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I seek to educate, inform, discuss and debate on one and one thing only - Food Photography and Styling (FS&P) - my passion and my profession.
Whether you are an aspiring student, or a food and/or creative professional, I am hoping you will find something useful for yourself in here.
Doing food shots for a TV Commercial in daylight has been my first experience at the onset of 2010, I had been called for a mega shoot by one of my favorite directors of recent times; Latha Menon of Iris Films. The film is for a new brand of Dairy products to be shot in Sri Lanka. Obviously I was very excited by this proposition, having heard so much about Sri Lanka… I was told that the shoot was scheduled on top of a mountain range called Nuwareliya. And the most exciting part was that Latha had planned shooting the whole film, in daylight!!
Before I start my experience about shooting food for TV Commercials in day light I Would like to take you to the marvelous location selected by Latha. Nuwareliya is one of the most famous mountain range for its tea plantations. A variety of teas like Silver Tips, Orange Pekoe, and all the other varieties are specially grown and sold on Nuwareliya. The place, true to its claim is something close to paradise. It’s actually the vastness of the landscape that I was in awe of when I opened my eyes to see the first daylight from my car. The shoot was scheduled at one of the dairy farms on top of the hill. Cold, bright and with a lovely light from the sun it was an ideal location to shoot outdoors. As expected, the shoot was underway when I reached. Latha briefed me about what she expected from me for that day. Till then I was completely unaware of her plans to shoot live food images in the lush grasslands of Nuwareliya along with the rest of her film. But honestly, I never thought it would work. I mean, no-one had ever executed such a task before. What I didn’t realise then is that I was working with very evolved and open minded people and anything was possible.
I am normally very used to doing all my food-related live action & pack shots in specifically controlled environments, where everything is controlled by the DOP (Director of Photography) and myself, preferably with an A.C. blowing cool wind across my forehead. Now here was Latha with her harebrained scheme suggesting us to come out of the box and cook in the sun, probably barbecuing ourselves in the process! To my utter surprise and indignation, even P.S. Vinod, the DOP, was game for this. That’s when I began realizing that this might work after all.
The shots were all defined and scheduled, and it felt exactly as if I was doing what I do best; with one small change – I was doing it outdoors. My first shot to begin got scheduled very abruptly as we had some extra time in between the models changing their costumes.. Under normal circumstances we would have wasted that little time with tea or snack breaks but rightly Latha realized that daylight cannot be extended even if we want to extend our shoot. Hence making the most of the little intervals we got in between set up changes and location changes, we started planning our food and pack shots..
By this time I had got totally consumed into the new challenge of composing each shot with as much ambient background as possible The DOP was on my side and hence together the two of us started planning the shot execution with only one thing in mind —- show off the lush greenery of the beautiful surroundings… Basically, close compositions with wide lens usually gives a good ambiance to play with. We worked up on this concept to shoot our images. We actually sat on the grass to start with my first shot!! The sun was also on my side, playing its magical light along with some filler lights on the packs and shots, and being chilly enough to prevent anything from melting … or barbecuing in that case! I saw so many of nature’s mystical effects on the food, such as the aforementioned sunlight tinkling on the packs, the mist swirling ominously in curls around the dairy whitener as it was poured through into cups, the sun rays beaming on the butter-glossed parathas in steamy pans and the glowing hues of dawn melting on the butter curls.
Here I would want to enumerate the fact that we are all so scared of shooting outdoors, but as I saw it was really not such a difficult task.. We could actually start shooting at anytime and literally anywhere as the DOP never needed to redo his lighting whenever he changed set ups from people to food. Just change the lenses maybe. The lights used as supplementary supports were minimally used. Of course the preparations have to be thorough from my side as well. There were no schedules that could be put in place.. One has to just flow along with nature. If the sun decides to go behind the clouds, you wait till it is bright again or maybe adjust the camera aperture values and move on.. Too unpredictable but some huge learning!!
On the whole it was an exhilarating experience. I learnt so many nuances of dealing with daylight. I am surely going to utilize this knowledge in my still photography. I am already planning a still shoot in actual daylight. All I need is an open minded client. Or I could just shoot my own pictures and display them to the client. He may not accept it, but that’s the risk I am ready to take. I am now eagerly waiting for the advertisement to release. Latha has already called on and congratulated me for the outstanding shots and I eagerly await the release.
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Loading ... (No One Has Recommended Yet) Loading ...I had mentioned earlier about my visit to Anuga. Now is the time to offload myself of that experience.
With 96 countries and close to 7000+ participants and an innumerable flood of visiors, this surely has been an unforgetable experience for me. I felt, it was more of a food carnival with added benefits of getting business done. There is so much of discourse, discussion & sampling among people who speak only one language i.e. FOOD!
No other food exhibition in the world is as exhaustive in content. There were 10 categories in which the halls were divided. Each country having their individual pavilions in each respective categories. There were also these independent exhibitors with extremely elaborate stalls (these could hardly be called as stalls. They were exhibition halls in their own capacity).
It was amazing to observe people from each of these countries. Their culture, reflected in all their behaviours & their mannerisms. I had gone to Anuga to widen my horizons about the food world instead I ended up imbibing their culture as well.
The learning on the types of Olives, Peppers, Mushrooms, Nuts were just a few to name. I wish I could enumerate the warmth & respect I gathered from the exhibitors.
Innovations in food products as well as in technology was at its very best. A sticky rice sandwich ( called RICEWICH) a Soya Wrap roll, were just two to name.
Anuga is an experience that one just cant forget. Describing it all in one article is almost unachievable; hence I will try to give you a more exacting account of the entire food fest. I feel anybody, who is anybody in the food industry, must visit Anuga once. I have personally decided to make it every second year. The experience is amazing!
(No One Has Recommended Yet) Loading ...I am right now looking forward to my trip to Germany. We are visiting world’s largest food expo, ANUGA. The preparations for it were too tiring:
- To formulate a corporate identity
- To list down clients I need to meet
- To go thru the bookings and applications
- To shop formal clothing
Phew!!
This is not the first time that i will be introducing myself to international clients but the apprehension and excitement is just as much. I almost feel like having come out of the shell to see a new world. I want to see how that world does business. My friend Amit Chilal, from Parampara Foods tells me that now we Indians are looked upon among the others with great respect. I want to experience that. Having done enough and more work in the South East Asian and Middle East countries, this will be my first taste of Europe.
And here comes the icing on the cake, immediately after the 5 days of ANUGA, we are outbound to the Swiss Alps & the most culture bound Italy! My son Altamash wanted to visit Italy & hence we parents are tagging along after him. Its a three week long party. Hectic too!!
I will be missing Diwali. So here’s wishing all you friends & colleagues a very very bright Diwali & a sunny year ahead! Lets all have fun!! To hell with recession!!
(No One Has Recommended Yet) Loading ... (No One Has Recommended Yet) Loading ...The UpperCrust Show will kickstart tomorrow at the HICC, Novotel Complex. I have been closely associated with the UC team since we have been participating in their Mumbai show, for the past 4 years. I am sad, I will miss the Hyderabad debut event as I am planning my trip to Germany, visiting Anuga Food Expo.
I will be missing the fun, the food and the opportunity to meet a lot of clients old and new there. All of which is in abundance at the UpperCrust Show. Its the only true food show held in India.
I wish Farzana, Rozina and the entire UC team a very hectic weekend and a warning to the people of Hyderabad… watch your waistline this week end.
For more information about events, the programme, and what to eat, visit the “UpperCrust website”
If you visit show, we’d love to know your experience.
(No One Has Recommended Yet) Loading ...I do not fast and hence I do not celebrate Eid the way it has to be celebrated. The only thing I do is cook 25 litres of Sheer Korma every year.
In this post, below, I have not posted images for your comments. Its in not my brilliant food shot nor the image of the week…. Instead, they are posted to lure you to come home today. If not today, then every year from the next year and feast with us.
Once again we wish all our friends and colleagues A VERY HAPPY EID!
(Recommended by 1 users) Loading ... (Recommended by 1 users) Loading ...I had mentioned in my introductory post that through this blog I will share ideas, trends and tips on food styling and photography. I have now categorized my blog for 4 groups. This post is for the Trend-Setters group which I have defined as; Creative Directrs, Art Directors, Designers….
In order to create a common perspective for the blog, it is important to establish a common aim i.e. what do we, as a team, work together for? Creating this common aim will give us a constant reference point to use, so that all discussions and writings on this blog remain constructive and weave around this reference point.
I would like to call this reference point a ‘brilliant food shot’. Because as a stylist, this is my sense of what we all work towards as a team. Of course, this perspective is open for debate ?
However, if one believes that a ‘brilliant food shot’ is what it is all about, then, it is important to specify what a ‘brilliant food shot’ is.
I would like to define a ‘brilliant food shot’ as not only an aesthetically beautiful shot, which is undoubtedly important, but it must also be a shot that sticks to the brief and manifests the intent of the product it is being shot for.
Allow me to illustrate with an example –
Have a look at the image below. It is raw mango powder or what is popularly known as ‘amchur’ powder. The client brief specified that besides projecting a premium look, we need to differentiate the image from a garam masala powder image as the colour of both the powders is same or similar.
Hence, as you see in the shot, I have shown, should I say… the processing cycle of amchur powder.
So instead of just showing a bowl of raw mango powder, I felt the need to be a little more creative by showing some raw mangoes and some slices of raw mangoes. Further on the story continues into dried raw mango slices and finally the powder form of the same. I did not deviate from the main product but just showed various forms of it, thus highlighting it from other powders.
In the mean time you can share your brilliant food shot here; maybe an image of it or even your version of the definition.
The above image was shot for Suhana, a brand owned by Praveen Masale – Pune
I am sure my proposal of “a brilliant food shot” will help us to focus and discuss food styling & photography clearly. In my next post I intend to introduce the job of a food stylist from my perspective.
(No One Has Recommended Yet) Loading ...Just last week I shot a range of food photographs for Diwali. I had a great experience shooting these. I have created a festive mood in these shots. Though the lighting is not my style, the range demanded it. I am proud of these pictures. They are available to purchase on www.foodpics.in.
PS: I won’t be able to shoot images for Eid, but I a preparing a fantastic range of shots for Christmas.
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