37 Pieces of Flair

Ok so it’s not that type of flair. But what would this blog be without an “Office Space” reference?

Last week I was invited by my friend Patrick to cover a flair event he was performing in. (You might remember him from the shots on the beach I did for him and his wife.)  He has done flair bartending for years, but never had the chance/ability to get some really good footage of him doing it. It’s usually been someone holding a poor quality cell phone for a quick clip. He asked if I would like to come along and take some shots for him.

Clearly, I agreed.

What’s interesting was we weren’t shooting at a typical bar- we were shooting at a bar in the offices of HotelTonight (p.s. if you ever have a chance to put a bar in an office- do it). So, after I set up his iPhone 4 on a Glif with a tripod, I watched him and a couple of fellow bartenders perform.

It was an awesome performance. At times I had to remind myself to watch through the viewfinder and not just watch. Some very cool drinks were made with a ton of bottle flipping and…flair. Apparently this style of bartending is big in Vegas (I’ve never been). The event was a total blast and I’m really happy how the photos came out- it was tough with such a backlit place to shoot!

You can learn more about Patrick’s work on his Facebook page. As always, you can find my work on my Flickr page too.