Food styling & photography workshop

This past weekend I had the privilege of breaking out of jail, I mean, taking a class, with a group of adults with whom I have something in common: we all share a passion for photographing food.

For three whole days, while Rodney stayed at home and chased after 3 kids 5 and under, I got to style and photograph my way through a 3-day workshop at the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE) in NYC. 

We learned many of the industry’s most helpful (and often scary) tips and tricks to make food look so good you want to bury your face in it.  Until you realize that the ice cream is really Crisco and powdered sugar, and the freshly-poured black coffee is food coloring and soap bubbles.  Thankfully the emphasis on fake food was minimized, and we spent the majority of our time making our natural, 100% edible food look beautiful (e.g. the raspberry marshmallows you see pictured).

It was a strange feeling to be in that room for three days, surrounded by people who were just as excited to photograph a turnip as I was. Like overzealous paparazzi, we huddled together to snap pictures of grapes, angling our cameras to capture them in the best possible light.  By the end of the workshop I felt like a pro, throwing around terms like ISOs and F-stops (not F-words, apparently I save those for when the kids are within earshot, and no, they don’t let me forget it.)

It was a weekend to remember, and I wanted to throw a shout out to our teachers: James Peterson, Jamie Tiampo and Jennifer Jung.  They made the class fun and challenging, and I hope to cross paths with them again. 

And another highlight was getting to meet fellow food bloggers Healthy Green Kitchen, Our Gluten Free Family, and HeirloomMeals.  Thank you guys for not laughing at my final project: the edible flower-garnished flaccid roast chicken.  Once again, the edible flower was not my choice, but my partner’s choice.  The  guy who made the sandwich with an entire steak in it. Who was coached to pull the steak out and slice it because realistically, you can’t bite into a whole steak in a sandwich.  Who then, logically, made this.  

Had I seen the steak move first, I wouldn’t have allowed him to choose my garnishes.  I think we covered that in class, but wanted to make sure you knew.

Talk soon everyone.