Callebaut Masters of Taste Miami 2026: Event Photography & Video Case Study

When Callebaut brought its Masters of Taste experience to Miami, the event was designed to be more than a traditional gathering. It brought together chefs, guests, chocolate, desserts and carefully designed brand experiences in an environment built around discovery and taste.

Callebaut approached Bela Foto Studio  to document that experience through both photography and video.

The assignment called for candid event photography, detailed imagery of the desserts and branded elements, and two distinct video deliverables: a short interview with Chef Karina Rivera and a larger recap film capturing the atmosphere of the event.

For our team, the challenge wasn’t simply to document what happened. It was to create a collection of visual assets that would communicate what it actually felt like to be there.

The Client

Callebaut is a Belgian chocolate brand with a history dating back to 1911 and a strong presence within the professional culinary and pastry community.

For its Miami event, the brand created an experience centered around chocolate, culinary creativity and its Masters of Taste concept. Guests were able to interact with chefs, explore different chocolates and flavor profiles, sample desserts and move through an environment designed around the Callebaut brand.

The event took place at Amara at Paraiso in Miami, a waterfront venue that our team already knew well.

Bela Foto has photographed events at Amara at Paraiso several times over the years, so returning to the property gave our team the advantage of already understanding the venue’s layout, natural light, waterfront setting and visual opportunities.

What Callebaut Needed

From our initial conversations with Daisy and the Callebaut team, it was clear that the goal wasn’t simply to produce a large gallery of event photographs.

They wanted content with purpose.

The photography needed to capture the candid interactions between guests while also giving proper attention to the craftsmanship behind the desserts, chocolate displays and branded details throughout the experience.

Video had a different job.

Callebaut wanted a concise 60-second interview piece featuring Chef Karina Rivera, along with a separate event recap that would bring together the people, food, setting and overall atmosphere of the day.

That meant photography and video couldn’t operate independently. Both needed to feel like different parts of the same story.

Planning the Coverage Around the Client’s Vision

Before the event, our team scheduled a planning call with Daisy at Callebaut to understand what mattered most to them.

Rather than arriving with a generic event shot list, we reviewed the desired coverage together and built the photography and video plan around their vision.

We identified the moments and details that needed special attention: guest interactions, Chef Karina, dessert presentations, Callebaut branding, the Chocolate Explorer experience, environmental imagery and the overall energy of the gathering.

That preparation gave our photographer and videographer a clear creative direction while still leaving enough flexibility to capture genuine moments as they unfolded.

For candid event photography especially, that balance matters. Too much staging can make an event feel artificial. Too little planning can mean missing the moments that are most valuable to the client.

Our goal was to have a plan without making the event look planned.

Capturing More Than the Shot List

Once production began, our photographer moved throughout the event capturing the different layers of the experience.

That included polished photographs of Callebaut’s desserts and chocolate displays, wider environmental images, guest interactions, branded installations, portraits and candid moments between attendees and the culinary team.

At the same time, our videographer was gathering footage for both video deliverables.

Because Amara at Paraiso sits within one of Miami’s most recognizable waterfront environments, we saw an opportunity to take the recap beyond what had originally been requested.

We incorporated drone footage of the surrounding Miami scenery to establish a stronger sense of place and give the finished film a more cinematic opening.

It wasn’t something we added simply for spectacle. The location was part of the experience, and showing it helped establish where this event was happening before bringing the viewer into the details inside.

Real-Time Photography Through AI

We also incorporated Bela Foto’s AI-powered instant photo delivery into the event.

Instead of guests having to wait until after the event to see the professional photographs being taken throughout the day, they could access their images in real time.

Guests could use the gallery’s AI-powered matching technology to locate photographs of themselves as images became available.

For a brand experience like this, instant delivery extends the value of event photography beyond documentation. The photographs become part of the experience itself.

Guests aren’t simply being photographed — they can engage with those images while the event is still happening.

Two Videos, Two Different Purposes

The video coverage was intentionally divided into two pieces because each deliverable had a different job.

The Chef Karina Rivera interview was designed as a concise, approximately 60-second piece centered on the chef and her perspective.

The broader event recap focused on atmosphere.

Rather than making the recap feel like a chronological record of everything that happened, the edit brought together movement, conversations, desserts, chocolate, branding, guest reactions, culinary moments and the Miami setting.

Together, the two videos gave Callebaut both a focused piece of chef-led content and a broader visual story of the Masters of Taste experience.

The Outcome

By the end of the assignment, Callebaut had much more than a collection of event photographs.

The final content library included professional candid photography, polished imagery of the desserts and product experience, brand-focused details, guest interactions, environmental coverage, real-time AI photo delivery and two purpose-built video assets.

More importantly, the finished work reflected the vision we had discussed with the client before production began.

That is ultimately how we approach corporate event coverage at Bela Foto.

The cameras are only one part of the process.

Understanding why the client is hosting the event, what they want people to remember and how the content will be used afterward allows us to make better decisions before, during and after production.

For Callebaut, that meant balancing culinary detail with genuine human interaction, polished brand imagery with candid moments, and structured coverage with enough creative freedom to recognize opportunities such as the aerial Miami footage.

Back at Amara at Paraiso

There was also something familiar about this production for our team.

Having photographed events at Amara at Paraiso on multiple occasions over the years, it was great to return with another global brand and another completely different creative brief.

Miami venues each photograph differently. Knowing a property — where the light changes, how guests tend to move through the space, where backgrounds work and where the surrounding city can become part of the story — can make a meaningful difference once an event is underway.

That local experience is something we’ve developed through years of corporate event photography throughout Miami, covering conferences, brand activations and private experiences across South Florida.

Every assignment is different.

Knowing the city means we can spend less time figuring out the environment and more time concentrating on the story happening inside it.

Creating Content That Lives Beyond the Event

An event may last only a few hours, but the content created from it can continue working long afterward.

That’s why we approached Callebaut’s Masters of Taste as a content production, not simply another event to photograph.

From our initial planning call and collaborative shot list to photography, video, drone coverage and real-time AI delivery, each part of the production served a specific purpose.

The result was a cohesive collection of visual content that captured the food, the people, the brand and unmistakably, Miami.

And for our team at Bela Foto, it was a pleasure to help Callebaut tell that story.

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