In spring 2023, I got to work with the good folks at Square for their Q2 campaign under a very simple premise: no beautiful light under any circumstances. They wanted a total fly-on-the-wall chaotic kitchen experience - which, as you know, I am no stranger to. BUT, they also said, for legal reasons or whatever (these babies are to appear on buses and billboards after all), I have to create my own chaos as well - with sets and talents and wardrobe. I’m a veteran at making chaos pretty, but it was my first time trying to turn pretty chaotic.

The Square team, led by Dave Brown and Monina Verlades, made this collaboration a freaking thrill. Monina had a great eye for false authenticity that permeates advertising, and Dave had a deep deep understanding of the restaurant community - how they were often perceived in advertising and how they wished to be perceived. We entered into this project with a lot of empathy, and the team at Square really challenged me to go beyond my comfort zone. Nothing pretty. Nothing staged. I’d never pitched on a photography job the way I would a film project before. During the process, the team at Square really wanted to know how to avoid the tired tropes: the impossibly big laughs you only see in ads, the American Apparel-style front flash as a short hand for realness, the Wes Anderson top-down product shots…and a handful of other techniques that we all had to master to make a living in this industry. Here are some BTS photos I snapped on scouting day.

the creative team! Creative leads Monina Verlades, Dave Brown, lil’ ol’ Pete Lee, and producer Michelle Mintz, who ran the whole production with a broken ankle.

EPs Jessica Hong and Niccolò Vitelli of Alien Productions ran a scrappy but grown-up set. Despite our scope and ambition and tight budget - they kept the set humming and drama free.

EP Nicolò Vitelli, aka best hair in the business, comes from the indie feature world and has no problem doubling as an AD when the crowd gets big and the timing gets tight

scouting day, the entire crew observed a full day’s service before our big shoot.

Dave Brown leads the Square RST team and makes absolutely sure that the storytelling will connect with their restaurant partners.

the lovely Nima was my photo assistant for this shoot. the young man knew entirely way too much about lights and lenses but still remained infinitely curious about the work.

some light studies on location during the scout. what a distinguished gentleman.

Gadzooks’s famous enchilada.

Square picked beloved Phoenix restaurant Gadzooks as our de facto set. We got to shut it down for two days, call on thirty of our closest friends, and simulated two complete shifts. While most of the talents understood the assignment and had themselves a grand ol’ time, there were definitely folks who saw it as their Big Break, and tried all kinds of performances during the initial set up. I knew they were just trying to help, so between takes, I would go up to each of the overachievers and gave them characters and backstories and little exercises to try - anything to distance them from their preconceived notions of performance, and - wouldn’t you know - they ended up giving me some great stuff to work with. Sometimes the way to counter overacting isn’t to tell the talent to act less, but to give them interesting challenges and techniques to try. (but of course there was that one overzealous performer I just had to hide my lens from).