I had mentioned many months ago that I had MacGuyver'd my dad's old Hasselblad (it was getting major light leaks) and I wouldn't know if I had really fixed it or not until I took some photos with it. So finally I took some films to get developed and look(!) I did fix the problem. Should I give the Hasselblad a name? Maybe...Old Man Hassel?
This Ilford Delta 400 film is pretty amazing, I mean me shooting all manual and nothing came out crappy. It's a miracle!
After trying out the TS-E 24mm, which I really like, I decided to try the 90mm also. Both are solid lens but I think I prefer the 24mm just because the 90mm was a bit long for my taste.
This world is a big place and sometimes the internet seems so much bigger. So it's quite exciting when you can spot a gem within this huge mess of noise and chatter. I seriously don't remember how I found the photos of Melina Hammer which led me to her blog Licking the Plate. It may have been a reTweet of a reTweet (hahaa) but it doesn't matter, I'm just glad I found her photos. Truly beautiful images! I especially love reading her post about her travels in Japan. It made me think about the time I was in Tokyo but wasn't so much into photography and everytime I think about it, it just makes me sad.
After you're done reading her interview (and hopefully you'll stay and go through the rest of this blog), I suggest you should go and get your own pork loin roast and try this recipe on Melina's blog. Perfect way to start and enjoy the Memorial weekend!
Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. It is inevitable that everyone has a relationship to food. Community, the sensuality of food, and the idea of celebration are some aspects I favor in my own work. When I photograph food, I focus on how natural light kisses the surface, creating a vibrancy that showcases just how ripe or fresh whatever it is that I am shooting. I want the viewer to feel the flavor in seeing the picture. Capturing the wet in drops of sauce, the gesture in a scatter of salt, casually chopped fresh herbs…. Becoming part of the picture through feeling its flavor is where it’s at.
Q. Have you always been interested in photography? A. Yes. My father studied photography, along with architecture, when he was in college, and seeing a body of work he produced about loneliness sparked an interest for me. It gave me insight into trying to capture mood through photography. That, and the amazing images I'd see in my National Geographic magazines growing up, and I was hooked.
Q. Do you approach a food photo differently than non-food photo? A. I do. Before getting into food photography I was developing a body of work centered on urban ruins - structures left behind in American culture that still contain incredible pieces of collective history.... I documented remnants, but I would also shoot the environment in an abstracted fashion. For example, in front of me might be torn paper - by obscuring scale or context, it became other-worldly landscapes. Peeling paint became stained glass, and so on. With my work in food, I retain the interest in representation, for the most part. I enjoy making a scene or setup, and framing the food in a particular context.
Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. I have a number of photography heroes, food and otherwise. For food, some photographers I love are Con Poulos, Anna Williams, and Marcus Nilsson. Marcus makes everything visceral, and I really appreciate that when he’s capturing food. Anna often pairs disparate things together in a way that feels quite lyrical and beautiful. And Con is one of the first people to inspire me to attempt food photography. He has an incredible command over light, and modifies it so that just the right amount touches any surface, making it that much more appealing. Non-food-wise, I have always found inspiration from the work of Steve McCurry. He captures the human condition in a way that penetrates everything.
Q. A favorite dish to cook during Spring time? A. Salads of every kind. Greens like purslane, mizuna, sorrel, and sunflower sprouts add a punch of flavor and great textures. Combine them with avocados, charred seafood, fresh herbs, and anything else that reads flavor, and I'm happy. Often I'll go to the farmers' market and see what speaks to me, bringing home odds and ends to make some sort of spontaneous feast.
Q. Best meal so far in 2011? A. Though I've enjoyed or made numerous tasty meals since the year began, when I recalled our trip to Japan in late January and the various food adventures had there, I stopped in my tracks for the experience at Tsukiji Market. It isn't even that sushi is my favorite food, but really that all of the elements together made this an incredible and memorable meal. After three or so hours wandering wet, chilly aisles filled with every kind of sea creature, my husband and I were famished and dull with cold. A charming older man in one of the stalls offered us counsel on where to find great sushi at the market, and so we bumbled our way to what looked like could have been his recommendation. Another forty or so minutes in the chilly shade spent waiting in line and I was ready to eat almost anything, as long as I could be warm. Just then, a lady motioned "two!" with her fingers and nodded to us to come inside.
With enough stools to seat eight along a counter, she motioned and we sat. An older, bushy-eyebrowed sushi master fed us from behind the bar that day's omakase - chef's choice menu. Course after course, the fish was sweet, wet, and glistened with a special shine you can only find when that fish has only been caught hours before. My personal favorite was the sea urchin, which resembled a mound of sweet, briny, butter, followed closely by the ami ebi - raw sweet shrimp that were plump, delicate, and definitely sweet. Other notable items included miso soup with plump, tiny clams, and two kinds of fleshy, melty toro (tuna belly). The ikura - salmon roe - were juicy and just the right kind of tight. Egg cake, tamago, was also served and was springy, soft, sweet, and soothing next to the flavors of the sea.
Only simple green tea accompanied this feast, and it was just enough to thaw my toes before we had to end it all and head back out into the winter sun.
All photos courtesy of Melina Hammer of Licking the Plate
Both Michael Muller and Molly Wizenberg named Brian Ferry as one of their food photography hero. Obviously I had to check out his work and I'm glad I did. Another wonderful film photographer that utilizes what is in front of him naturally instead of creating something artificial. His photos of London, where he currently resides, is making me want to visit the city even more. It's on my top 5 places to visit someday but I guess in the mean time I'll just have to stare at Brian's beautiful photos.
Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. I guess I'm trying to capture something fleeting about the food -- the way it makes me feel, what excites me about it ... if I'm picking up my camera to take a photo of some food, there is usually a reason - it's a good moment with friends, or the light happens to be really nice, or there is something else there that I see. Most of my food photos are not styled or set up, and I shy away from that sort of food photography - it's not interesting to me. Instead, I like to capture food in its natural state. So I usually shoot food in the process of actually being prepared and/or eaten. Food is so much more to me than the actual edible part of it, and it's such a huge part of my life, so I try to reflect that.
Q. Do you approach a food photo differently than non-food photo? A. Not really. In both instances, I'm looking for something interesting - good light, or a certain detail -- or I'm hoping to tell a story with the photo. In my mind, there's really no difference between a food and a non-food photo.
Q. Have you always been interested in photography? A. No. I got into photography on a whim, really - and it wasn't until about 2005 that I started. I was looking at photos on Flickr a lot and feeling really inspired, and I thought to myself: "maybe I can do this." So I picked up a cheap point-and-shoot camera to start, and just started playing around. I was in law school at the time, and thinking creatively was a welcome diversion from my studies. In 2008, I decided to take a photo every day for the entire year (a Project 365) in an attempt to shoot lots of photos and learn more about photography. It did the trick, and I was hooked. I've been pretty obsessed with shooting photographs ever since.
Q. Are you only or mostly shooting on film? What is it about film that keeps you shooting analog? A. Yes, I almost only shoot film. There are many reasons that I shoot film, and the first is because I think analogue photos are infinitely more interesting-looking. There is a true depth to them that cannot be replicated with digital. It's a personal preference, I know - but film inspires me. Also, I keep coming back to this idea that it feels like I'm actually making something when I shoot with film - the process of exposing actual film and using a manual camera to do so (without the help of fancy digital technology) is very tactile for me. I love the process - choosing a film, a film speed, trying different films, and then seeing the results. Sometimes the results are surprising .... you hope they will be a pleasant surprise, but sometimes they are not. That unpredictability is really nice in this day and age. I'm also more thoughtful when I shoot film - instead of snapping 40 photos of the same thing, deleting all but 2 of them, and then tinkering around with them in photoshop, I try to get it right the first time, with the first shot. It's meditative for me.
Q. How has moving from Brooklyn to London changed or influenced your photography style. Or maybe it didn't change. A. It's hard for me to answer this question - I bet others could probably tell you how it's changed better than I can. From my point of view, I haven't changed anything consciously. However, I am always trying to get better and to push myself - so if my style has changed, I think it's a result of my efforts in this regard more than moving to a different city. I do think that the experience of moving to a new country and getting acclimated probably manifested itself in my photographs in some way -- I tend to process things (especially new experiences) by shooting photographs, if that makes sense. So my efforts at creating a home in London and finding a niche in an unfamiliar place are certainly reflected in the photos I take.
Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. Jason Lowe and Toby Glanville are two of my food photography heroes. If you look at the St. John cookbook volume 2 (Beyond Nose to Tail Eating), the photos were shot by Jason Lowe and to me, they are absolute perfection. Every single one of them - creative, surprising, beautiful, atypical. That's the sort of food photography that I truly admire. And I have many other photography heroes, but a few that immediately come to mind are Jon Levitt, Rob Kulisek, Jody Rogac, Nicholas Haggard.
Q. Best meal so far in 2011? A. Dinner in February at St. John Bread & Wine with my brother and sister-in-law, who were visiting from the U.S. Langoustines with mayonnaise, duck liver on toast, Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese, the list goes on. We ate a massive amount of food and it was incredible. We were there for about 3 hours, I think. Even better than the food was having such a memorable meal with family - I miss them.
All photos courtesy of Brian Ferry from The Blue Hour
