They say you shoot with whatever camera you have with you...yesterday that was my iPhone...I had plans to meet friends for cocktails at a place that was new to all of us...Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co...located on the edge of midtown Sacramento...in an area where getting a parking space in the mid-afternoon feels like the day's biggest accomplilshment...
I had been attracted by the idea of "craft" cocktails...specialty cocktails made in the classic style...thoughtfully prepared with interesting, fresh ingredients...hand-squeezed juices, infusions, rare bitters...used to enliven without overpowering the characteristics of the underlying spirit...
Having exhausted my list of errands, I arrived early...it was late afternoon, that special time between lunch and dinner when things quiet down...when it's easy to get the feel for a place...when you get all of the attention a bartender can lavish on you...
This led to an interesting discussion of gins...Number 3, which I discovered in Paris...St. George's, a gin distilled in Alameda...an elegantly balanced combination of 19 different botanicals...an in-house barrel-aged gin that I will taste on my next visit...
I checked out the menu and ordered a Negroni...delicious...refreshing...a hint of essential oil from the orange peel floating on the surface...stamped with the H&L logo...
I sipped my drink and took in my surroundings...an eclectic mix of styles layered on a contemporary, concrete foundation...interesting furniture including a comfy seating area...it felt secluded despite its location in the center of the room...
There was just the right amount of natural and manmade light...an open, spacious feeling...outdoor tables front and back...the only discordant note: traditional milk glass vases...if there was ever somewhere these really don't belong, this would be it...
I did use my iPhone to capture the series of fourteen images in the sliding gallery below, and I didn't enjoy it very much...image quality is sadly lacking, especially in low light...I found myself longing for the depth of field I get from my DSLR...the feeling of being right there that is reflected in its images...the sharpness and clarity...
I realized that shooting with an iPhone is to a DSLR like drinking a well drink is to a craft cocktail...sometimes you just want the best, which is how I know I will be heading back to H&L soon...
