WIP development - when you food images lack soul

I had no idea what was wrong with my previous images - from the challenge - but somehow sensed that something is not quite right. Honestly speaking, the darkened background was something I was not used to and was quite foreign to me. It may have worked for the Dutch masters BUT to me it looked strange. 

So, for the next webinar, I decided to create something that is much closer to what I am used to doing. Frankly speaking, I had no time to use the artificial light so I went for my tried and tested method. The backdrop was sort-of-traditional Bulgarian rug and the food was whatever was available at home at the time. 

When I took those two, I was quite pleased with the result. They featured both the darkened background and the new idea (in this case, showing the abundance in the whole picture) and I used the natural lighting I am such a fan of. However, the problem in the pic lay in the things i photographed. Beer and this type of bread are by no means traditional or Bulgarian. 

So I went on to photograph something traditional, looking traditional (in my opinion): 

The 'model' was liutenitsa - a traditional Bulgarian appetizer made up of peppers and tomatoes (each family has a recipe of its own). In Bulgaria, we love saying that liutenitsa goes well with anything and we mean it. Some 200 years ago, it was the type of comfy fast food farmer could take out with them in the fields and eat when they have time. It was also a means to preserve produce. 

So, my idea in this image was to recreate a farmer's lunch, the way I thought it would have looked like a few centuries ago. To be honest, I recreated an old shot - this one (here the model is another traditional Balkan appetizer made of peppers and aubergine, called Kiopoolu). 

I was quite pleased with the end result so imagine my dismay as I was told that images like this are no good. To my question why, I was shown an image of a Dutch still life (again!) to see the difference. I can't find the exact image, but here is another one, just for illustration: 

Then it dawned on me what the problem was - my images looked set-up and artificial, made up for the sake of composition. They lacked life and soul. Unlike the Dutch still life paintings that looked so vivid and alive. 

So, the dire question arose - how do I do a 'live' composition of traditional Bulgarian food that would show off my skills as a photographer but still show the food as it is and at the same time incorporate some kind of a personal style ... 

Sources:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/21682

WIP development - how do you mimic the Dutch masters with artificial lighting and on a budget

Since I already had an idea of how to do my images - the first point was to mimic the Dutch masters - I decided to go for something easy and to try and do something I have never done before. The idea was to use a simple dish - in my case that was Shopska salad (quite a traditional dish on the Balkans, made out of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onion and a lot of white cheese) - and to try and create something that looks like a Dutch still life. 

The setting was created on the living room table since the living room is the darkest one at home. I planned to do something I have never done before - in my case try new style and composition AND use artificial lighting. I am much more used to working with natural light - when I had to take pics for Shutterstock, natural light was the only thing I used. However, the challenge set by Michelle involved me taking some kind of a risk so that I manage to push myself a bit. 

As a start, it turned out that working with artificial lighting may give you all the control but when you have no idea what you want to achieve (apart from some vague image in your head), things can get complicated. So it took me around an hour to figure out what I wanted to depict and a few more minutes to set up the whole thing.

The end result truly looked like nothing I have done before - new type of background (for years, I had been avoiding the dark backgrounds), new type of composition as I tried to mimic the Dutch still life type of compo and a whole new concept of how I should be doing my images. 

I chose the salad and the glass to show a typical farmer's dinner at the local tavern (hence the yellow liquid that is actually mint tea since we had no rakiya at home). Took me a lot of time to figure out how to do the lighting so that the glass is lit from above and I have some kind of tecture (first time working with that light). 

I tried a few angles, such as this one:

Even though I liked the end result, the whole thing looked so different from what I used to create, that it was a bit foreign to me. I did the challenge BUT somehow couldn't feel the image. What was worse, I still lacked some ideas on how to do the rest of the images. 

As my mother exclaimed when I showed her the images - they simply looked dull in some way. Well. the point was to challenge myself and so I did but the overall concept was completely eluding me. 

Project development - some research on the history of still life (part 1)

In order to do decent images of food, one needs to look at how actually images of food are done. Since my only experience was taking pics of food for stock sites (and social networks) I needed to look up someone artsier than I am. One of the first ideas, of course, was the first-ever 'images' of food produced which meant delving back into the mists and dust of time. And I happen to be quite the fan of history so that was an easy task...

A quick research showed that one of the first to create images of food were the Ancient Romans - images of food and tasty morsels are found on the walls of the cauponae (taverns) in Pompeii. These used to serve as a menu for the guests so that, even if they knew very little Latin, they could simply point out at the picture. Images of half-eaten food were very popular floor mosaics in the houses of the rich at that time. It was believed that if the floor is littered with images of food, the feast would go even smoother and better. 

This fresco (fig. 1 above) came from the house of Julia Felice in Pompeii and it is quite naturalistic. The scene is quite simple and depicts what the painter saw.

However, this ancient technique was much like the modern fast food menus where you get exactly what you see on the picture. Hence, this type of imagery was not exactly the 'artsy' and 'signature style' approach I needed. So I did a 'rewind' up till the 16th century. When a new style of depicting food emerged and with it - a new school of painting - that of the Dutch masters. They are universally known as being the first to depict food as it is and yet express much more - feelings of nostalgia, of togetherness etc. This sounded much more appealing to me.

A quick research showed that one of the first to create images of food were the Ancient Romans - images of food and tasty morsels are found on the walls of the cauponae (taverns) in Pompeii. These used to serve as a menu for the guests so that, even if they knew very little Latin, they could simply point out at the picture. Images of half-eaten food were very popular floor mosaics in the houses of the rich at that time. It was believed that if the floor is littered with images of food, the feast would go even smoother and better. 

The fresco above is also from Pompeii and depicts bread and figs and looks much more like something drawn to either attract attention to whatever was on offer at the store or stall.

However, this ancient technique was much like the modern fast food menus where you get exactly what you see on the picture.

Another amazing mosaic this time, again from Pompeii that looks much more like something to be pointed out by clients than like an artistic expression.

Hence, this type of imagery was not exactly the 'artsy' and 'signature style' approach I needed. So I did a 'rewind' up till the 16th century. When a new style of depicting food emerged and with it - a new school of painting - that of the Dutch masters. They are universally known as being the first to depict food as it is and yet express much more - feelings of nostalgia, of togetherness etc. This sounded much more appealing to me. Once again my Cultural Studies and my love for history to be put to the test

The Dutch masters, my research showed, started developing their art when a huge swing in trade routes made the Netherlands the trade center of Western Europe. At the time - throughout the 15th and 16th century - the people there were experiencing a huge boom in terms of living standards, access to new goods and new exotic food. So the first modern 'still life' images of food were created in order to show the abundance of new things that have come to their shores.

The first still life above (done by Kevin Best in the 20th century in an attempt to mimic the Dutch masters) showed the abundance of new exotic goods - basically, food was piled up on a table and depicted as it was -  oysters, crab, even the lemon could be deemed exotic and expensive.  As time passed, new techniques appeared and the still life paintings changed in style. New ideas appeared and the Dutch masters started depicting much more lively scenes - as if the people had just left the table:

The image above, done by Pieter Claesz in the 17th century is part of this trend.

So far I had some ideas of what I should be doing. Another matter was how to do it.

Sources:
http://www.softwaredidattico.it/EducazioneAlimentare/ipsia_enrico_berlinguer/images/affresco_tavola.jpg
http://bodegonesdecocina.blogspot.com/2011/09/antecedentes-del-bodegon-roma.html
http://www.pinsdaddy.com/ancient-greece-slaves-eating_bcAC%7C45qQOG3r4mEeHnO9QGr8g2sXbzYD9syeVW1vK0/
https://www.repro-tableaux.com/a/pieter-claesz/nature-morte-avec-le-pois.html
https://www.liveinternet.ru/users/andre_art/post265064794/

Project development - struggles with scope - how GDPR changed everything

This module posed some new challenges for me. Unlike last module when I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do from the very beginning, this time I was in two minds. The two options I couldn't decide between were street and food photography. 

Both genres are to be incorporated into the Culture Crossroads project so I decided that it was high time I worked more on that aspect of the project. During the past few modules, I focused much more on architecture and history and a bit of landscape photography but had virtually no time for street and food photography.

Naturally, a culture is the sum total of both history, architecture, cuisine and mentality (along with the customs, traditions and rituals that go with it) so my first choice of a topic was street photography. 

Truth be told, I am not a street photographer and cannot say I am good at it. Most of the street photographs I have are accidental shots of people, stolen moments that I noticed around me. Paradoxically, I have never intentionally gone out to take street shots. One of the reasons is that I am too shy, I think, to approach people and have their picture taken.

The image above is one of the first-ever street images I have taken. This girl was just sitting next to me at the bus stop, waiting for the vehicle to arrive. I used my phone, to avoid being noticed. The quality is really poor but I loved her colourful bracelets.

Another image I took by accident, just because I had a compact camera with me and the mother and child didn't see me. Still, with the GDPR as it was initially released, I wouldn't be able to capture moments like that without permission.

This image was just a coincidence - I came to take pics of the building but then I saw this man. This place is known as the Bulgarian 'wall of weeping' since it used to be the place where university admission exam results were displayed. 20 years ago, you had only one shot per year which meant that you can choose to apply to only one university (if you were a girl) or to the university and military academy (if you were a boy). If they didn't accept you, you had to work for a whole year before being eligible to apply again. So, naturally, this place has seen a lot of tears, hence the name. Today, examination results are still displayed here BUT very few people go since there is an electronic system where you can check your results online. This man, though, had come here to see the results in person and he wasn't very pleased. I had a few seconds to capture this moment and I wasn't even looking for something like that.

Usually, I find the most interesting street shots, when I am not looking for them - like the two examples below. What is more - people in  Eastern Europe are not exactly keen on having their picture taken.

They are also quite suspicious to anyone with a camera. If that 'anyone' is a stranger with a DSLR, things get even worse. So this module I wanted to experiment with this genre and see what I can do. However, there was a huge obstacle - the GDPR.

When the GDPR regulation came into effect a few weeks ago, people in Eastern Europe began fearing doing anything until the matter is legally resolved. According to the regulation, any kind of data, images of people too, were considered personal data and were subject to agreement between the photographer and the model. This meant that any photographer aiming at taking pics of people and candid street scenes would have to have a written permit from everyone in the frame BEFORE pressing the shutter button. In Bulgaria there was an outrage from photo journalists and photographers in general, so currently the regulation is being modified according to the Bulgarian legislative system. Unfortunately, by the time the whole adaptation kicks into effect, this module would be over so even though I wanted to try my hand at street photography, it simply had to wait. 

Hence, to be on the safe side, I chose something else I have been fond of for the past years - food photography. As an integral part of any culture, the local cuisine is the best way to really feel the place you are visiting. So far, however, I have concentrated mostly on other aspects of my project and have used each opportunity to see more and document more of the Balkans. I kept postponing taking food images for two reasons:

1) food photography can be done in a controlled environment and the only thing you need is a quiet place and some food to photograph

2) I've had no time to do something new

As for experience, I have always been a fan of food photography - actually started with photographing whatever food was at hand at home and then moved on to creating some more difficult compositions and created a makeshift studio in my bedroom (a really makeshift thing). Still, things worked but as I progressed, I found out I want to photograph other things.

Still, I made up my mind to try and produce images of local Bulgarian food for the sake of this module. There was a problem though - how do you photograph your own cuisine and make it appealing to both locals and foreigners from the other end of the world without making it look like a cliche and doing something artistic?

I am yet to find out.