Photography
Our photographs are the cafe on a bright morning: wood tables, white brick, the crew in their aprons, a plate on its way to the patio. Rich and warm, the colors of coffee, bread and fresh produce, with nothing harsh in the frame.
Three checks before a photograph goes out. If it fails one, it is not ours yet.
Daylight from the window or the patio door, from one side. Soft shadows, no flash, no overhead glare.
Pouring, plating, carrying a tray outside. Nobody posing, and nobody looking at the lens unless they are laughing.
One clear subject with a calm corner of wall or wood, so the wordmark in Milk has somewhere to sit.
A set that sets the tone: the counter, the table, the crew. New photographs should sit beside these without a seam.
How a picture is shot and finished, so every shoot looks like the same room on the same morning.
The calls that come up most when choosing or editing a photograph, with the right one beside the wrong one.
Show the crew and the regulars doing what they do.
Hire models to hold cups and smile at the camera.
Warm it a touch, deepen the browns, add grain, stop.
Push saturation, brighten the whites, or add a heavy vignette.
Set the wordmark in Milk over a wall, a table or an apron.
Put type across a face or a plate.
Shoot our own, in the cafe, in the morning.
Use stock photos of other people's cafes.