Eddie Matney & Larry Cohn
Co-Owners, Eddie's Grill, Phoenix, AZ ~ 9:30 AM on 2.8.1995

Environmental Portrait of Eddie Matney & Larry Cohn for Restaurant Hospitality Magazine.

Mike Sanson, Editor of Restaurant Hospitality Magazine, called and asked for an environmental portrait of Eddie Matney & Larry Cohn, Co-Owners of Eddie's Grill, as well as a 4x5 shot of the interior of the restaurant for the May 1995 issue. Since they open for lunch at 11:00 AM, we had to get the two shots done early enough to not interrupt the business of the restaurant, and so Eddie could get back to grillin'.

I scouted the restaurant a few days before the shoot and found my way down to this amazing lower level with all the beautiful stone and the curvy stair case... I had my location, now I just had to figure out the lighting...

Strobist info / Lighting:
Lots of Dynalites & tungsten lighting in this shot. I decided to shoot tungsten film, because on tungsten film, any daylight is seen as a very cool blue (3200K) and since the top of the stairs shows some of the restaurant and is lit by the available daylight, I knew it would turn this cool blue and add to the shot.

Main light: Medium Chimera, with silk to cut down the lower half of the light (I'm trying to hold the detail in the white clothing), camera right. (6) more Dynalite heads with a variety of modifiers (10" reflectors & grid spots)

All the strobes have a full CTO (color temperature orange) gel over them to convert the daylight balanced (5000k) light to tungsten color temperature. Where you see the six pools of "whiter" colored lights under the tables and on the floor area are tungsten clip lights, the rest of the shot is lit with Dynalite strobes.

Hasselblad Superwide, exposure: 1 sec @ f/16
Film: Fuji RTP (tungsten film)
Photoshop: almost none.

Location: Eddie's Grill, Phoenix, AZ

P.S.: I took my wife here on our first date.