Food and photography

Workshop location:  Dream Big beach house.

After only two full days in San Antonio, I got back on an airplane and headed east once again.  This time, I flew out to the Florida/Alabama Gulf Coast for a food photography workshop.  Don’t roll your eyes; you know your mouth waters whenever you see a great food picture in a magazine or online!  It may sound a bit geeky to some of you, but with as much as I enjoy food and telling stories, it was a natural progression.  I’ve always loved photography, and now that I’m shooting with a sophisticated camera again, I really wanted to learn how to produce photos that capture the way my mind experiences culinary adventures. 

Helene demonstrating styling and shooting!

During my convalescence from hip surgery about a year and a half ago, I had purchased a book titled Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin.  She is a professional food photographer who also maintains a cool foodblog.  As I followed her blog, I discovered that she taught food photography workshops several times a year.  Since I was right there in North Carolina, I signed up for one she was putting on in Charleston, SC.  Unfortunately, I ended up deploying the same weekend as the workshop, but Helene was kind enough to give me a rain check for the workshop this weekend. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This dessert tasted way better than it looks in my pic :-(

So, after more than a year of waiting for professional guidance, I finally participated in her workshop, which was conducted at a beach house on Gulf Shores, AL.  The seminar was co-taught with another professional food photographer/blogger named Clare Barboza.  Whereas Helene is a pastry chef turned food photographer, Clare’s background in art brings out more of the backstory of food instead of recipes.  Although their approaches to food and bringing its story to life are different, both seem to arrive with very similar accounts and philosophies.  The dynamic duo of these two talented women, coupled with the equally gifted culinary assistants of Laura and Libby, produced an informative and fun educational experience embedded in four days of great food and company! 

Antipasta shooting assignment.

There were a dozen attendees whose backgrounds included professional, as well as para-professional, photographers and bloggers,  restaurant owners, chefs and hobbiest.  Even with so much variation in experiences, Helene and Clare were able to address each of our talent levels and facilitate the transition of each individual into his/her next level of mastery.  They accomplished this through assisted assignments.  Having just gone through training on how to be an effective instructor, I appreciated the thoughtfulness and structure of the exercises.  The first two were on our own after a didactic overview of lighting, depth of field, composition and styling.  I struggled with the dessert assignment but seemed to find some vision for the anti pasta shoot.  Although the amount of food manhandling that occurred while we positioned the food for each shoot dissuaded group consumption most of the time, I was relieved to find that their food styling techniques weren’t overly artificial.  I’ve read accounts of photographed foods being primped with hairspray, paint, fake parts and other non edible means which strikes me as dishonest.  I'm inevitably disappointed when food I buy or am served in a restaurant doesn’t look like its advertisement pictures.  Instead of food trying to look like its marketing pictures, I prefer for my pictures to be a real, albeit somewhat refined, representation of the food it depicts; Helene and Clare showed me the way!  Of course, I’m not trying to make a living off my photos or the foods in them, so I have the luxury of my altruistic view! 

Bread company assignment.

After the individual assignments, we were paired with another attendee for the next two shoots.  For the first, I was the photographer and my partner, Sharon, was the food stylist.  Our guidance was “product shoot, bread company, rustic French kitchen.” 

 

Not contemporary, but it is light and airy!

For the second shoot, I was the stylist and Sharon was the photographer.  Our direction was “editorial spread, healthy eating, light airy and contemporary.”  Although I struggled as a stylist, Sharon and I collaborated to a successful final product.  Both she and I tend to gravitate towards rustic more than contemporary, so we shot a few in that style as well, as depicted in the accompanying photo. 

Ugly can challenge....budget Italian wedding soup.

The final photo shoot of the workshop was the “ugly can challenge.”  We had to each choose one of over a dozen budget, canned soups lined up on the counter and present a photo that could be used by the manufacturer in a marketing ad.  My challenge was a can of Italian wedding soup.  I’ll let you decide if I met the challenge or not…. 

Gulf Shores, AL beach.

Overall, I spent a satisfying four days on the Gulf Coast.  The weather was cooperative, the company animated, the instruction exemplary, and the food decadent.  Even though I don’t earn an income off my culinary reproductions, I felt like my time was well-spent and my experience-repertoire enhanced by the trip J    

 

Just to prove that I'm not alone in my food and photography fascination, here are links to the websites of other participants...

Nancy, Janice, Paola, Jerry, Gale, Marilyn, and Tiffany.  Enjoy!