Soup Shoppe is a local eatery in my hometown very well known for its upscale food creations. The owner, Brian Moscetti, makes and serves nearly sixty different types of soup, six per day, on rotation throughout the year. In a world where Panera is right next door, Soup Shoppe needed an extra push to give it an edge – which was when they realized that Soup Shoppe had no website.

I was approached with the task of creating a usable, clean website for Soup Shoppe in order to showcase their foods and present their menus to potential customers. The website would be a portal for ordering via phone and fax, as well as a place to request catering estimates and start conversations with Brian and the rest of the Soup Shoppe staff.

Needless to say, that goal was accomplished – and then some. I even went in one morning and spent two hours doing a photo shoot of the restaurant and its food. Its delicious, delicious food. The result? A delicious, delicious website.

When I was hired to create Soup Shoppe’s website, I decided I’d do an extra favor not included in the original invoice. Lacking photos of their own, I knew the owners of Soup Shoppe would be disappointed to receive a site about their food but without photos of said food. That, and a restaurant’s website without food photography is just plain silly.

So, one bright and hot summer morning, I ran into the little restaurant, camera gear in hand(s), and began shooting. At the end of it all, I had taken a set of photos that the Soup Shoppe website now incorporates as a start to its eventually vast repertoire of foods and food photos.

As for me, I found this to be a great learning experience with macro photography – I’d just received my new MICRO-NIKKOR 105mm macro lens that I had been dreaming about for two years, and needless to say that it took me some time to get adjusted to the style of shooting that real macro photography requires. I’m happy with my first foray into that style, and I hope I have more opportunities to improve in the future.