Drink Photographer NYC

Slowly Shirley is a bar in the West Village neighborhood of New York City. You’ll find it down the stairs from it’s sister bar the Happiest Hour. This watering hole also has a nautical theme to it but the mood and atmosphere are like night and day. Where the Happiest Hour transports you to a beach far away Slowly Shirley transports you back in time and takes you aboard a ship cast off into the Atlantic. You’re below deck in a dining hall swilling drinks and sneaking away to a dark corner to gossip with your mates or flirt with your loves. It’s an adventure.

The cocktails are the creation of head bar master Jim Kearns. You can see him below slinging drinks and chatting me up as we photographed his creations. I’ve worked with Jim many times and I have never once seen him not wear his signature blue shirt and suspenders. It pays to have a signature style in our industry.



The fun part of photographing in what looks like the hull of a ship is the drama. It’s a very dramatic interior with interesting little copper statues for lamps and little nautical themed figurines. When lighting these photographs I just simply follow the theme of the bar that were in. Where the Happiest Hour was all about saturated colors Slowly Shirley is a dramatic delight. Beauty dish pushed in tight to increase the highlights on the glass and let the shadows fall off quick. Here the drinks appear out of the dimly lit bar and pop off the background.