Fuel Shoot

Each month, Maine Ahead's Chef to Chef features a dish prepared by one of Maine's most talented executive chefs. Earlier this week the Chef to Chef crew: Mark Janicki, Mark Wellman, Luke Abbott, Melanie Brooks, and Leslie Bowman drove to Lewiston to check out Fuel, located in the historic Lyceum Hall. Executive chef, Justin Oliver, may look young, but he's been cooking in commercial kitchens since he was just 14-years-old. Justin oversees all aspects of Fuel's kitchen, menu creation, as well as food and staff management. On Tuesday he made a mouth-watering meal -- you'll have to wait until the April issue is printed to find out what it is.

Working on the Chef to Chef piece is a multi-step process and involves a lot of cameras. Not only do we publish a story, we also create a short video of the preparation of the dish for our website, MaineAhead.com.


One of the most important aspects of the project is Mark Janicki's sit-down interview with the chef.


Working in a commercial kitchen isn't always easy, but it does frequently provide for some interesting angle shots.


We had three cameras rolling for this shoot -- Luke worked the main stationary camera you see here. There is another camera on a tripod just off to the side and Melanie stood on a chair next to Janicki with yet another camera. Leslie worked the room taking still shots.

Leslie and Mark Wellman set up for a portrait of Justin in the dining room as well as a shot of the prepared plate of food. Lighting is always an issue and we frequently bring more gear than we need -- better to be safe than sorry.

It took two hours to get everything we needed before heading back north to Bangor. While it's frequently a stressful project, everyone always ends up having a great time. Check Fuel out online here and be sure to catch Chef Justin's creation in the April issue of Maine Ahead.