Every Milk Jar fanatic knows: the best way to overcome separation anxiety from the shop is a trip through the official Milk Jar Instagram. Want to know what goes behind each gooey, mouth-watering cookie pic? Take a look behind the scenes of this weekend's photoshoot, where we celebrated Spring and our brand new Milk & Cereal cookie!
The day starts extra early for photoshoots when our fearless leader, Courtney, arrives to prepare the kitchen. By around 6:30 AM, the trusty Milk Jar dough team is hard at work, getting dough ready for the new day. Today, the top priority is getting the stars for our photoshoot baking!
Power-house photographer Bethany of Two Lee Photography arrives shortly after. The window for her to work magic is limited: there are only a few hours of the beautiful natural morning light before the shop opens to customers. Wasting no time, Bethany, Courtney, and the Milk Jar creative team start staging the perfect scene for the cookies that are in the oven.
This weekend's shoot featured a lot cereal in honor of the new flavor, which includes Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, Rice Krispies, and Golden Grahams. It got pretty messy, pretty fast.
Once they are ready to leave their trailer (the oven), some of our star cookies are selected. Picking the perfect cookie for each shot takes a lot of careful consideration. Which one has the gooiest center? The crispiest coat? The truth is that every single Milk Jar cookie is equally gorgeous...but that doesn't stop us from sneaking a bite, just to make sure.
We asked the experts which cookie, in their opinion, makes for the best photos.
Courtney's answer? "White Chocolate Raspberry is definitely photogenic. Chocolate chip - always. And I feel like the chocolate pecan caramel..."
"I've always loved the Birthday Cookie," confessed Bethany. "It's so fun."
So, what are the ingredients of a perfect cookie shot? "Perfectly baked cookies, of course," laughs Courtney. "Simple is good, but props make them really fun I think. Especially papers from Paper Source!"
While painstakingly styling some fresh flowers, Bethany added that "as long as there's good lighting, and a little bit of patience, then we usually get some good shots."
By the time the camera is clicking, the shop is already bustling with members of the Milk Jar crew. Coffee is ground, windows are cleaned, and the first cookies of the day are wheeled out from the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Bethany works to quickly capture a wide variety of images to appear across social media and press for the next 2-5 weeks. "It definitely stretches creativity," she says. "You think, how many times can you photograph milk and cookies?" With great teamwork and a teaspoon of fun, each photoshoot produces dozens of exciting and beautiful pictures of our favorite supermodels.
Two fast-paced hours later, the fresh, yummy cookies are put on the big runway (our front counter!). In a matter of minutes, the photo set is cleaned up of every crumb, cookie, and cereal bit to welcome our first visitors to the shop.
If you're not already, make sure sure to follow us on Instagram to catch the finished images from the photoshoot!
