A finless fish story from photographer Jay Fram

Hello,

Finless Foods is a super-cool startup that makes plant-based and cell-cultured tuna with a mission to “create a future for seafood where the ocean thrives.” So, when they needed portraits of the leadership team, Jay Fram proposed using the ocean as a setting—but not just as a background. He knew he wanted to photograph these young oceanic entrepreneurs actually in the water—but dressed for the office. It’s easy enough to head out to a beach with a camera and grab some shots, but making controlled, lit images with clients watching on a tethered monitor just like they would at a studio shoot is another matter. One minute, people are posing calmly, toe-deep in the water. The next, a rogue wave has everyone swirling in two feet of surf. Meanwhile, the wind keeps sweeping up the huge lighting umbrella like a sail and nearly blowing it down the beach. Between beach shots and interiors at an adjacent resort, it was a long, challenging day, but it was just the kind of challenge Jay loves, and he made it fun for his subjects in a way that brought out their best. That mix of polished, professional images with fun, real energy is exactly what Jay does best—and just what the client was fishing for.

Fondly,

Freda