Many may know I have a wonderful client relationship with the Bartlett Pear Inn and the owners, Chef Jordan Lloyd & Innkeeper Alice Lloyd. We have worked on endless projects together over the past 2 years including web, photography, film and even an original program series. These two are vibrant, talented young business owners that inspire me and create amazing opportunities to build a strong library of media to promote their restaurant and bed and breakfast. I am so grateful to have the work we create together as part of my portfolio and to have the continued opportunity to produce art for them.
One of my favorite ongoing projects with them is the Bounty Project. This series of images was conceived during the creation of thier new website in 2014, and we thought it would be a great way to communicate the range of local and seasonal products that inspire Jordan in the kitchen on a regular basis. As a restaurant that is deeply passionate about Farm-to-Table, this was a fun way to capture the variety that can be reflected in the menus which change daily at the Bartlett Pear Inn.
We have had so much fun with this over the past 9 months, each season gathering fresh and relevant ingredients from the kitchen and pulling them all together to make a scene that mirrors the current time of year. Right now, we are 3 seasons in and just completed the Winter Bounty. With only one season left to shoot, I wanted to share a little behind the scenes from the styling portion of this piece. Because styling a shot like this is equally as important (if not more so) than photographing it beautifully.
Food styling is truly an art form and it takes time, patience and a vision. I have been photographing food for clients in all styles for the past 2 and a half years and have always done my own styling. I think this is really the part I enjoy the most - it is where the expression of the food comes to life and the story is told. Styling table top food is really about the narrative and the balance of the shape, colors and textures is like piecing together a puzzle and I can't express my passion for it quite enough.
This time lapse was taken over the course of 45 minutes spent styling this final, one shot. I wanted to share this because I think it's so important to understand the work that goes into creating a still life such as this - the selection of the ingredients, props and positioning. There were several ingredients we left out - and some we had to modify to fit them in. One of our props was actually live so timing also plays a huge role in executing the proper shot in food photography. Such is also the case when working with food that can quickly spoil or needs time to get to room temperature. So many things are carefully considered on a shoot like this - but they are well worth the extra time and patience!
