While I don’t take them on as often as I photograph chefs and restaurants, I do look forward to the occasional product photography shoot. If the company is one I believe in (it also doesn’t hurt if they make something delicious), then finding ways to make their product shine is a welcome challenge, and one quite different than photographing an already-composed dish in a restaurant setting.

I particularly enjoy doing product photography for people whose businesses are an extension of themselves and their creativity because they, in turn, push me to be creative. I am inspired by the entrepreneurs I work with and what they make. Take my friend Emilie Coulson Salgado’s company Daughter’s Granola. She makes small-batch artisan granola that I already love to eat, so shooting her line for the Daughter’s Granola website was an easy gig to say yes to.

Emilie started making granola when she moved out to California from Wisconsin. Back home, she ate granola from her parents’ restaurant, The White Gull Inn, every morning. When she realized she couldn’t keep asking them to ship it, and instead could source all kinds of nuts and fruits in California, she began Daughter’s Granola. She offers two original blends, the Door County Blend and the Orange County Blend, named for the place she is from and the place she lives now. Each features ingredients from its namesake location. Emilie also started the Granola of the Month Club, which highlights a different seasonal blend every month of the year, delivered to club members in the mail.

Still, even with all the different blends, planning a shoot for Daughter’s Granola was a bit of a challenge. As Emilie warned me, “It’s not easy to make granola look dynamic when you just pour it in a bowl.” To get beyond this dilemma, I photographed Daughter’s Granola in my own home, on my own time, as I do with many small business product shoots. It was as much an assignment from a client as it was a test for myself: How could I play with this opportunity? How could I surprise myself? With all of my backdrops, props, and equipment on hand, my own kitchen was the best studio.

I photographed some of Emilie’s granolas for simple presentations on her website, as well as a few up-close-and-personal macro shots, which are essential if one is to tell the difference between a granola with sunflower seeds and one with pumpkin seeds.

But to mix up the shot list, I also thought about how I could use Daughter’s Granola in an unexpected way. I love to bake, so it was obvious to me that I needed to incorporate some of the granola blends into baked goods, including dark chocolate chip cookies with the Orange County Blend and banana muffins with a pecan-chocolate crumble from the December Granola of the Month. (Scroll to bottom of blog post for recipes!) I also took one in a savory direction, mixing the Door County Blend with Feta cheese and adding it to a green salad as a crunchy salty-and-sweet topping (see below photo).

This is part of the fun—I was able to create new recipes, and Emilie received photos of her granola being used in ways that neither of us could have dreamed up ahead of time! I always appreciate when everything aligns so I can get creative in the kitchen and the studio, like I was able to for this shoot.

{Follow Anne Watson Photography on Twitter/Instagram @annewatsonphoto,  Emilie Coulson Salgado @emilie__c, and Daughter’s Granola  @daughtersgranola.}

RECIPE: Dark Chocolate Chip-Granola Cookies Made with Daughter’s Granola Orange County Blend

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks butter, room temperature
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups Daughter’s Granola Orange County Blend (crumbled, and large almonds broken into pieces)
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips

 

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk together, set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, add room temperature butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix on high until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, and two eggs one at a time. Beat.
  3. Turn mixer to low and add flour mixture. Once that is incorporated, add the granola & chocolate chips and fold in by hand until combined.
  4. Place dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to chill. Once chilled, scoop into one-ounce balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in a 350 degree oven for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges and still soft in the middle. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Yields approx. 24 cookies

 

RECIPE: Banana Muffins with Daughter’s Granola Pecan-Chocolate December Blend Crumble Topping

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted

 

Topping:

  • 2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup Daughter’s Granola December Blend, Pecan-Chocolate granola
  • 1 Tablespoon butter, cold

 

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 10 muffin cups with papers.
  • In a large mixing bowl, mix together 1 ½ cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk, set aside.
  • In another large mixing bowl, beat together bananas, granulated sugar, egg, and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
  • In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 Tbsp flour and Daughter’s Granola December Blend. Cut in 1 Tablespoon cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yields 10 full-size muffins