Food photography and more
Last Wednesday evening I had the great fortune of being invited to the Irish Embassy in London for a photography workshop with the amazing food photographer and stylist, Alastair Hendy. I couldn’t have been more excited as I often see Alastair’s work in magazines and books – and it’s beautiful. Not only that, Alastair controls [...]
Last Wednesday evening I had the great fortune of being invited to the Irish Embassy in London for a photography workshop with the amazing food photographer and stylist, Alastair Hendy. I couldn’t have been more excited as I often see Alastair’s work in magazines and books – and it’s beautiful. Not only that, Alastair controls all the elements in creating a feature, or photograph – recipes, writing, styling photography. That’s what I do too. As do many food bloggers. For me, it can be lonely working alone at times, and I appreciate any opportunity to learn more from other photographers and stylists. Even just to chat about it all is so welcome. This event provided that, and more.
Along with Alastair’s workshop, Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, presented us with a showcase of glorious Irish food products. Many products were those that Ireland is famous for – salmon, whiskey, and oats – but also many unexpected such as a jewel-like box of Turkish delight. This cornocopia was all available for us to style and photograph in the practical part of the workshop -along with Alastair’s copious assortment of props. It was frankly overwhelming, there was so much to choose from I could have stayed for a week and been happy. With only an hour or two, I didn’t know where to start. I teamed up with Matina of Feta & Arepa and we concentrated our efforts on the spirits!
Alastair started with a talk about his work, and gave us some great advice and tips. One of the top messages I took away was that oldie but goodie: less is more! Styling – which I think is fundamental to the conception/creation of the photograph – is a tricky art and keeping things simple can be the key to a beautiful result. Alastair also spoke about colour palettes and lighting before letting us wreak havoc on his fantastic collection of props. We all had fun styling and snapping away as he came around to offer his guidance. Thanks Alastair – it was really helpful and lots of fun.
The Irish Embassy and Bord Bia put on a wonderful event and I so enjoyed it. (Thank you!) And it was great to see some of my food blogging pals and meet some new ones too.
In my next post, I’m going to use some of those lovely Irish oats to make some granola bars.
Bron: 28th July 2010
Beautiful beautiful beautiful!
Lovely pics.
pascale: 28th July 2010
Bron, thanks for that lovely comment! i’m just going to check up on you and see if you posted that event yet…
Sarah, Maison Cupcake: 28th July 2010
Hi Pascale, it was lovely to see you last week. It was such a fun event, I think we were really spoiled with all those props and the food to play with but nevertheless I found it very challenging working in front of people. That picture of the whisky in your collage has got great atmosphere.
pascale: 28th July 2010
Hi Sarah, I found it difficult too. With all the people around I felt like a klutz and couldn’t concentrate. But perhaps that’s something for me to work on…
Jeanne @ CookSister!: 28th July 2010
Beautiful shots Pascale – I was looking forward to seeing the whisky shots as I saw you lining up the shot on your tripod! Lovely to chat last week and I agree – it was very nerve-wracking to look up from your viewfinder to see you were being observed by a roomful of people!! You coped pretty well under pressure though
Anne's Kitchen: 28th July 2010
Wow, I love your photos of the event – they’re really stunning! So are your granola bars! I still need to make something with the abundance of oats we got – was thinking about making cherry oat muffins and maybe some flapjacks. And yes, you’re more than welcome to join Valentina and me for coffee!!!
Vanessa Kimbell: 28th July 2010
Just wondering how you discovered the course? I read about it on another site too .. not that it looks like you need to go on one ! your Blog is fab ! ..I’m going to add it to my favourites links…
pascale: 28th July 2010
Hi Vanessa
Thanks for visiting my blog. I just been over to yours and will go back for a longer look in a mo. Good luck with your book!