Australian Venue Co runs more than 200 pubs, bars and function venues around the country. Two of them are here in Mackay: The Metropolitan Hotel and the Boomerang Hotel. The work has covered full menu shoots plus the venue and crowd content that goes with them.
A national group still needs local content. Head office can supply brand guidelines, but nobody in Melbourne can photograph a Friday afternoon at The Met. That has to be shot here, on the day, with the light you get.
The menu
A menu shoot is a long day of small setups. Every dish comes out of the kitchen at its best for about four minutes, so the light and the table are ready before the plate lands. The aim is food that looks like what actually arrives, shot so it works on a printed menu, a website tile and a social square without reshooting.
From the menu shoot: roasted pumpkin, labneh, pomegranate and dukkah.
"Something they do really well is the classics which I think is always going to be a hit in Mackay."
The venue and the people in it
Food shots sell a dish. Crowd shots sell the place. For a pub, the content that does the most work on socials is people actually enjoying it: a table of mates in the late sun, glasses on the timber, the room looking like somewhere you would want to be. Shot with permission, relaxed, and quick enough that nobody stops enjoying their afternoon.
Late afternoon in the beer garden at The Met.
The long tables fill up first. Content like this is what the socials actually run.
Shooting in a working venue
The venue does not close for a photographer. Staff are serving, the kitchen is under pressure and customers are mid-meal. Working fast and staying out of the way matters as much as the photography, and it is the part that decides whether a venue books you again.
The kind of work this is
This is hospitality food and product photography with venue and crowd content on top. If you want the detail on how a menu shoot actually runs, I wrote about it in Mackay food photography.
See more about Australian Venue Co and their venues.