Social Media Week, David Griffen, Club Gascon, Great British Chefs & Eager Food Bloggers/Photographers..

A week or two ago I was lucky enough to attend a Food Photography workshop with David Griffen in the home of Google London. It was all part and parcel of Social Media Week, organised by Great British Chefs and around 40 food bloggers, photographers and the enthusiastic participants all descended into Google London’s canteen (appropriate choice of location) to learn more about food photography.  Taking photographs of dishes prepared by acclaimed Chef Pascal of Club Gascon fame, he was happy enough to explain the dishes and even pose for a paparazzi of amateur photographers practising their black & white shots.

For the first course was Roquefort, Caramelised Onion & Sweet Potato on Pastry

Tips- Getting in close to your subject matter, using natural light and the help of a reflector/white piece of paper to bounce light back on the object

I enjoy getting up close and personal with food as you might notice from my blog, I relish in seeing the textures of the food on the plate, reflections off ingredients and attention to detail.

The next course was Duck Carpaccio with Sea Urchin Foam

Tips- Images can be tweaked afterwards, with sharpening, lighting adjustments if needed.

The final dish was a Marmite dish.. you either love it or hate it..

Tips- People look great in Black & White shots, especially prepping food and kitchen locations as there is flourescent/tungsten lighting or glare that doesn’t always look good.

If you’re using an Iphone or similar which I do you can get apps such as Instagram, Snapseed and more to help perfect your spontaneous food snaps!

I  came away from the workshop with many more tips, new contacts and ideas on how to better improve my photography! There are many tricks to deal with when you a food blogger, especially when taking photographs in restaurants and low lighting situations. But hopefully my photographs will be improving constantly as I put all this useful information into action!

Thank you Great British Chefs, David Griffen, Google & Chef Pascal for making it an enjoyable workshop.