Kiln
Hayes Valley, San Francisco — Documentary & Editorial Photography
They weren't doing photography. They were protecting the mystery. I told her it was going to be great for everybody and kept showing up—in person, in the DMs—until they said fine, come down. I spent about six and a half hours on that first visit moving through the kitchen, getting to know the team, earning the access. Chef John Wesley—young, stoic, surprisingly witty, with a strangely deep voice that catches you off guard—welcomed me in completely once the door was open.
The photos landed. The chemistry was instant.
I've shot Kiln four times since. I consider it one of my babies—a body of work I helped build from the ground up, before the world caught up to what John and Julianna were doing. Since that first visit they've earned two Michelin stars and the Young Chef Award for California. None of that surprises me. I watched it coming from inside the kitchen.
Some clients come through referrals. Kiln came through Instagram and sheer stubbornness.
I was scrolling one evening when I landed on a video of this newly opened restaurant on Fell Street—dramatic warehouse ceilings, 20-something courses, an aesthetic that screamed Caravaggio. Dark, moody, precise. I drove to San Francisco the next day, walked through the front door, and told Julianna Yang at the host stand that I was going to shoot for them.
She politely told me I wasn't.
