Newport Photographer's "Pop-Up Dining Room" Highlights Local Restaurants
Kate Nagle, GoLocal News Editor
Newport Photographer's "Pop-Up Dining Room" Highlights Local Restaurants
Now during the coronavirus crisis, he can be spotted around town supporting local restaurants on the “Onne Newport Restaurant Tour,” dining on takeout with his family in the back of what was once a trailer for equipment.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNow, it is outfitted with candles and a white tablecloth — and adorned with his photography work -- as a "pop-up dining room."
And van der Wal is the first one not to take credit, saying the trailer concept was “all his wife’s idea.”
The family’s first “takeout” was at the Clarke Cooke House, and then they most recently set up shop outside of Bar ‘Cino and Stoneacre Brasserie.
“We parked in Washington Square and the light was just amazing,” said van der Wal - who knows light.
A Social Media Success
“Three months ago, my wife Tenley wanted to sell [the trailer],” van der Wal told GoLocal. ”Then she said let’s put a little dining room in it — she and our daughter put all the pictures up and made nice banners.”
And now?
“After all the social media around it, I’m getting tons of requests from restaurants,” said van der Wal, who said he’s glad he’s able to highlight local establishments working to stay open under current constraints.
“Obviously, some restaurants are now opening up with outdoor dining, but we’ll see what we can do with the ones that don’t have that option,” he said.
And if he’s not "on the road," van de Wal can be found taking photos in Newport harbor -- or online, teaching budding photographers in online workshops and classes.
“Assignment work is absolutely stone-cold dead,” said van der Wal. “So we’ve been pushing social media and have a great following.”
For van der Wal, he said the effort is paying off, which people coming to his website and purchasing works.
You can learn more about van der Wal — and purchase his works — here.