The Starbucks wine selection from a high angle.
A detail photo of Starbucks-branded wine glasses. I really like the stemless glasses.
On Sunday, I photographed a newly remodeled Starbucks on Capitol Hill in Seattle that will serve beer and wine in the evening. It’s a great idea to try and boost business during what are under-utilized time for Starbucks stores. Because of east coast deadlines, I had a about half hour to photograph the ‘friends and family’ event and a half hour to edit and transmit pictures. I prefer to spend more time shooting and less time transmitting, but this was not to be one of those assignments as it appeared the wi-fi and cellular gods colluded and conspired against me. I arrived early set up my laptop and tested out Starbucks new wi-fi hotspot, which was pretty quick. I also had Verizon data connection and had four bars. After shooting for about a half hour (maybe a few minutes longer), I had a nice selection of images for my editors. I tried hard to show the the differences between this Starbucks and other Starbucks in a couple of frames. Here are a few of the images:When it came time to transmit, I could not get transmit using Starbucks wi-fi network. My connection kept timing out and then my computer kept trying to connect to the old network, which for some reason was still up. While I like to use wi-fi hotpsots (I buy a cup of coffee and a pastry, so I’m not completely freeloading) and am grateful for them because they tend to be faster than my Verizon broadband connection, I have a back up that (usually) works. However, on this day my backup failed me … mostly. When it came time to transmit I had no bars. No bars. I think I was transmitting at 6KB/sec. After struggling for a few minutes, I found myself wandering around on Capitol Hill with a laptop in one hand tethered to my cell phone in the other hand, starting and stopping as bars would spike and my transmission rates would increase. It drew more than a few stares from drivers and passers by. I was able to get the photos transmitted, only a little after my deadline. After packing up, I decided to send one more photo (Deadline had passed, but I thought it was a photo they might be able to use online) and sure enough, like clockwork, the Starbucks connection worked again and I looked at my cell phone signal strength and it was at full strength. Here are a few more pictures from the assignment. Some are redundant, but I like to give editors options.
Another wide angle shot. This time from a lower vantage point.
A selection of some of Starbucks more dinner/evening appropriate fare
A detail photo featuring the Starbucks logo. Unfortunately, I couldn't get more depth-of-field so that the logo was in focus as well. The image didn't work when the focus was on the Starbucks logo.
This images shows wine and coffee (including clover-brewed coffee. Mmm ... clover-brewed coffee), but the wine is too small and element.
A final detail photo. Abstract, but an attempt to show the feel and atmosphere of the remodeled store. I saw this picture as I was wrapping things up. It is where my computer was sitting.
Leave a Comment