For the love of coffee.
Seeing as how it is National Coffee Day, I thought it would be appropriate to talk briefly about the photo shoots that I have been doing with Proper Grounds Coffee Roasters in Lafayette Colorado.
Last Spring I was sitting with three of my four children in Proper Grounds while we waited for my second son to finish some work at school . It was a chilly day so I ordered hot cocoa for the kids and a latte for myself.
A few quick observations about Proper Grounds.
- Experience is everything. They are very personable and care deeply about providing the most relaxing environment possible in which to enjoy your beverage.
- Flavors beyond compare. They are awesome at coming up with the perfect flavor combinations. I asked for a latte that tasted like an almond joy and ended up with a wonderful blend of cocoa, coconut, almond, and espresso.
- That personal touch. They always take the time to create some sort of art with the foam. I had some sort of swirly leaf thing, my daughter had a heart, one of my sons had what to appeared to be a Native American Indian Chief, and my other son had a swan.
The kids were so enamored with the art that I didn't think that they would ever drink their cocoa. I took some photos with my phone so they could remember the occasion, and they consumed their beverages.
On a whim, I went up to the counter and told the barista that I would love to photograph some of the latte art that they create and handed him my business card. To my surprise he directed me to one of the tables in the shop where Cody Osborn, one of the owners of Proper Grounds was sitting. To make a long story short, what started as a simple request to photograph turned into a wonderful, reoccurring, creative, free-form photographic exploration of the entire world of coffee.
To this day, Cody and I are still carving time out of our schedules to get together and just create images around coffee.