BTS: Jack Stack Barbecue

Today was fun! I received my Jack Stack Barbecue holiday catalog delivered to my front door in Santa Monica. Jack Stack is my favorite dine-in restaurant (& favorite restaurant that ships to my front door) and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to produce and shoot their image library for 2021.  

A little about the project (shot in May 2021)

We produced this project over a 6 day period in Kansas City (home of the world’s best BBQ) with an incredible team of collaborators.  With COVID still in the air, the production was yet another example of hybrid production where only essential crew members were on set while the rest of the client and agency was remote viewing from their offices in Kansas City and Texas.  Travis, our DIT, crushed the live feed. 

This project began in back in January 2021 with mostly conversations surrounding Jack Stack needing a completely new image library. Over the past 5 years, they had done about six to seven different photo shoots and their image library was naturally beginning to look inconsistent. From the start, it was clear they wanted a fresh new look and something that would stand out if you compared their images to other BBQ restaurants around the country (think viewing multiple restraints on a Goldbelly or Doordash photo grid).

After a couple months of research and building out our shot list, I decided to use continuous lights versus strobes to light the table tops. Because we were shooting this for their shipping catalog, I wanted each setup to feel like a different kitchen table or countertop but still have similar light characteristics. I’ve found using continuous lights really helps me maintain light consistency especially when we’re having to move fast (we had over 80 setups in the six days).   Every setup we lit continuous (shout out LiteGear and Aputure and triggered remotely using Capture One.  

It was a truly collaborative experience with stylist Sarah Jane Hunt & Art Director Keaton Dorman. Weeks leading up to the shoot Sarah, Keaton and I dug up magazine covers and other images for inspiration so that by the time the first shoot day came around the three of us really were on the same page with the look and styling. It was a really fluid shoot week and everyone involved walked away very happy.

I can’t thank my friend and collaborator Keaton Dorman for giving Sarah and I creative freedoms while still providing ample amount of art direction. He knew what he wanted. Spending a week shooting for my favorite restaurant will for sure go down as a top memory of 2021.  

See more of the images at: ship.jackstackbbq.com/category/barbecue

The Team 

Production Company: Lago Studio

Client: Jack Stack Barbecue

Art Director: Keaton Dorman

Photographer: George Mullinix

First Assistant / DIT: Travis Carroll

Stylist: Sarah Jane Hunt

Stylist Assistant: Sarah Thompson Lift

Production Coordinator: Kelsey Glowik

Agency: Agency Of

Agency Producer: Cameron Barbaran

Location: AWStudio 

Location Manager: Katy Raggett

Sarah Jane Hunt, our food stylist and friend :)

Sarah Jane Hunt — friend and stylist — rocking a board of meat!


The Equipment 

Canon R5 

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8

LiteGear LiteMat 4 Spectrum 

LiteGear LiteMat 2L+

2x Aperture 300 II

4x Aperture MC7