopefully, in about 20 or 30 minutes we’re going to get the actual broadcast rolling, and you’ll be able to see us shooting cocktails here at Whitehart!
Now, of course, we also want you to come and visit Whitehart in person. Of course, you can visit Michael’s as well.
I think if you come to Whitehart, have a winter cocktail, get yourself primed for purchasing, then you come next door and talk to any one of our great sales staff.
Sometimes I’m around, helping out in a little bit of a technical capacity; and then we can get one of these new cameras in your hands, but worst case scenario: come on over here and have a cocktail, and get yourself into the winter mood at Whitehart, and we’re very lucky to have Whitehart next door to Michael’s
(Steven says, “The world’s best camera store.”)
And this is Melbourne’s best (Laneway) bar, right?
(Steven says, “Could be!”)
It’s definitely getting really close!
Oh, no, sorry, we didn’t even mention about the food options here!
Well, obviously it’s morning, but Whitehart gets in a food truck every week.
(Steven says, “Yeah, we rotate different food trucks. We’ve had pizzas, burgers, street food, Thai food, got (Dexter Barbeque) doing their thing at the moment, which is fantastic. And, essentially the idea is that we swap those food trucks out every week, every couple of weeks, and you know, offer up some really exciting food.”)
So, there’s what Whitehart is all about in a capsule, and we’re hoping for a very fruitful relationship, (well, obviously there’s a very good relationship between Whitehart and Michael’s right now) but we want to bring some photo events to Whitehart in the future; and, so, Steven and I have been talking about this. So, we’re hoping that our next Melbourne Photo Show we might have a bit of a coffee and cameras thing kind of happening over here, in the breakfast timeslot. Because, of course, Whitehart is not going to be open in the mornings, so, we feel that if we do a little bit of symbiotic business, between Michael’s and Whitehart in the mornings, it’s good for both!
So, we’ve got a lot of great things that we’re looking forward to.
So, there we go!
Let’s sign off now, and we’ll get over to the next Facebook broadcast with the Fuji GFX and the Hasselblad X1D coming up shortly. [Steven points at the camera directly]
So, stay tuned and keep following us on Facebook; and, of course, come on down to Whitehart any time, and visit Michael’s Camera any time you’ve got the chance when you’re in the heart of Melbourne CBD.
So, we’ll sign off now, and we’ll see you in 10 or 20 minutes.
Take care!
(Steven says, “See you soon!” [Steven points at the camera again and makes the “cut” sign])
