Portland has become a Mecca for young, inspired chefs. The relatively affordable overhead alongside a genuinely interested food culture makes for a ripe proving ground. Aesthetics and spacial design can be the difference between one restaurant’s success, and it’s failure as there are so many quality venues boasting inventive, unique or simple, well done fare. Scott Snyder the owner and chef at Levant recognized the need to design his space around his vision, and ELK obliged in spades.
The history of Levant is one of personal reflection. Scott Snyder has modeled his fare around his familial history. From Levant’s website, it’s a “French-Arabesque restaurant serving modern representations of Middle Eastern dishes” which accompanies a warm and inviting menu with beautiful design elements and traditional keepsakes giving the space a unique and hospitable air.
Tasked with building a living, breathing representation of Scott’s familial culinary connection, ELK designed the space with a combination of hand built elements, raw woods, and multi functional pieces allowing for the space to remain open and functional while staying with the traditional vision and translation.
When in the space, the warmth and Middle Eastern embrace is apparent and beautifully compliments a unique history with a unique space. Levant is located at 2448 East Burnside in Portland, OR. You can visit the ELK Collective HERE.
Tyson Robichaud Photo-blography 
wow, those shots look awesome. the spice rack and first shot are my faves, so vibrant! That restaurant sure looks impressive.
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Thanks Chris,
Always appreciated!
t
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No Problem,
So tell me, is the first one a combination of HDR and stitching a few images together? Ive recently picked up the Enfuse Plug in for Lightroom to do HDRs in there without having to go to PS. Im sure youve heard of it. Will let you know how well it works once I get some bracketed shots done.
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Yes. It was a 7 shot bracket with three vertically shot frames, processed in Photomatix and stitched in PS CS6 along with a bit of post (parallax adjustment, tonal adjustment, sharpening, etc) in PS as well 🙂 I’m not familiar with Enfuse, but it sounds cool!
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wow, that’s a big process, But the results show that it was worth it. Yeah, enfuse. I haven’t ponied up the cash yet to buy CS6 so its handy using enfuse, ive put the link on the bottom, its a handy little plugin and cost me £2 as its donationware, its worth more though. As always, dig reading your blog mate
http://yanikphotoschool.com/tutorials/video_tutorials/creating-hdr-images-directly-in-lightroom-video-tutorial/
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Thanks as always man. It is a bit of a process, but honestly it’s so nice to work fast and light. The time to take the exposures, and process them pales in comparison to setting up lights for each and every shot, not to mention the trips to and from the car to bring all the gear in. It has been very handy for these applications. I’ll have a look at enfuse, seems intriguing!
Cheers
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cool, I need to experiment with the bracketing feature on my G3, ive honestly rarely used that feature, thinking maybe ill need to get a remote. You have much exprience using the bracketing feature on yopur ol g3? What did you use for this shot? DSLR? I keep looking at the OMD with big hopeful eyes. Love its retro styling and that its weather sealed. also the last image with all the metal reminds me of the DeLorean car, which is always a winner!
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Hey Chris,
Sorry for the late response. Yeah, I used the bracketing on the G3 often. I’d normally go with the 7x1stop option, put it on continuous burst, set to manual with the first exposure set to 0 (dead middle of the light meter) full frame metering (I forget what it is called, but the full average, not spot or center weighted) and fire them off. Oh yeah, I always shoot in RAW as well. Process in Photomatix and then go from there.
The OMD is a great camera, but I’ve had it for a year now, and I still consider it to be the most quirky camera I’ve ever shot with. There’s a learning curve with the interface (perhaps less so for seasoned Oly shooters), and it still blows my mind how counter intuitive certain things are. The files are wonderful, but for less, you can grab the EPL5 or the EPM2 with the same sensor, and I believe the same IBIS, but not entirely sure. I cannot speak to any quirkiness with those though 🙂
T
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No problem, you’ve got a young family, delays are expected! That is some good advice, Yeah I always shoot in raw too, love being able to change some little bits if needed. I’m excited to play with some bracketing, ive recently thrown a load of my photos on to flickr and could do with getting some great HDRs out there. The OMD is quite expensive but just looks so great like my old slrs and rangefinders. I need a I love the G3 but you know what its like with new gear, hard not to get excited about all of the stuff out there. I really dig what Panasonic are doing but having thought about it more, their GH range feel as though its defeating parts of why the M4T system exists, namely the size is growing. I’ve not had the pleasure to play with any of the new Gs or Pens but few months down the line should see me in a better position to pick one up if I fancy. But then I don’t like the new G6 either, that’s huge too. I love the built in EVF so GX is out (even though the externals an option). On second thoughts, seems the G3 is still the perfect camera for me!
As per usual, your advice is invaluable, I shall let you know how the HDRs turn out.
Have a great weekend!
Chris
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