Brindille Chicago.
A brand new restaurant I’ve now had the chance to visit twice for two separate food photo shoots. The food is, in a word: beautiful. But seriously, it’s super fancy and cool and you should go!
This shoot was for Tasting Table Chicago (http://www.tastingtable.com/entry_detail/chicago/13506/Refined_French_inspired_dishes_at_River_Norths_Brindille.htm?visitorId=1732407&entryId=13506&enlargeImage=Y)
I can’t get enough of Gretta’s baby goats (http://www.grettasgoats.com/)
Goats are the Internet’s new cats.
I don’t know what exactly possessed me to create this picture except that I found the army men at the dollar store and just had to have them. I brought the army men to a table in a creepy basement and set up a little battle scene, decided I wanted fog/smoke, found an iron and made it work. In the editing process, something just wasn’t working for me with the image. It wasn’t until I tried the sepia tone that I realized i wanted to create my own daguerreotype. Why? Because clearly I’m a photo nerd.
This photograph cost me approximately $2. I love the dollar store.
This past weekend I was quite fortunate to have been asked to photograph Fête Chicago (http://www.comefete.com). It was an incredible collaboration of food and culture with some truly remarkable events. I had the chance to tour studios and creative spaces, hear chefs speak and listen to artist share their creative adventures. An inspirational event to have witnessed!
Today, I got to visit Gretta and her goats! (http://www.grettasgoats.com/) The first of her 3 pregnant goats had kids and they are beyond adorable. I couldn’t even handle it; I STILL can’t handle it.
“Blind” Photography
Today, to get more of the creative juices flowing I went out as a “blind photographer” Based on an exhibition Seeing Beyond Sight (and an assignment I remember from my intro to photo T.A. days) I blindfolded myself and asked my kind assistant James to take me to a surprise location and just make sure I didn’t hurt myself in the photo making process. It was a very interesting exercise because I found myself still attempting to take photographs based on what I thought they should look like. I tried hard to throw any ‘conventional photography’ ideas out the window and listen to my other senses but coming from sight, that’s a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.
In the book of the exhibition, Seeing Beyond Sight by Tony Deifell, the teenagers write captions explaining their motivation behind the pictures they captured. They took pictures of the bells at school that made noise, the people and things that were important to them and they took self portraits. It is fascinating to compare composition and technique to the images taken by students who have never seen paintings by classic painters or any photographs by professionals or otherwise. I almost wish I could have had more of their blank slate rather than still attempting to take a ‘good’ photograph while blindfolded.
It was certainly a good exercise—if nothing else, to help me appreciate my own sight— but also just to experience life a little differently for a while.
I was given this vinegar by Herbally Yours (http://www.herballyyoursvinegar.com/). It is delicious and they are awesome.
Georgia O’Keeffe Inspiration kind of day.
January has been slow. I realized I haven’t had the chance to shoot anything for myself in a while and since I was feeling a bit under inspired, I turned to some of my favorite artists to look for an idea. I love Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings—the colors, the feelings. I wanted to draw on her aesthetic to create my own food interpretation. At the store yesterday, I realized I was seeking out vaginal looking food (one can’t really look at O’Keeffe’s paintings of flowers and not see vaginas) and the peppers caught my eye. Of course, a photographer almost can’t photograph a pepper without emulating Edward Weston. So, I’ll embrace it. I suppose this is my creation of Edward Weston and Georgia O’Keeffe’s food baby.
the trials and tribulations of a Chicago food photographer
