It’s always a great experience working with Danny Wimmer Presents. The level and talent at which their entire team operates on is inspiring. That’s why I was so excited to be back with them for Bourbon & Beyond this year.

I flew out on Thursday, caught up with our team at the Airbnb, and got my assignments. I was assigned to primarily work on the Better in the Bluegrass Stage and the Kentucky Gold Stage. Two stages hosting culinary demos and bourbon industry panels. This was my first time shooting culinary demos, and I had an absolute blast doing it! Celebrity chefs Edward Lee, Tiffani Thiessen, Matt Adboo, Justin Sutherland, and more were in attendance. Over on the panel side, author Fred Minnick, Julian Van Winkle of The Van Winkle Family, Freddie Johnson of Buffalo Trace, and many more shared some of their trade secrets and stories of bourbon’s history.  

My favorite shot of the weekend was of Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips carrying a giant “Fuck Yeah Louisville” balloon on his shoulders. I had just wrapped up shooting some crowd shots of the festival grounds and was walking back to our production trailer. The Flaming Lips set had just ended, and I saw Wayne walking down the middle of this empty street to his bus backstage. Unfortunately, the only lens I had on me at the time was a 15mm fisheye. As much as I love my fisheye, I was worried that the effect was going to be too much for this shot. Regardless I couldn’t let the moment pass, so I ran in front of him, got relatively close (because of the fisheye), and snapped a few shots. After it was edited, it became one of the most iconic moments of the weekend among our production team.