Shutter Hub

(05.12.14) Today we had a visiting lecturer, Karen Harvey. Karen was here to give us information about the website Shutter Hub. Shutter Hub is a community and resource for photographers as a way to promote their own work and receive support from others. It offers a range of opportunities for photographers and people who generally just love photography, to attend events, lectures and workshops and a chance to exhibit their own work. The website is for UK citizens only and was created in the UK also. It does not matter what format of camera is used whether film or digital and the range of genre's does also not apply, it suits its members professional and creative needs. Karen really sold the website to us in the lecture, making the website sound great for promoting our work and getting it out into the world. She really told and showed us every aspect of the website and after looking at the website in my own time, I will definitely be joining to be a member in the near future. The fact that it holds exhibitions and curations, it definitely has the whole package and is a opportunity to see other photographers work, talk to people about your own and network and support other artists. Another plus to the website is having access to offers on software and equipment as the network grows as a whole, making it easier having everything under one roof for members. Overall it was a great lecture with Karen, being told about a network I did not know existed until then and I will definitely be looking further into Shutter and becoming a member.

Screenshot of Shutter Hub's homepage. 

1.5 Louise Lister

Louise Lister is a well established food and editorial photographer from Australia. She has over 20 years of experience and a very impressive portfolio to go along side it. She is also a professional food stylist, to go with her skills in photographing it also. Below are a few of her photographs I have chosen from her huge selection of images from her website. The top photograph of the crab achieved her to be one of the Food Photographers of the year from 2014. Throughout all of her food photography there seems to be a similarity in a lot of her images, that include a clean fresh appearance that makes the food look more appetising. It seems that Louise also uses daylight in her work but also studio lighting, which I think the crab image appears to be in a  studio setting. I did not come across one photograph that did not look appealing to the eye. The colours are hugely important when shooting food because it make the food look more healthy and mouth watering, which is exactly the case in her work. I would definitely like to take a few elements from Louise's work, such as the way some of her products are set up like the second image below which is of a number of proper and different subject's that make the image interesting and with a lot going on.

1.4 Shoot

Above are the four chosen images I feel are the best out of a shoot I did on Monday (02.02.15) and below is the contact sheet, showing the rest of the images I captured. For this shoot I decided to take images of Heinz spring vegetable soup, with a side of a few pieces of tiger bloom bread. I thought this would be a good option of food photography for my second attempt because of the colours and textures it would bring. I used a simple white plate and bowl, so that the main focus would be on the soup, but using a traditional large silver spoon and plain white napkin to make it bring a homely feel. Along with the objects I placed with the soup, I used a small dark wooden table for it to stand on to also give it that rustic feel. I am over ally happy with this shoot as I think the colours stand out in the pictures and are focused on the main object that I want the audience to look at straight away. I additionally consider the food I have captured to appear appetising and the angles I have used make it  look like it is you(the audience) who is about to eat it. My location for this shoot was in my conservatory at around midday and the sky was quite grey. If i was to improve this shoot I would definitely use a reflector to light up area that are a bit darker such as the bread and use a different soup that would be a bit thicker, unlike the one that I have used which is quite watery. However I am pleased with how this shoot went, as it was my first time at shooting soup and I would definitely like to develop and capture it again.

                                   
                                   

1.3 David Loftus

David Loftus is a very successful food photographer and is mostly known for working with chef, Jamie Oliver but with also many other chefs and cooks. He chooses to shoot with only daylight in just about all of his work, creating a stripped back "fuss free" that creates honest and genuine photographs of the food, with a realistic image and goals that its audience could also create at home. After looking through his websites and have a couple of Jamie Oliver's cook books that are shot by him, it is clear to see that he has a certain style that is carried throughout his work in his shoots. I like the way David only shoots in daylight, which I plan to do myself in the near future, as I am not too fond of shooting in the studio, so I feel that his work is a good influence for what I plan to do with this part of the module. Above are two screenshots of part of his portfolio on his website for food and drinks he has captured.  He uses a lot of colour in his work, which brings to life what he is capturing and succeeds at it very well, making the subjects very appetising. I have also found Jamie Oliver's youtube account that offers a range of videos, of David Loftus giving tips on how he photographs and what he does to achieve them. 

1.2 First Studio Session

For our first studio task in this module, we were set out to work in groups of 4 and shoot a type of fruit that was given to us. In my group (me, Elle, Lauren, Hannah) we were chosen to take images of lemons and an additional pineapple which was our choice. We chose our studio equipment and I used of one elinchcrom lights and a reflector to create the light in my images above and below. I think that as a very first attempt at food photography, I have styled to lemons very simply, which works as the images are supposed to focus on just the lemons themselves. Also having not much experience in the studio, I was confident in setting the lights up and knowing what setting to use ect. In my next session in the studio or when I am next shooting fruit, I will plan ahead and style them more successfully as I feel it could of been done a lot better with planning prior to taking the images, however as it is my first try I think it was a fortunate first try and has benefited my knowledge and understanding.

1.1 Food Photography

Food Photography is a combination of Still Life and commercial photography. Its aim is to make whatever the food is, appear appealing and appetising that are used in advertising the food to hopefully influence the audience in buying or choosing that meal, that are often featured on a range of platforms such as menus, packaging, cookbooks and magazines. Food photography can be quite time consuming in that it involves a lot of patience to achieve the shot that is most suitable, and moving the objects around and taking pictures at different angle may be required. After having a first lecture with Richard about what is required for Food photography and what environment and equipment is most suitable, it came to my attention that to make the subject more appealing, light is an important factor. Depending on where the light is can make or break an image of food because it could make it look dirty and point out any negative aspects of the subject. In a studio with manual lighting or daylight is more suitable to capture the food and conveniently in a conservatory if available, which luckily I have that will hopefully create some appropriate light. Sometimes it requires a range of people such as an art director, food stylist and assistants for capturing food photography because of the effort it takes to set the whole thing up, especially if it was for a big company or successful chef for example. After doing some research in books, magazines and online about food photography, it appeared to all feature to have some sort of rustic background and props to go with the food and placed on a wooden plank or table. I think that this gives off a more homely feel to it and is more relatable to its audience. For the next few following weeks, my intention is to capture a range of different food in both the studio and daylight.

Still Life

For the next 12 weeks I am to complete research and present images that represent the genre of photography that is Still Life. Still Life photography is generally a portrayal of a group of objects, that represent range of elements that will make the photograph look beautiful in the sense of, that it is appealing to its audience. The setting up and how the subject matter is placed is a huge aspect of this type of photography because it has to be engaging. Whether it is food or a number of small objects, they must be styled accordingly to how the photograph is going to used when completed. It is important to have good composition in still life photographs because it should take time for it to look exactly right and moving the objects around to get different shots can also create different view points  with different angles. Lighting is also very important with Still Life and is option captured in a studio where lights are needed and to make the subject look successful through camera.