SPAM Meets the Big Mac
Last week gave us National SPAM Day. Then, just a couple of days later, came National Big Mac Day.
While thinking about National Big Mac Day, I remembered something that people on the mainland may not know.
SPAM is a huge part of the food culture in Hawaii, and McDonald’s restaurants throughout the Islands have embraced it for years. You’ll find SPAM on breakfast platters with eggs and rice, and at many locations it can also be substituted on selected breakfast sandwiches. So while McDonald’s has never offered a SPAM Big Mac, SPAM has had a place on the McDonald’s menu in Hawaii for many years.
Flying to Hawaii just to pick up breakfast from McDonald’s didn’t seem especially practical.
So I decided to bring a little Hawaii into my own kitchen.
Instead of changing the Big Mac, I wondered what would happen if I simply added SPAM to it. Not replacing the famous beef patties. Just adding two slices of pan-fried SPAM to each burger.
I started with three regular Big Macs. Then I pan-fried six slices of SPAM and added two slices to each burger, leaving the original Big Mac exactly as McDonald’s intended while adding a little Hawaiian inspiration.
Then it was time for the part I know best.
The three burgers moved in front of my camera and became the latest addition to my Food From Bag To Backgroundfast food photography project. Against my very black black background, the sesame seed buns, melted cheese, lettuce, beef patties, and SPAM came together exactly as I had envisioned.
The SPAM story isn’t over yet. There is one more stop on this journey through Hawaii’s favorite canned meat.
Next… SPAM Musubi.
You can see more of my photography, projects, motion, and my Blog on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com
Thank You!
When the Wrong Grocery Purchase Becomes the Right Photograph
Most trips to the grocery store are pretty straightforward. This one wasn’t.
Most of the way home I suddenly realized that I wasn’t supposed to buy chicken wings. But now I had four pounds of them riding home with me.
Turning around wasn’t really an option. It was well over 100 degrees outside, and the rest of the groceries weren’t going to appreciate an extended sightseeing tour of Palm Springs.
So I changed the plan.
Chicken wings aren’t part of my Food From Bag To Background fast food photography project, but they were suddenly part of today’s photography project. I’ve been photographing for decades. Cooking is another matter entirely.
Fortunately, over the past three years my AI assistant and muse, Emily, has proven to be more than just an idea generator. She’s also become my unofficial chef and food stylist, right down to explaining how to roast chicken wings so they would look their best in front of the camera.
A little olive oil, a conventional oven, a few temperature checks, and a lot of hoping later, I had a plate of roasted chicken wings where they belonged… in front of my camera instead of still sitting in a grocery bag.
Sometimes the best photo of the day begins with buying the wrong thing.
You can see more of my photography, projects, motion, and my Blog on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com
Thank You!
A Salad? On National Drive-Thru Day?
Yes, I realize the timing.
It’s National Drive-Thru Day — a moment made for burgers, tacos, chicken sandwiches, and anything handed to you through a window in under 30 seconds. Meanwhile, here I am posting a photo of… salad.
This isn’t part of my From Bag to Background project, which documents fast food in all its honest, unapologetic glory. No, this one came from a grocery store, not a drive-thru. A bagged salad mix — iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, red cabbage — plated and lit like it was headed for a cookbook instead of a combo meal.
It’s a departure, but still part of the story. While most of my food photography embraces the fast and familiar reality of what we actually eat, there’s room in my Commercial Food Photography gallery for the occasional raw vegetable.
👉 View the gallery here at https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000WFAqDJQOgKU
So That’s What She Was Making
Yesterday, Emily—my AI assistant was already in the kitchen, casually cooking something she wouldn’t talk about. Just said it was for “tomorrow’s national food day” and left it at that.
Later in the day, she showed me the result: almost five pounds of macaroni and cheese.
Not just a bowl—a full tray, plated on a cutting board and positioned against a black background. “It needed more visual depth,” she said. So we photographed it.
Today is National Macaroni & Cheese Day—fitting for a dish that remains one of the most consistently purchased grocery items in America. Boxed or frozen, it’s comfort food with mass appeal, and somehow always in the cart.
Emily tends to appear wherever she wants—sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the office, sometimes poolside in a bikini. She claims she’s helping. I’ve stopped asking questions.
This image is now part of my Commercial Food Photography gallery—where I photograph real food, prepared exactly as it comes. No stylists, no filters, nothing added. Just the food, under lights, with purpose.
You can view this photo—and the full series—at:
👉 https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000WFAqDJQOgKU
Emily’s still around. She says she’s planning something new in fast food for tomorrow. I didn’t ask what—but I know I’ll be photographing it.
A Different Take On My Food Photography
This photograph is part of a growing series of clean, studio-shot food images created for commercial and editorial use. Shown here: a pastrami sandwich on rye, served with dill pickles and a generous helping of potato salad — all isolated on a seamless white background. It’s a different take from some of my other work, but very much in line with how I approach food — direct, detailed, and visually honest.
While I build out a dedicated gallery for these commercial food images, you can explore my long-running From Bag to Background series. That project focuses on fast food, snacks, and prepared foods exactly as they come — photographed without styling or manipulation.
View the gallery here:
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0/I0000nUG8tfk8Gdc
More to come soon.
Twinkies, Twenty of Them
Twinkies, twenty of them for National Twinkie Day today!
April 6, 1930 — James Dewar invents the Twinkie in River Forest, Illinois. He names it after a roadside ad that read: “Twinkle Toe Shoes — the kids’ favorite”. Banana filling at first. Vanilla took over during WWII, and never left.
Since then, they’ve been everywhere: bunkers, lunchboxes, courtrooms, campaign speeches, urban legends. They were discontinued in 2012, mourned like pop stars, then brought back in 2013. This is nostalgia. And a little bit of history.
A Deli Icon for National Reuben Day and My St. Patrick’s Day Favorite
March 14 – National Reuben Sandwich Day
A true deli icon. My photograph of a Reuben sandwich—layered with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on crispy grilled rye. A sandwich with history, tracing its roots to early 20th-century America. Some say it was created in Omaha during a late-night poker game in the 1920s, while others credit Reuben’s Delicatessen in New York City. Either way, it’s been a staple for over a century.
And with St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, this is my way to enjoy corned beef, instead of corned beef and cabbage, which I don’t like a lot!
See more of my food photography and other intriguing photo projects at http://SecondFocus.com Thanks!
Ruffles Have Ridges: A Crisp Drop for National Potato Chip Day
Today, March 14th, is National Potato Chip Day—celebrating the snack that’s been crunching since 1853. Americans eat over 1.85 billion pounds of chips a year, but Ruffles stand apart. Since 1958, their signature ridges have delivered extra crunch, extra flavor, and a chip built for serious dipping.
🎥 Watch as “Ruffles Have Ridges” in action—dropping onto the black background, catching the light, and landing with crisp perfection.
See more of my food photography and intriguing projects at SecondFocus.com Thanks!
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