Bra tug-of-war
To follow on from the recent Bras for Breast Cancer post, the culmination of the appeal was a tug-of-war on Main Street in Skibbereen, with all the donated bras tied to the rope:
When I heard “rope” I expected something about 3/4 metres long. Er, no:
This turned out to be a real community event:
Well done to all the people that took part. I have no idea where they all appeared from:
My favourite image that I made on the day though has to be of this little girl who, it looks like, was told to “hang on to this and don’t let go”. I could see that her face might be framed in that way, but it took a few minutes of waiting, and nearly lying on the ground to get it!:
Well done to everyone who organised and helped with the events, and to the ladies all over Ireland who donated their *ahem* clothing which raised just under €3,000 for the Action Breast Cancer Campaign.
TTFN
Food Feature: Fresco Bistro
Can’t wait to start these off any longer as I’m swamped with draft blog posts here! The publication that is going to run them can catch up in its own good time.
Fresh Aki Tuna salad from Fresco Bistro which is located in the fabulous Lewis Glucksman Gallery in the grounds of University College Cork and is the first editorial food photography post I’m sharing with you
So my big blab has been:
1. It’s not just about the food
and
2. Shooting your dinner isn’t food photography, its photographing your dinner
so here’s what I mean:
Food in preparation:
Sometimes it’s little details that allow me decide if an image is a keeper or not. For this, it’s the order-slip in the hand:
Portrait of Chef Prakash Sivakumar (Kash):
Enjoying lunch (food in the process of being eaten):
Sense Of Place was a hard call on this one. In the end, instead of the inside of the restaurant and purely because the location is so beautiful, I went for a view of the outside, but retained a sense of place with the people in silhouette:
I hope you have time for dessert:
Flour-less chocolate cake with cream and raspberry coulis
Just to point out that only the chef’s portrait and the featured dishes are set up images. Everything else is strictly “as it happens”. All those years spent shooting news & sport gave me fairly good reactions, but more importantly good anticipation!
Would love to receive your comments here on the blog or via Facebook or Twitter (links on the sidebar) as I would really appreciate your feedback, so what do you think?
Here’s a quick slideshow of the whole shoot too:
TTFN
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Starter and dessert
I’ve been making quite a lot of images recently for a commercial client and thought I’d share a couple that didn’t make the cut.
Spiced plums for dessert:
There’s nothing wrong with the images I hasten to add! That one didn’t make the cut as it was in reality a lighting check. The Hero image had cream added a few seconds after this image was made. That one appeals to me because of the little tiny dribble of juice running over the lip off the dish. Others I show might not make the cut purely because the client chose a vertical over horizontal or vice-versa, or just chose a different angle from the options given. There is only one image per dish required.
I had planned on today’s blog being the first of the editorial food features I’ve been threatening you with promising you but there is another delay with the publication of same and although I’m slightly less than impressed, and there is no firm reason I need to wait, I’ll hang tough for a little longer.
So these images were made in partnership with my friend and co-conspirator Margaret who some will know as Umnumnum as she runs a boutique cookery school in Cork under that name. I can’t reveal too much more at this stage, but just to say we’ve been piling in the hours on this project for a commercial client and more to come at a later date.
Crab cakes with sweet chilli sauce as a starter:
OK so three as a starter might be a bit filling. I’d accept the challenge at any time though.
Lots more to come over the next few weeks.
TTFN
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One from the archives, Aug 2008
I’ll never fit through THAT door!
From a country show in Ballyvourney, Co Cork. Once again it’s all about looking for the not-so-obvious image. I could see that something might happen here, but I had to wait about 15 minutes in the pouring rain before it actually did. I can’t remember much else about the event. I do remember the day was wet, damp, rainy, did I mention wet?
TTFN
Editorial food photography
So to carry on from the food photography teaser I posted recently, my idea was to shoot a few food features on restaurants and then approach some publications to see if I could get them picked-up and used. In the strange way that these things sometimes happen, I’d started on the project and an opportunity came my way for the features to be used on a regular basis, which I’ll expand on very soon (I promise)
Here though is my take on what food photography should be in an editorial sense:
* One or more signature dishes from the restaurant (ideally 2/3)
* Portrait of chef
* Food in preparation
* Food being eaten (but not going as far as food going into mouths!)
* A sense of place (the feel of the restaurant)
Usually it’s possible to do all of the above, but not always (getting my excuses in straight away)
What I mean by the list above will become apparent when you see the images I hope
So, I’m quite a way down the road with lots of food feature shoots already done, and I’ve waited (im)patiently for them to be published. Looks now as if that will start next week so I will then start to share them with you
I hope you like them!
TTFN
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Day in a brewery *hic*
Straight into the Hero image I think:
I spent the day recently over in Dungarvan with the great people at Dungarvan Brewing Company shooting some new product and PR images for them and I’ll share a few with you
It’s funny how a “keeper” image comes about sometimes. This one was only a lighting test but I kept it and the clients liked it as one of their choices to use:
A good job then that I (nearly always) make sure to focus when doing light tests as that would have had to be rejected otherwise. I liked the relaxed, casual feel to it.
So what could be better than shooting beer? Well beer & cheese of course! (duuuh):
The last image is just to show how posh I am. When shooting food it’s not unusual to have a food stylist. How passé. Anyone can have a food stylist. It’s the latest thing nowadays to have your very own beer stylist. Meet Claire my lovely beer stylist. Or as we call her affectionately Claireshands:
TTFN
p.s. The Hero can’t catch an airliner falling from the sky. It’s my favourite from a shoot or sequence
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Food photography teaser
Just thought I’d fire out a teaser on what’s upcoming soon, and it’s something I’m SUPER-STOKED about. I’m led to believe that’s an expression a person of the younger generation might use if they were frightfully excited about something
So, the reason I’ve been quieter than normal here on the blog is that as well as a nice increase in the normal commercial and editorial shoots, I’ve been working hard on something behind the scenes for the last few months and it’s to do with food photography
I think there is a fantastic and vibrant food scene in this country but I’m (naturally) particularly interested in what’s going on in Cork. Generally though, country-wide, food doesn’t get much of a push, apart from the usual round of “celebrity” chefs to promote, erm, themselves
What I don’t see much of is good editorial photography promoting food, and restaurants. Some restaurant reviews yes, but empty spaces with nicely laid-out tables is not good editorial IMHO
There is some good advertising photography, which can be quite over-stylised (it all seems a little too perfect for me)
There is also a huge volume of food blogs, but food blogger photography can sometimes, due to equipment and time constraints, leave a bit to be desired. That’s not knocking food bloggers, but food blogging and food photography are two very different animals as I’ll try to explain:
Shooting your dinner is not food photography, it’s photographing your dinner 
That’s fine for a food blog. However, it’s my personal belief that if you can eat what you’ve shot it’s not food photography. I’ve shot a lot of food recently (and in years past) and I’ve very rarely eaten any of it. Blogging about a dish served-up in a restaurant is fine for what it is, food blogging, but in that situation there will rarely be time, and may not be the photographic expertise or equipment to portray the food at its best
Similarly blogging and photographing a recipe as it’s being prepared and cooked will usually be done by a cook. Most cooks are cooks because they are good cooks, but won’t necessarily be good photographers. The reverse applies of course which is why you won’t be seeing any of my “recipes” any time soon and just think yourself lucky you won’t have to taste any 
Of course that’s not to say there are no good food photographs on food blogs, because there certainly are. Some of the images are incredibly good. Images of served-up dishes in a restaurant, or of step-by-step recipe instructions don’t have to be anything supersonic as long as it’s reasonably easy to identify what’s being portrayed
For me though, it’s not just about the food, that’s just one element of what I believe constitutes food photography and that’s where I come in. Image after image of dishes served in a restaurant just become visual fluff after a while. Recipe instructions are fine for people that are proud of what they do are and want to share on their personal blogs and that’s cool, although poor images used where the blog represents a business are not, again only IMHO
What I don’t see much of, and what I’ve been working on for the last few months, is editorial food photography which, given my background, I think I’m quite suited to. Having had, oh I don’t know, (some amount of) thousands of images published in newspapers and magazines I knew exactly the type of things I wanted to cover and bring to a wider audience
I had an idea, and it started out as a personal project to promote the fabulous food and restaurants we have. Initially this was to be for the blog but if I could get a publication to pick up on it and use it, great. Looks like something might happen on that score too in a short while (insert mysterious pause here)
What I mean by editorial food photography, if you don’t know, I’ll explain in a further post…
More to come…
TTFN
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One from the archives, December 2007
Bras for breast cancer
You know how I like to keep you abreast of the news and don’t like to go on about a storm in a C-cup *I’ll stop now*
This was a fun shoot to fund-raise for breast cancer awareness month. I was pleased to be shooting model Brianna Dougher who is the current Miss Cork and also Cork Rose Kathryn Brennan:
This light-hearted take on a serious problem is for ladies to send their old bras to Sean Murray’s in Skibbereen together with a donation to the Irish Cancer Society
The largest lingerie department in West Cork wanted to raise awareness of the Action Breast Cancer Campaign and will be collecting the bras (and possibly hanging some up around the town!).
The store will also be holding a fashion show during October and at the end of the month there will be a tug-of-war with all the bras collected
TTFN
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Alive and kicking
Well maybe not kicking as I have a badly twisted knee at the moment so couldn’t kick with it, or stand on it to kick with the other leg. Alive then.
Thought I’d better pop in here and confirm that I still exist, as I haven’t had the time to create any posts recently.
Lots and lots of VERY interesting things going on or done, but finding the time to blab about them is a bit of an issue.
There are maybe 8 – 10 posts half done, but it’s the other half that just isn’t happening.
Another chaotic week ahead, but don’t forget me, I’ll be back soon.
In the meantime I’ll leave you in the care of Simple Minds. They obviously have the use of their knees as they are Alive and Kicking:
TTFN
