The Obsessive Photographer

The Art Institute of Tampa  Culinary Team placed Bronze in their very first competition.  According to Chef Fred Lucardi the only thing that kept them from Gold was their speed, the team had the highest score in “Taste” and “Presentation”.  According to Chef Lucardi the Judges had nice things to say about the photography of the dishes (taken at our last shoot) which was a very nice compliment.

The team has updated and refined their dishes and asked me to shoot them again, what can I say…I was hungry for the opportunity (OK, OK, I know that was bad). The blog post for the first shoot is here if you’d like to see the improvement in the plating.

I had to wait for a while to post these photos so I didn’t release their improvements before the next competition. I’ll update this post with the results when I get them.

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Art Institute Tampa Culinary Team Dish

Art Institute Institute Tampa, Appetizer

Art Institute of Tampa Main Dish

Art Institute Tampa Dessert

A tender moment with a great couple.

Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure of working for Christina & Fred for an engagement session.  Christina found my site searching for a photographer on Google, and I was fortunate to have her select me as their photographer of choice after an afternoon meeting last month. (click here for rates & services)

Personality? Yep!

The first time I met Christina & Fred they were in uniform…they are both enlisted in the Air Force and assigned to MacDill AFB here in Tampa.  The uniforms weren’t enough to hold back their personality.  These two are funny! It was obvious right away we would work together really well.  As I’ve said on my site, having a good relationship between photographer and subject(s) has a tremendous impact on the finished product.

The most important thing to Christina and Fred was capturing their personality.  Fortunately one of the things I’m best at is bringing people out of their shell.  Once the ice is broken people can relax and be themselves…and that makes it easier to get those smiles.

We met in Tampa’s Ybor City, an area rich with beautiful photo backdrops.  The old brick, the rich doorways, tilework, balconies, wrought iron gates, and even the graffiti all add depth and interest to photos.  These places tell a story, and they can be adapted to many individual styles.  It wasn’t very long after we met in Ybor we were shooting, laughing, and feeding off of each others ideas.  It was a blast.

Love Crosses All Boundaries

After an hour of shooting in Ybor we changed locations to the University of Tampa, across the river from the city.  We shot there for almost an hour and got some beautiful night shots.  When we were parting ways Christina and Fred asked to schedule an additional hour for the next day, which I was happy to do.  We set the time and I sped off to start working on the shots.

One of the funniest things in recent memory happened on this shoot. While we were in Ybor City I knew I wanted to get a picture of Christina and Fred standing on opposite sides of a doorway looking at each other.  Fred had the idea to add a prop into the picture, having both of them reading a paper.  We grabbed a couple of free copies of the “Tampa Bay Times” and started shooting some test shots in the first doorway we found.  Instantly it was obvious this was a great idea.  Christina’s eyes peeking over the top of the newspaper sneaking a look at Fred across the doorway was priceless.  I showed them the shot on my camera and we continued on.

Flash forward several hours, I’m behind my computer processing photos.  I get to the “newspaper photos” considering some crops and my eye is drawn to the headline of the photo.  Ice water bloomed from my heart and started to spread.  There it was, emblazoned in bright red on the cover is the word “DOOMED”. How could this be? How could I have missed that at the time?  More importantly, how was I going to fix it? I was mortified.

"DOOMED"

So…we meet at our scheduled time the next day.  I had already posted several of the shots from the day prior in their private gallery (with exception of the “DOOMED” photo, of course).  They were very happy with what we had shot so far, so far so good.  I sheepishly told them we were going to have to re-shoot the newspaper photos.  They were curious why and I reluctantly told them why.  Their reaction was surprising to me.  They laughed.  Hard.  I told them I would try and fix it or we would re-shoot it that day.  They refused…and told me it was perfect just the way it was.  Amazing.  Funny.  Wonderful.  What a sense of humor!

We shot for an hour at the University of Tampa and got more beautiful shots.  I’m really fortunate to have met these two.  We had a wonderful time together and they were great models.  I have no doubt their love will last a lifetime!

Cheers to Christina & Fred!

Salad? No, Work of Art?

A friend of mine, Jeff Chapman, is a Chef and professor for the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Tampa [Link].  Being a bit of a “foodie” myself it’s pretty neat to have a friend who is a professional chef, it sure beats the heck out of some of my other friends who believe a burger, fries and a shake is a three course meal.

Recently Jeff asked me if I would be able to do a shoot for the newly formed Culinary Team at the school.  They needed shots of the team in action, the finished plated dishes, and head shots of the team members.  Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity and scheduled a session during their Sunday practice.

I met with Chef Ricardo Castro (Director of the Culinary Program) last Sunday who introduced me to the Team and gave me a rundown of what they were looking for.  The student chefs were already hard at work preparing their individual dishes for the upcoming competition in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend (August 22, 2009).

Student Chef Arwin Lucardie

It was an interesting and impressive experience watching these young chefs working.  The term “well oiled machine” comes to mind.  The Instructor Chefs were there to guide them to the higher level they need to compete at.  It was refreshing to see younger people (ouch, did I write that?) showing so much passion and focus in their approach.

I watched the action for a while, shooting the whole time.  As the dishes started taking shape Chef Castro and I went to the school restaurant to set the table for the shoot.  This is the first team the school has put together to compete abroad, so the pressure to perform is pretty stout.

The thing that impressed me the most was the fact these students were doing this on their own time.  Chef Castro reminded me most of them are already working in restaurants in the Tampa Bay area.  Spare time on the weekends is a valuable commodity for anyone working a full time job and going to school every day.  It takes a lot of dedication to join a team like this when time is at such a premium.

The dishes started rolling out and were presented to my camera as if it was a visiting food critic.  The salad is pictured above, and led into the appetizer below:

Delicious

Followed by the main course:

Beautiful Presentation

And last but certainly not least, dessert:

Carmelized Bananna Torte

So the question you should be asking:  Did you get to eat the food?  Yes, and it was fantastic.  Every dish had not only beautiful presentation but wonderful characteristics.  I would love to go through each dish individually, but “Dammit Jim, I’m a photographer not a chef!”.  Suffice it to say they were wonderful…all of them.

The entire experience was great.  I look forward to watching the team grow and see how well they compete in upcoming events…but mostly I look forward to shooting…and eating more of their food.