Food Styling Workshop

Have you ever wondered why every dish looks so good on food magazines?  Those beautiful photos are the hard work of food stylists and photographers.  I didn’t know that until I took a 3-day food styling workshop at Food Fanatics with Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan in LA last week. 

We had 14 people in the workshop (all women), and we all came from different Cities, States or even Countries – San Jose, CA; Honolulu, Hawaii; Walland, TN; Boston, MA; Tarentum, PA; Vancouver, Canada; Costa Rica; Korea; Singapore; and Philippines.  We all have different backgrounds – Realtor who loves food and photography (that would be me); personal chefs; well-known food blogger (Bea of La Tartine Gourmande); graphic designers; even stylist from a resort.

 

The classroom is held in a big studio with big windows and skylights.  In the back, there is coffee, tea, juice, bagels, pastries, banana on the table, water and yogurt in the fridge, and a microwave.  There is Yoshinoya, Pomodoro, Starbucks, and Whole Food around the studio for us to go for lunch.  The weather is great in LA all year around.  The instructors, guest speakers, photographer, and participants are all nice, fun people.  By the third day, I knew I am going back in January for the Master Food Styling workshop.

The first day, we learned about the business side of being a food stylist.  It’s not fun but it is something we all need to know about in order to have a successful business.  We learned about the intro of food styling, the portfolio building, the apprenticeship opportunities, the marketplace today, food styling kits, different forms of media for food styling, the client interview, how to work with other stylists and referrals, etc.  We also reviewed different food magazines’ cover photos to talk about what is the new trends of food styling and photography.

On the second day morning, we went through the studio, checking out where we are going to prepare our project tomorrow, found where the shooting area is, and we also looked through some food photos from the past of different stylists and photographers, and some previous student work from the workshops.  We also learned about our place as a food stylist and how to work with an art director and photographer on a job.  We had Matt (with his partner Adam) to speak to us as an art director and food photographer.  We talked about our project with the photographer in the afternoon and then three of us went shopping.

The last day was our group project; it’s a day for us to get a taste of being a food stylist. We learned that the way a chef presents the food may be different than how a stylist would because of the way the camera sees the dish is different than how the human eye sees.  We learned how to build a set of drinks for a drink shot.  We learned that most of the food is not completely cooked – we used pigment to dye the chicken; we used a micro torch to make chicken/salmon looks cooked; we learned how to make “sauces” that wouldn’t run like water; we learned how to make ice tea look cold without really puting it into fridge.  And then we learned that food looks different in front of the camera so we need to rearrange the food and the setting.  So by the time we finishing the shot, the food went straight into the trash can.

Now you know why we had a great time.  It was a wonderful, fun experience.  It gave us a true perspective of being a food stylist.  Just like any other occupations, we need to be passionate about what we do in order to be the best at what we do.  See you next year for the Master Food Styling Workshop.

Check out Bea's and Karine's stories.

- more photos on my flickr

Extended reading - Food Photography

Comments

[Sabrina]

Hey Bea and Karine,

Thank you two to be the first two visited. We'll definitely have more fun in January. Can't wait!

Hello Meena,

Thank you for the kind words. I have been writing Chinese blog for 10 years but this is my very first English blog entry. I think I did ok but would want to explore more on English writing styles. I am glad you like it.

I went to your blog and loved it. I don't remember I know a Middle Eastern food blog and am glad that you found me.

[Meena]

You have such a wonderful blog, I'm so glad I came accross it. Will definitely keep coming back for your tips! Thanks!

[Karine / Carrefour]

Congratulations on this first English article!! And a very good one I must say. It's very interesting to read through someone else's vision of a common experience. I'll see you in January then!

[bea]

Nice Sabrina! I am thrilled that you are coming in January again too! We will see each other then!