I’m doing some fun workshops this year to help people with the basics of food styling and basic phone photography. Let’s face it almost everyone has a phone with a camera and they have it with them most of the time, so it’s quick & easy to use.
This topic could go on for ever & it’s also very personal too – What style of food photography do you like? What draws you to a picture in a recipe book, foodie magazine or to double tap on an instagram image? It’s important to develop your own style and it may not happen straight away, the first thing is to just start and have fun practicing too!!
2 images almost the same and each person will choose a different favourite for a different reason. Which one do you like the best and why?
This is just the start of what is to come, so stay tuned for more updates on this post…………..
While driving home from our Food Styling Photography course, we were talking about the sunrise on the Tessellated Pavements & Ellie said it was one of the most iconic & photographed spots in Tassie. I said, why don’t we do a food shoot there?! And we decided to run with it big time. With only a couple of weeks left of sunrise capturing available at the Tessellated Pavements we needed to get cracking! I couldn’t help it, I wanted to change the words to the song “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” to Breakfast at Tessellated. So we had our theme tune sorted now lots of other things to organise.
Our mission: To set up a beautiful delicious breakfast using Tasmanian produce, in time to capture the sunrise reflection on the tessellated pavement – Food photography for “posh ladies” – table for 4.
Props: I had seen the perfect trestle table that I just had to have but it wouldn’t fit in my small car! I wanted to take my wooden dining chairs too. We had a carafe, my Nana’s tea cups & saucers, napkins, table runner, vase & foliage, glasses & champagne flutes, candles & candelabra.
Sunday early evening scout out: We realised that it was a fair 5 min walk to the Tessellated Pavement from the carpark & it included stairs. So we needed to take a little as possible to make a maximum of 2 trips each. There was a perfect spot with a log up out of the way & this would make perfect seats for us so no chairs needed. Ellie had some old fence palings & I brought my husband’s workshop wooden horses to act as the legs for our portable table. We styled it up the night before at Ellie’s house (thankfully she leaves only 5 mins drive away).
I set the alarm for 5.30am but woke up at 4, we had packed everything the night before & only had a couple of last min things to prepare before we left. Lucky we remembered the torch!! We had 1 person that did 2 trips & everyone else did 1. We got to work setting up our camera’s Taking photos while setting up the table & styling the food. Our photography teacher from TAFE even showed up!
Well we thought it was well worth the effort, I have learnt a lot, (what to do & what not to do), an amazing few hours enjoying the sunrise & serenity not to mention the awesome company, delicious local food & drinks. How on earth will we be able to top this?!
We have been fond regulars of Little Missy Patisserie since it first opened, with awesome coffee & delicious savoury & sweet treats, what’s not to like? Everyone is so friendly & it has a gorgeously homely feel. We feel like old friends now & felt it would be ok to ask if we could take our “real cameras” in for a photo shoot this morning. Oonagh was so lovely & agreed to our favour, she is such an amazingly talented pastry chef.
So my foodie chef friend & photography study buddy Ellie joined me for the shoot. (read her blog post & she her photos here)
I arrived a bit early so had to have a coffee & suss out the conditions (plus test out my new lens!!)
OK there was a brief quiet moment with not too many customers, a great opportunity to shoot the delicious goats cheese, heirloom tomato & fresh basil tart, just as I’m styling it a guy comes in with these gorgeous mini yellow tomatoes (I have forgotten the variety) perfect timing!!
Ellie arrived & styled up the scene, we just knew we had to take out a slice & have that for breakfast later (after taking it’s photo another million times!)
Should we do more savouries? No we need to do the sweets!!
Let’s get our lemon brûlée tart action shot with the blow torch, I am so excited I can’t hardly breathe!!
So now that is done & I’ve calmed down a bit, we have selected out the food to be shot, styled & eaten over the next hour or so.
We felt very privileged to be able to use the “special fork”. Another great reason this is the perfect place for a photo shoot is their gorgeous collection of vintage plates, cutlery & tea pots. Food styling heaven!
Styled by Ellie – cracked tart (I don’t mean you Ellie!!) See the instagram video here.
Go Ellie, go!!
Rhubarb & custard pastry – The rhubarb came from my garden!
The blackberry & hazelnut dome I’m sure it has a much fancier name that I will find out & update for you 🙂
Which shot of these 3 is your favourite?
And chocolate & coffee what better way to finish up? Note to selves make sure you only order 1 coffee at a time not 2 at a time, because they don’t look as fresh after you have taken 10 million shots!!
Thanks so much for an amazing morning with delicious, gorgeous food & coffee Oonagh & the gang!! You are all superstars!!
What a gorgeous few hours with wonderful talented people 🙂 This event was run by Bec from thirteenredshoes and Dea from To her core, I didn’t realise I knew Dea till I saw her at the door – what a wonderful surprise!! We all drooled over the space!! Dearna has a gorgeous kitchen wouldn’t you agree? How cool are the lights too! After some learning, watching & chatting we got to work styling & shooting on our DSLR & our smart phones.
So drum roll please…………….. here are my DSLR shots!!
I just love that I did apple pics (to her core!!) I had to take a bite out of one all in the name of styling of course!! It was delicious, crispy, crunchy & juicy – the best!!! I still can’t decide my favourite apple shot!!
Then it was the honeycomb from Wellington Apiary drool!! I am sorry I have no idea who styled this shot & we were discussing this today what do you call someone who goes in & takes a shot of something someone else has styled?? Is there a name for this? Please let me know 🙂
Styling walnuts, again not sure who is the hand model either, but I love your work!!
We were given some pink salt RAW Chocolate to style & then eat. This styling & photography can be quite delicious! I love the character of this cake tin I just turned it upsidedown cos I just “needed” to use it somehow?!
Oh yes now we are talking – melted dark chocolate for the pour shot!! Plus I LOVE the pot too 🙂
Go you crazy snap happy people – capture the chocolately drizzle onto the delicious cookies!! Drool!!
Well I have learnt some more tricks & tips plus I certainly had lots of fun too! Thanks ladies for a fab day xx I have had a few light bulb moments!!
Yes, it’s been on the “to do list” for a rather long time & finally it’s here – my food blog!!
Over the next few days/weeks I am going to recount my epic foodie adventures from this year; there have been highs, lows, laughs & tears – but I wouldn’t change a thing!
2015 The year of the gourmet food journey – It started in Jan with my French recipe challenge, over 50 delicious recipes cooked in the Thermomix – click here to see them all 🙂
This year I’ve been lucky enough to earn Thermomix trips to the Gold Coast in March & Paris in September with a few quick stops and food tours through, Nice, northern Italy & London. I had 4 trips to Melbourne including 2 lunches at Heston’s Fat Duck restaurant. I’ve attended multiple cooking classes; I’ve run both healthy & decadent cooking classes, met amazing chefs & waiters/waitresses, submitted recipes for a local Garlic Feast cookbook. I even auditioned for Masterchef!! And another dream came true – I have been recipe testing for my Thermomix foodie hero Dani Valent – author of my 2 favourite books – the In the Mix Cookbooks. (Sign up to her newsletter to get awesome free recipes!)
I bought my digital SLR camera in March & in the 2nd half of the year completed a TAFE photography course & 2 food styling & photography courses. (One with JJ from 84th & 3rd & 1 with Michelle Crawford from Hugo & Elsa) I have bought too many cookbooks to count, washed too many dishes and tasted the most amazing food ever!! At times this year I was known as the crazy Thermomix lady with 4 Thermomix!! I have delivered over 80 Thermomix this year to lots of happy customers too!
To say I am completely grateful is a huge understatement -through all these adventures I’ve had my family, friends & Thermomix customers by my side to enjoy all the delicious foodie fun, wine, coffee & the instaspam. Yes I may currently have a bit of a food baby, but I am happy right here, right now in my food coma, looking back on the most epic foodie year I have ever had! Plus this year is not over; the saga continues………..
I will be at the Taste of Tasmania on the 29th & 30th Dec 2015 presenting a 1 hour cooking segment with my friends using delicious Tasmanian cheeses, see you there for more delicious fun!!
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