THE HIVE AT 21C | NWA FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER

Jul 6

One of the most delicious places I’ve eaten in Arkansas is The Hive, the restaurant inside the 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville. The head chef, Matt McClure, is a real class act on top of being an amazing chef. I was excited when I got contacted by their marketing department about creating some images for the restaurant shortly after my son was born earlier this year. You know, when restaurants were still open like they used to be. In the pre-Covid times.

We ended up shooting one of my favorite things — the process of how things happen — in addition to the “hero” food shots and some quick portraits of Matt.

Time was limited, and we didn’t have a food stylist on set for these — which makes me wonder how much better they could have been — but that means that, since food stylists often employ things such as hair spray and other magic trickery to make food shots really shine, we were still able to chow down on this food after the shoot. In my opinion, eating food on set after a food shoot is one of the best “work perks” on the planet. Especially at a high-class restaurant like The Hive.

Looking forward to the next shoot!