We’ve been capturing images of Helzberg Diamonds retail locations for several years now and it’s been an absolute blast. It’s a tricky shoot to capture as the jewelry cases are so bright and the casework wood tone is so dark, coupled with the variety of locations to contend with (each mall has totally different rules and different limitations); but I love the final results we’ve created and I love getting to see all the different cities and work with all the different Helzberg teams. 

This was one of their outlet mall stores - a different product mix and slightly different fixtures. After the shoot the images were featured at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting this year, along with many of the other stores we photographed.

Credits:

Photographer: Alistair Tutton

Client: Helzberg Diamonds

Art Director - Parke Wellman

Assistant - Adam Caselman

Retoucher - Adam Caselman

We love working with Houlihan’s on their J Gilbert’s and Devon Seafood brands, and as we’re working on one next week in Chicago I figured I’d share this project from last year. We have a lovely time working with Dean on set; he’s a great art director and really makes me giggle during the insane hours we have to be on-set. 

The images are really fun to work on as we end up spending a lot of time tweaking the lighting and staging to make the images perfect ; plus they are some of the most beautiful restaurants I’ve been in.

Credits:

Photographer: Alistair Tutton

Client: Houlihan’s; Devon Restaurant

Art Director - Dean Woods

Assistant - Adam Caselman

Independence…we finally achieved it.

After Garden City we rolled on and went to the other side of the state to Independence, KS (that’s right Missourian’s, there is an Independence in Kansas and it’s home to the incredible Neewollah Festival) and worked on another school. This time the brief was to capture images showing the sensitivity that DLR had shown in renovating an existing high school. Focusing on the entry areas and the transition areas that had been built fresh for the students and again using student to show purpose and scale. 

The tree in the exteriors really make that shot for me - there’s nothing like a true old growth tree to really bring architecture alive. 

The nighttime exterior was the tricky shot, as we really wanted to bring the facade to life; we lit it throughout the entire face of the building and made sure to put some uplight into the tree as well to ensure it was part of the image.

I’m really pleased with the final image, but I’m still wishing I could actually make it to the darn Neewollah festival one of these days…

Credits:

Photographer: Alistair Tutton

Assistant: Adam Caselman

Retoucher: Adam Caselman

Client: DLR Group

Western Kansas - it’s Fun, who knew?

Last year we got to work with one of my favorite clients - DLR Group. They do some incredible schools and for this one we got to capture, what we were told, is the third largest high-school in KS. It’s a biggie alright. We had a lot of conversations with Jim French, the lead designer, and Bob Carlson to ensure we knew what the main focus was of the design and how we could record that.

After a six hour drive (across the beautiful flatness they call Kansas) we got to the school and immediately staked out the key shots. The top shot you’re seeing here was the one we decided to capture that evening…six hours later, a couple of pizzas, a stunning sunset, a few dozen well-placed lights we had the perfect shot, and three perfect frames to get the building lit properly…as shown by Bob’s one word response to it - “Spectacular”.

The other critical shot was the student breakout spaces. These areas were incredibly tight, but I really wanted to avoid using something silly like a 14mm to get it in one shot. So we brought the kids in (who were great FYI) and carefully lit the scene to bring out the best in the signage and mezzanine and then arranged the talent and briefed them on what we needed to make the shot work best. Then we stitched the shot together using the really fantastic 24mm tilt to capture two images - one of the mezzanine and one of the ground level. The alignment was perfect and the image looked so much better than going crazy wide could ever have done.

Thanks Garden City for hosting us and thanks for all the help from our talent - this was a wonderful shoot.

Credits:

Photographer: Alistair Tutton

Assistant: Adam Caselman

Retoucher: Adam Caselman

Client: DLR Group

Cabin in the Woods…not that cabin.

We photograph a lot of very unique buildings - but this one was a little different; a stunning lakeside log cabin. We originally photographed the exterior for Ply Gem’s marketing materials and had a really fun time - we were then approached by the contractor and a magazine to photograph the full interior and off we went again. This time we worked with the fabulous Glenda Bailey and the home owner on some beautiful styling and created some really lovely images - a huge thanks to the home owner (you know who you are!) for making all of this happen.

Credits: PlyGem, Glenda Bailey - Stylist, Adam Caselman - Assistant