Weekend Shorts: "Red Bull" for Photographers

What did we do before Red Bull? Check out their website at RedBull.com.

by Skip Cohen

Looks like this is the weekend to tie in restaurant themes after yesterday's post.

A few weeks ago we had dinner at a little restaurant in Sarasota called Darwin's. Great food, nice atmosphere and we were there really early in the day for dinner. Even my 90 year old parents eat later than we did that day, but we'd been out all afternoon and 5:00 pm seemed as good a time as any.

We were seated at the counter that overlooks the kitchen, which they refer to as the chef's table. Darwin came over and introduced himself and we had a blast watching the crew cook. It's an upscale menu and being seated right in the action was like watching our own private episode of "Chopped".

Just before the dinner rush started, Darwin brought out five cans of Red Bull, one for each of his chefs. Well, as usual, I can't get photography off my mind and it got me thinking about what photographers do to rev up their engines before a big event or shoot.

I know Joe Buissink has talked about the importance of getting to know the venue and doing a walk through, spotting ideal locations for a bridal shoot. If you know Joe, just seeing the venue starts getting his creative juices flowing. When I was diving a lot, just getting my gear checked out and starting to pack got the adrenalin pumping. Then there are the short term energy fixes, like Red Bull.

Well, this is a Sunday morning post and it's meant to be short - but this one is participatory. So what do you do to get pumped up before a shoot?