Molten Chocolate Quiddler Photo Extravaganza!
I am entering the world of food photography (beautiful shot above by Jeff, not I). Yay!! Its about time! Even before I was a chef, an aspiring cookbook author, or friend to dozens of photographers, I regularly drooled over the beautiful food photography found in my arsenal of cookbooks and dreamed of expressing my creativity in such a way. My parents and brother are all artists, and until I entered the culinary arts, I was pretty sure I didn’t have a creative bone in my body. I have a degree in Economics for crying out loud! I have always loved to cook, and now that I have been doing so professionally for six years, I think I can fairly call myself a food artist. I love pairing flavors, colors, and textures. Yes indeed, my kitchen is my canvas, my whisk and knives are my brushes, and beautiful raw ingredients my paint! Now its time to embark on phase two: capturing this art for the world to see! From the plate to the page and beyond!!
The impetus for this endeavor is that one of my clients has asked me to come and work for them full-time. Its quite an exciting project: Prepare three meals a day for a family of five. Local. Organic. From scratch. Nothing from a can, box, or package: we’re talking ketchup, mayo, pasta, bread, sausage, granola…the works. I will have my own kitchen, office, and studio space, and by the end of my time with them will have documented an entire cookbook’s worth of recipes and photographs for them as well as to input in the Recipe Rx database, and as the foundation for my first cookbook! My client loaned me his Canon 30D, I ordered a couple books on food photography and styling, and have started buying beautiful cups, plates, linens, and other “props” at discount and second-hand stores around town.
This leads me to last night: the first photo shoot! Sara DiSalvo and I were sitting at dinner and learned that we have a mutual love for Molten Chocolate Lava Cake. Instead of just ordering it off the menu, we decided that making it from scratch was the obvious choice. We sent out the alarm to the troops that Operation Lava Cake would begin at my house in T-minus 45 minutes, or 21:00 hours. Sara ran to Cost Plus and purchased the necessary ramekins (as they were locking the doors), Emily and I bolted to the market for bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, and J. Shipley (we got him free, not at Albertson’s), and raced home where Joel was already waiting. After a couple impromptu cocktails made from the stuff I had on-hand: brandy, lemonade, rosemary, and frozen raspberries, we got down to business. The process was quite fun, especially with the camera in tow. Unfortunately, I overcooked the cakes (this is why I NEVER follow recipes…they always let me down) so the center didn’t have its signature oozy middle, but I made up with it with brandied whipped cream. What follows are the highlights documented through my photographic debut, as well as the impeccable skills of Jeff Shipley, Emily Crawford, Joel Hoffman, and Jules Faas. Our model, Mr. Owl, made quite the impression on us all. Enjoy!
View all the images from the evening here.
My first shot!
Mr. Owl approves (photo by Jeff Shipley).
Leaning Tower of…Dirty Ramekins (photo by Jules Faas).
Face-off. Dwight the Bobble-head is pissed that Mr. Owl got all the love.
