A flowery mess of Cherry Blossom Macarons

It was that time again... I was due to bake! Long overdue this time I think. Seeing that summer has finally arrived, I wanted to play with the colours of spring/summer. What's beautifully coloured, great to photograph and somewhat light at the same time? French Macarons :)


After hunting around Toronto for decent scrap pieces of wood close to home and being unsuccessful, I finally made a trip to the Home Depot last week and purchased a couple of long awaited photography backdrops, i.e. pieces of wood...and white paint to go with it. Finally I can start to make photographs the way I've always wanted to make them.

I spent half the day baking Aran's (Cannelle et Vanille) Cherry Blossom Macarons, but you know what? Looks-wise, they were far from perfect... the macarons didnt form any 'feet', and they were cracked, perhaps due to the sugar not dissolving properly... but at least they still tasted good :) I have no idea why what went into the oven as a baby pink colour, came out as a somewhat orangy colour. Can someone more experienced in baking please explain?

Nonetheless, the photo making must go on.

Aran's recipe calls for Cherry Blossom flavouring, however, I substituted this for Rose Water. 

I thought id make a special mention here about the live workshop by Penny De Los Santos I attended a couple of weeks ago, thanks to Creative Live. In my mind, Penny is to food photography as Tiger is to golf.  She is a contributing photographer to Saveur Magazine (my number 1 food magazine), and National Geographic...just to name a couple. She specializes not only in food, but in travel and people, and she takes a journalistic approach to food to illustrate not only a plate of food, but the people surrounding the food, the culture, the life. 

In her workshop, she spoke about three approaches to composition. The 'Birds Eye' view, the 'side' view and the '3/4 view'. She spoke about her common use of vertical composition and explained how it fills the frame more effectively with food photography, whereas horizontal creates a lot of lost space. Taking Penny's advise, I tried to concentrate on these aspects of composition more during this photo shoot. 

Penny definitely made me feel encouraged into the possibility of turning food photography into a living.  It was amazing watching Penny at work live on set during the 3-day workshop as it allowed us (the students) to get a glimpse of what it is like to be on the set of a magazine shoot. Shooting for a magazine is not just about a single image, but it is about how a set of images can tie in together to create a story. 

Over the last few days, I have been busy trying to make contact with magazine editors and publishers, in the hopes that I can become involved on a regular basis. I have so far managed to cover an event for CityBites Magazine, but Im hoping that more opportunities will emerge.

Deloitte's 'IM & AT' learns to cook

A few weeks ago, my husband was to attend a work related social event, and I was invited to come in and photograph it for the evening. It was Deloitte's 'IM & AT' (Information Management & Analytics) department's cooking class, which was held at the Loblaws Cooking School. A social gathering revolving around food and cooking? Im there!

This was my chance to get involved as a working photographer, to step out of my 'bubble' and to practise getting in people's faces - something i'm usually not comfortable with.


The cooking class was hosted by Chef Brenda Kwong-Hing, founder of 'Delicious!' Catering, who gained her professional training from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, specializing in French cuisine. 

In this class, Brenda demonstrated food preparation from different parts of the world. From Indian to Chinese, Vietnamese to Mexican.

      
It was definitely a lot of fun capturing these kitchen moments. I grew hungrier and hungrier as the evening progressed and was encouraged to "eat something!", and as much as I wanted to, I also wanted to avoid losing out on those photo opportunities. I suppose I was trying to treat the situation like a paying job...

This would further prepare me for my upcoming photo shoot at the Salut Food & Wine Festival's Grand Finale dinner (watch this space for a post on Visa Infinite's dinner with celebrity chef, Rob Feenie).