Lucky Soda Photography – Iowa Wedding Photographers

I’m sure you couldn’t tell, but I love food. I also love local restaurants. Life’s too short to eat reheated frozen food at chain restaurants.

Centro is a very popular restaurant in Des Moines that we enjoy dining at. We’ve gone for birthdays, anniversaries and “because it sounded so darn good”.  Centro has a very warm atmosphere to it. The place always smells of fresh bread and italian herbs and seasonings. It’s enough to get anyone’s appetite fired up. Just from creating this post Sarah told me, “I’m in the mood for some warm bread and olive oil.”

When we arrived to photograph it was right before the dinner rush on a friday, so the whole staff was preparing. We were not able to grab any food shots but we hope we did the place some justice with these photographs. There are wonderful lines and beautiful decor all throughout the space. And if you haven’t been to Centro yet, what are you waiting for?

And again, this was shot with a mix of digital and film. All film was Portra 400 pushed (again) to 3200. The flowers that are put up as a centerpiece to the dining space were done by Saley of Divine Flowers. She always does a magnificent job.

Have you been to Fong’s yet?

I’ve consumed a lot of pizza. I consider myself to be a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to good places to get a pie. When I got word from a coworker that Fong’s was a place you could get “Crab Rangoon” pizza my first reaction was, “Huh!?”. Such a curious combination of foods that I loved. Pizza + Crab Rangoon could be heaven on earth. This had to be tasted! Good grief is it delicious.

The place itself is on 4th street downtown just across from The Kirkwood, The Lift and Java Joe’s. It’s in a great little spot that is always packed with people having a good time. They serve during the late night hours pizza by the slice. How rad is that? I can’t say enough great things about the people of Fong’s. I’ve brought guest photographers from out of town here and even ended an engagement session here so that we could introduce the couple to the inimitable Fong’s Pizza.

This is the first part of a personal project series Sarah and I have taken up this winter. Des Moines has some real gems in it. Some hidden and some that are very popular. I think Fong’s fits right in between. It’s popular enough but there are still plenty of people out there that haven’t been.

For the photography nerds out there this is a mix of film and digital. What’s super ridiculous is EVERY film shot in here is from Kodak’s new Portra 400. Why is that super ridiculous? Because the two rolls that I shot were pushed to 3200. Yes, that’s three stops of abuse. I’m shocked at the minimal grain that’s present in this film. The first two shots are perfect examples of how clear this stuff is.

Special thanks to Gwen over at Fong’s for allowing us to come in and do this! You guys were wonderful!