Nanoose Bay Cafe

Located over Fairwinds Marina in Schooner Cove, the Nanoose Bay Cafe combines classic West Coast nautical themes, an Art Deco-inspired bar, and a layered visual palette that draws cues from movement of the wind and water in the bay it overlooks. Details support intentional movement through the cafe’s several spaces: restaurant, cafe, and store featuring local, artisanal food and wine to go. One of the outside walls can be opened entirely to take in views and sea air over the channel to Winchelsea Island.

Photographing restaurant spaces always requires careful timing to work with (and sometimes around) a live, active space where we want to be quick and unobtrusive—but still accurate and careful in producing the best images that capture the space. To capture the feeling and details of the spaces in both their “night” and “day” vibes, we timed photography late in the afternoon to give both light through the operable wall, and the feeling of the cafe’s sensitive lighting design as the space slipped across “blue hour”.