On December 12, 2014, Tim (co-owner of Detroit BBQ Company) posted the following photo on Instagram (and Facebook)
As soon as I saw the photo, a photography project idea popped into my head
I wanted to spend a day capturing Detroit BBQ Company as they went about conducting their business with the final outcome of creating my first coffee table book. Not only for myself, but also to give Tim and Zac (Tim’s brother and co-owner) as a gift for allowing me to invade their space and capture what I needed for the project.
I pitched the idea to Tim via Facebook message and he thought it was a really cool idea. He said it would be best for me to capture everything at Pig & Whiskey 2015 in Ferndale, Michigan running July 17-19. I added the dates to my calendar and set a reminder in my phone to ping Tim a week before the event to gather final details and plan everything out.
I started capturing Friday night (July 17th) at 8:44 PM ending at 1:00 AM Saturday morning (July 18th), then again on Saturday morning (July 18th) at 11:55 AM ending at 2:55 PM
Of course, that weekend was the hottest yet this summer. Hitting 90+ degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity both days, being around grills and smokers wasn’t the “best” thing to be doing, but was necessary if I wanted to follow through with the project. On top of that, all of the equipment that I brought with me now smells like smoke.
A total of 927 photos were taken over 7 hours and 16 minutes spanning the 2 days.
Below is a very small selection that made the “cut”. Some may or may not make it into the coffee table book.
At this time, I do not plan on selling physical or digital copies of the coffee table book. That may change, however, depending on the final outcome of the project as well as the feedback I receive from Tim and Zac after I present it to them.