Please join us tonight for Last Friday

Please join us tonight for our open house as part of the Maryville Last Friday Gallery Crawl.  Tonight we'll be hosting the oil paintings of Jonathan Howe and the musical stylings of Jason, fiddle player extraordinaire!  We'll have wine and some very special Blackberry Farm cheese made by local sheep and artisan, Kristian Holbrook.  And of course we'll have our photo booth going, too.  So please stop by and be sure to see our neighbors, too.  There's lots going on in Maryville tonight!

Congratulations James Beard Foundation Award Nominees

It's that time of year again, the oscars of the food world, The James Beard Foundation Awards, have announced nominees for their 2008 awards to be held in NYC in June.  We're pleased to know a few of the folks nominated and humbled to have had the opportunity to photograph some of them at work, doing what they do so well!  Pictured at left is Andy Chabot, director of the food and beverage program at Blackberry Farm.  Andy is nominated for the Outstanding Wine Service Award for the work he does at Blackberry Farm.  We've photographed him on several occasions and he is exceptional in every way.  His knowledge of wine is impressive, especially considering he's only 27!  And we hear he's a big runner and has been known to run miles and miles AFTER service, that might be as late as midnight.  Wow.  And did we mention he's courteous and accommodating, even when we photographers make ridiculous requests and suggestions?  Our congratulations to you, Andy.  And to the other folks we've had the honor of photographing at Food and Wine events: Jose Andres (nominated for Outstanding Chef), Frank Stitt (nominated for Outstanding Chef -- his restaurants are reason enough for us to drive 250 miles to Birmingham), Michael Tusk (nominated for best Chef: Pacific), Eric Ziebold (nominated for best Chef: Mid-Atlantic), Gabriel Kreuther (nominated for best Chef: New York City), Hugh Acheson (nominated for best Chef: Southeast), Linton Hopkins (nominated for best Chef: Southeast -- we love road trips to Atlanta, too), Mike Lata (nominated for best Chef: Southeast), John Currence (nominated for best Chef: South), and Dean Fearing for Fearing's at the Ritz Carlton (nominated for best new restaurant -- after we photographed Chef Fearing, we had a smile for days and days; his food and his personality are so big we thought about becoming chefs and starting a rock band, too).  And another special nod to the sensational Molly O'Neill, who edited the book American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes, which is nominated for a James Beard Award in the Writing on Food Category.  We find Molly so intoxicating!  Her stories capture our attention from word one and her heart is so big, we're honored to call her a friend.  So, a big congrats to all our food friends.  Your work inspires and transports us -- keep it up!

Dancing Bear Lodge

Last Thursday we photographed at Dancing Bear Lodge in nearby Townsend.  We're working on a story with the lovely and talented, Angie Mosier, that highlights the outstanding food and wine program at this cozy lodge on the peaceful side of the Smokies.  Chef Jeff Carter is outstanding.  We photographed several of his dishes and loved the tantalizing aromas we enjoyed while setting the shots!  We sampled a few of them -- the duck was amazing.  We enjoyed everyone on the Dancing Bear team, they were beyond hospitable!  Thanks, Matt, Steven, Monica, Melanie and Jeff -- you guys were awesome.  We look forward to sneaking back for dinner sometime real soon.

Diana in the snow

Well, we are one week in to Spring here in East Tennessee but it snowed on Monday!  Not as much as you see in the picture to the right, those were from our shoot a few weeks back but we just got the film in yesterday.  This image was taken with a Diana camera.  It's actually a clever and smart reproduction of a Diana camera which was originally produced in the 1960's and later became a cult favorite.  It's made of plastic and takes 120 film -- how archaic!  Yet we love it.  It's fun, easy and reminds us why we fell in love with photography in the first place -- MAGIC!  Stay warm out there.  Warmer weather is just around the corner.

Chef Peter Glander

The past few weeks we've been in and out of the Restaurant of Chef Peter Glander, The Barn at Blackberry Farm.  Chef Glander is a terrific host and an amazing Chef.  He's always hospitable (he shakes your hand in that old fashioned sort of way that makes you feel special) and makes you feel instantly at home in a big and amazing space.  His food is beautiful and delicate.  He's a very hard worker with respect for the craft and the work of making good food.  We like people like him!  It's always a pleasure.  And if you get the chance, do try his slow roasted wagyu beef -- it's no wonder it was named one of the 10 best restaurant dishes of 2007, it's unbelievably delicious!

Snow in east Tennessee

Saturday found us at Blackberry Farm, photographing an amazing winter wonderland of snow!  We don't get much snow here in east Tennessee so Saturday was a real treat.  Not only did we get lots of big beautiful snowflakes, the ground was cold enough for them to actually stick around for a few hours.  We loaded up the cameras and ran up to Blackberry Farm to capture some images of the property in the snow.  It was awesome!  While we were in the garden, we saw some of our Chef friends gathering lettuces for an organic cooking class they had later that morning.  We also saw baby lambs, sheep, horses, and mountains covered in white fluffy snow.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday.   

Happy trails, Susan!

Today is Susan's last day with beall + thomas.  Susan is our Production Assistant and has been with us for 1 year and 2 days.  She's been a terrific part of our team and we will miss her.  She's done it all with contagious laughter and can do spirit.  Don't worry dear reader, we are still fully staffed and will introduce Zane and Kate our newest additions very soon.  Susan is leaving us to hike the Appalachian Trail, all 2174 miles of it.  When we tell people this they say, "Really?  2174 miles?  Are you sure she can do it all?"  And we say, "Absolutely!"  When we interviewed Susan over a year ago, the most outstanding thing on her resume was a blurb about riding a bike from Texas to Alaska as part of an effort to raise money for cancer.  That got our attention!  4000 miles on a bike?  If she could do that, she could work for us!  And now her adventurous spirit is taking her on another journey.  Enterprising young woman that she is, she started a website that will document the journey and raise money for the Great Eastern Trail (GET).  We invite you to follow her journey here: www.GET-ATHIKE.org.  Susan has adopted the slogan One Blaze at a Time -- see image at left -- for her efforts and is selling t-shirts and giving away stickers to promote awareness of the Great Eastern Trail.  Good luck, Susan!  Happy trails, one blaze at a time.

Yes, we do weddings!

Announcing weddings by beall + thomas photography.  beall + thomas photography is excited to announce the addition of wedding photography to our repertoire.  As photographers who specialize in people, food, and interiors for the hospitality industry, weddings are a great fit!  We are the exclusive photographers at Blackberry Farm and have had the opportunity to photograph many unique events and weddings in the past few years.  We are delighted to now offer this service to the public.  Please keep us in mind while planning your upcoming weddings and events.  One of our brides had this to say about us: "we were very happy with beall + thomas photography.  They did a wonderful job documenting our wedding weekend.  The photos are absolutely beautiful and we couldn't have asked for anything more."

A good time was had by all.

Thanks to all that made it to our first open house!  A good time was had by all.  The photo booth was a success!  All that participated walked away with a 4x6 print -- just like the one you see to the left.  The band was great.  Our thanks to Pfaffman and Ruberg -- they rocked!  We appreciate old friends that stopped by and enjoyed meeting new folks.  Till next time!