Shaken, Not Stirred

Photographing Genuine Hospitality at the Huse Culinary Bartender Battle

There is no better, spirited feeling than hearing the sound of an ice-cold cocktail being shaken by the bartender in the same space you’re in.

Add five talented bartenders, a little friendly competition, incredible seasonal food, a DJ setting the vibes, plenty of Tito’s Vodka, and a room full of people ready to taste it all, and you have the makings of a pretty bad a$$ evening.

I recently had the opportunity to photograph the annual Huse Culinary Bartender Battle at Harry & Izzy’s on the north side of Indianapolis. And while the cocktails may have been the reason everyone gathered, what I loved most about photographing this event was everything happening around them.

The people. The energy. The creativity. The teamwork.

And a whole lot of genuine hospitality.

More Than A Cocktail Competition

Huse Culinary is the hospitality group behind some of Indianapolis’ most recognizable restaurants, including St. Elmo Steak House, Harry & Izzy’s, 1933 Lounge, and The HC Tavern + Kitchen, with its restaurant family now extending beyond Indiana into Arizona.

Hospitality is obviously at the center of what they do, but what stood out to me while photographing the Bartender Battle was how deeply that hospitality seems to begin within their own team.

Each year, the event brings together bartenders from across the Huse Culinary restaurant family for a spirited competition centered around creativity, craft, and a little company bragging rights.

With Tito’s Vodka sponsoring the event, each bartender was challenged to create an original cocktail featuring Tito’s. From there, they could make it entirely their own.

And OMG, they did!

Each cocktail had a personality. A presentation. A really cool story.

Guests moved throughout the event tasting the different creations while bartenders and their teams shared the inspiration behind what was in the glass. It made the experience incredibly interactive. There was no velvet rope between the people creating the experience and the people enjoying it. Everyone was part of it!

Even better, the competition had a meaningful purpose behind it. The winning bartender earned more than a trophy and bragging rights. A generous donation would be made to the charity of their choice, along with some well-earned company perks.

Hella fun? Absolutely.

But with heart behind it, too.

Photographing the Story, Not Just the Event

When I photograph a hospitality event, my goal isn't simply to document what happened.

I want the photographs to make you feel like you were there.

For the Bartender Battle, that meant getting close to the action.

I photographed over shoulders and through conversations. I moved between bartenders as they shook cocktails, poured drinks, added finishing touches, laughed with guests, and told the stories behind their creations.

I wanted you almost to hear the cocktail shaker when looking at the photographs.

There were joyful moments, but there was grit, too. Concentration. Fast-moving hands. A bartender making the same precise pour again and again. Teams working together behind the scenes. Those tiny moments of focus that reveal just how much work goes into making hospitality look effortless.

Those are often the photographs I find most interesting.

Because craft isn't always perfectly posed.

Sometimes it's a furrowed brow, a splash on the bar, a hand reaching into the frame, or a giant smile immediately after everything comes together.

Genuine Hospitality Happens Everywhere

Of course, a hospitality event like this doesn't happen because of one person or one department.

There is an entire ecosystem working behind the scenes.

So while the bartenders were a major part of the story, I wanted my photographs to go beyond the bar.

I stepped into the kitchen to photograph the culinary team preparing and plating dishes. I photographed the raw bar as the team shucked oysters. I followed service staff as hors d'oeuvres moved through the crowd. I captured managers, event planners, and members of the leadership team greeting guests, checking in with their teams, and celebrating the people participating in the competition.

Even the DJ was part of the story. The music helped create the vibe for the evening, so she belonged in the visual narrative, too.

That's one of my favorite things about hospitality photography.

There are stories LITERALLY everywhere.

The cocktail matters. The beautifully plated food matters. The space matters . . . but so does the person preparing it, carrying it, serving it, talking about it, and making someone feel welcome while they're enjoying it.

The Details Tell the Story, Too

Throughout the evening, I moved back and forth between wide environmental photographs and tight details.

A beautifully finished cocktail.

Hands gripping a sweating shaker.

Fresh oysters being consumed at the raw bar.

A dish being carefully plated in the kitchen.

Guests leaning into conversations and taking pictures with friends.

Bartenders laughing with one another.

Then I'd step back and photograph the entire space so you could see Harry & Izzy's filled with people and understand the scale and energy of the event.

That variety is intentional.

For me, strong restaurant and event photography should tell both the big story and the little ones happening inside of it.

The wide photograph says, Yooooo - This is where we were.

The detail says, Heyyyooo - This is what it felt like.

You need both.

When Company Culture Becomes Part of the Brand Story

One of my biggest takeaways from photographing the Bartender Battle was that this wasn't simply an event Huse Culinary hosted for its guests.

It was also a celebration of its stewards.

You could see it in the way team members supported one another. In the managers and leadership walking around and recognizing the work happening around them. In the pride bartenders had while explaining their creations. And, of course, in the celebration when the winners were finally announced. (By the way, there were TWO WINNERS this year!)

Those moments matter from a brand photography perspective because company culture is part of a company's story.

You can write that your organization values hospitality, creativity, teamwork, or its people.

But when you can actually show those things happening, the story becomes much more powerful.

That's why imagery magically does something that words alone can't always accomplish.

Hospitality Photography Should Feel Like Hospitality

I spent many years working in hospitality before moving into marketing and photography, and I think that experience has permanently shaped the way I photograph this industry.

I'm always watching the room.

I'm noticing the server crumbing a table. The chef wiping the rim of a plate before it goes out to the floor. The manager greeting a guest and wishing them a “Happy Birthday” as they walk to their table. The bartender chilling a coupe before he/she pours in the most beautifully balanced cocktail. The laugh with friends that you just can’t stop or control.

Those moments are fleeting, and they're rarely recreated quite the same way once they're gone.

My job is to anticipate them.

For hospitality groups, restaurants, hotels, private golf clubs, and event teams, that creates an image library that goes far beyond traditional event coverage. These photographs can become part of the larger visual identity of the brand, telling stories across websites, social media, public relations, advertising, recruiting, internal culture, and future marketing campaigns.

And the best part?

They don't have to look like marketing.

They can simply look like people genuinely enjoying what they do.

A Very Good Night to Have a Camera in My Hand

By the end of the evening, we had cocktails, oysters, incredible food, the jams, a packed patio, plenty of laughter, a little healthy competition, winning teams holding trophies, and hundreds of moments in between.

Exactly the kind of night I love to photograph.

I was honored to step into the Huse Culinary world for the evening and document not only what their team created, but the people and culture behind it.

Because the story wasn't simply about who made the winning cocktail.

It was about everyone who made the evening happen.

And that is the kind of hospitality story I will happily tell through my lens any day.

Always shaken, never stirred. 😉

Forme Creative provides hospitality, restaurant, food and beverage, brand, and event photography throughout Indianapolis, Carmel, Fishers, Westfield, Zionsville, Noblesville, Central Indiana, and beyond. If your restaurant, hospitality group, hotel, private golf club, or culinary team has a story worth capturing, I’d love to help you tell it.