Food Illusions

Oh my gosh, the Lou Manna class in NYC was beyond awesome. I learned so much on every different aspect of food photography, lighting, placement, white balance, styling. We also learned a ton of food photography tricks, such as Elmer's glue being used in place of milk. I just tried that in this cereal image to the left. Not bad for a first try I guess.

We also learned some tips about business and file handling issues that I found incredibly helpful.

Lou was such a good teacher, so funny, helpful and approachable. I cannot recommend this class enough for those who are interested in this area of photography.

These workshops are handled through Adorama Camera in New York. Here is the link - http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=ws_SignUp

Go.

Woo! NYC

Major excitment today, just realized my food photography class in New York is coming up this weekend. Woo! I need a little inspiration right about now. I've been trying to shoot blueberries for a few days, and I'm not really super happy with any of the shots. Sigh.

I'm also back working full-time, so it's a bit harder to squeeze in shooting time.

So Lou Manna (http://www.loumanna.com/) teaches the workshop through the Adorama workshops program. Really reasonable pricing and small class size. I hope to learn a ton!
I also hope to shop a ton. And see some good friends. I heart New York.

Just Peachy, Thank You!

I'm in a peachy mood today. Must have something to do with our official Democratic nominee! At last!

Anyway, I'm really liking the contrast of the peach colors against the blue bowl here. I also like the repeating circles of the peach, blue bowl and white plate. This was shot using daylight in front of a large window, in the late afternoon.

Nikon vs Canon

I've been shooting with Canons for quite some time now, generally the 20D and 40D. I've been having some focusing issues with the Canons, so I thought I would try a Nikon D300. I needed to bump up to 12 MP anyway.

So, I purchased a great D300 package from Adorama in New York. I'm still getting used to everything, but I'm liking the results so far.

I was doing doughnuts today... yum!

My adventures in food photography

I'm obsessed. It's true. I'm fully obsessed with food photography! Getting the light to fall just right on the seared scallop with garlic chunks has become my raison d'etre.



Is this pathetic? I'm not sure anymore. Might be.

A little about me... I studied photography under Ellen Land-Weber at HSU many moons ago. She was a huge influence as far as style and composition and capturing the light.

From there, since I lived in Silicon Valley, I (of course) became a techie by osmosis. I shamefully shunned my photography, with the exception of several years working on Photoshop™ over at Adobe.

Then, a year or two ago, photography started to burst back into my life. I signed up for a few B&W photo extension classes at Stanford with Richard Gordon, http://metaphoto.com/text_page.html

He is an incredibly talented, insightful and encouraging photographer. I was officially re-inspired!

I signed with a couple of stock agencies, Photographer Direct in England (http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/search.asp?portfolio=202450) and Alamy. I was off and running.

I found I loved cooking up great dishes, then photographing them before we ate them. I bought a few lights and shooting tents, far too many linens, backgrounds and dishes, and found a great little rental commercial kitchen with awesome light out at Mavericks Beach. Now I'm in my bliss.

So, it was just my birthday, and I thought it was time to birth a blog about my trials and tribulations as a part-time, freelance, light obsessed food photographer.

Talk soon,

Alison Parks-Whitfield
www.alisonparkswhitfield.com