Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you make your own luck. In the shoot I’m sharing today I was lucky enough to do a commercial photography shoot for the Oaktown Spice Shop! Read more to see how it happened and for links on how you can do your own business pitch to place you’d like to work with!
Oaktown Spice shop
The Oaktown Spice Shop has been a place that I’ve always loved. I used to run down by Lake Merrit and saw the store when it first opened. The Oakland location was smaller. They have expanded since. But their stores remain an amazing sensory experience to visit with an expanded inventory of products and events! Your nose is tickled with the aroma of spices, herbs, teas and blends neatly laid out in rows of glass jars. There are great textures from the flavors of whole spices to the wooden shelves and tables that line the store.
I’m clearly not the only fan as they’re getting ready to open their third Bay Area location and was voted one of the best spice shops in the world by Food and Wine Magazine!
How we started working together
They were listed as a dream client I would love to work. I have such fond memories of going there as an early customer. I pitched them and as luck would have it, they contacted me back when they had photography needs!
They’ve always been really great to work with! Whenever I visit the store, the staff is not only knowledgeable about my questions, (i.e. how long the spices are good for. Answer: they don’t go “bad” but they lose some of their potency. You’ll need more as the spice gets the spice ages to have the same punch of flavor!) but also patient and kind in sharing their expertise.
I had the pleasure of helping them with some of their boxed sets for the upcoming holiday season. All items shown are things that come along with the gift boxes! The boxes come with jars of spice and packed to the brim with extras. The boxes also have bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, ginger, whole nutmeg, and recipe cards. Needless to say – when I see one of the photos from our collaboration, I get all giddy with excitement!
Conclusion
I hope this post inspires you to reach out to some of your own dream clients. People who don’t know about your services won’t be able to hire you. It continues to inspire me to work with people I admire in the way they run their business and how they bring their passion to life. I hope you enjoyed some of the commercial photography and learning more about my experience with the Oaktown Spice Shop!
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