Recently, Jim and his girlfriend, Lauren, asked me to photograph him behind the bar at Esin, a local upscale restaurant here in Danville. Jim was starting a blog about his travels—critiquing restaurants in between the stories about his adventures—and needed some good images to go with the site. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige.

I started out by photographing him sitting at the booth with a martini. My favorite image of the whole session was the one with that martini glass in front of his face. He looked so much like James Bond!

After we had gotten our Bond on, we moved to the bar for a few more pictures. The bartender was so nice and even stepped aside to let Jim pretend to run the place. Esin had the perfect, fun ambiance for this kind of session.

After we’d gotten the great images we wanted, I joined them at the bar for a glass of wine. They talked about their travels and some of their favorite restaurants. They even steered me clear of some of the worst places to eat, too! The more we talked, the more I was impressed with what an enchanting couple the two of them were. They were great company, and it really felt like I was sitting with old friends rather than a pair of clients.

We even hit it off so well during this session that Lauren hired me to take pictures of her cats in their Christmas getups. We blogged that one already, and you should go see the adorable cats for yourselves; it was a total blast!

Jim & Lauren, thank you for taking the time not only to do this session with me but to let me get to know you as people. I really enjoyed myself, and I hope you did too.