The Pinot arrived later than expected on Saturday and conflicted with social plans, so tonight became my first shoot of the project. It was a cool one. To maximize skin exposure for color extraction while the juice is relatively watery, Matt is slowing down the fermentation by cooling the must with dry ice. This lead to all kinds of nifty effects, from clouds of CO2 drifting over the cap to violent, boil-like bubbling once the ice was fully submerged. It was difficult to turn these fireworks into successful photographs, but it was great to watch in person.

One thing I hadn’t considered before tonight was that Matt might be camera shy, which could’ve undermined this whole series. But it seems he’s not at all. So while the shoot was a failure photographically, I’m excited to have started on the project.