A few weeks ago I got my seat at Today’s Specials: The Design of Food Presentation
Hosted by former New York Times food critic, Frank Bruni, the event featured a handful of artistic professionals slated to give visual presentations on well....the design of food.
Featured presenters included:
Philip Tiongson of Potion Interactive Design
Mitch Feinberg, Photographer
Victoria Granof, Food Stylist
Tacey Rosolowski, Literary Essayist and Critic
With a full house in Tishman Auditorium, I sat watching a slide show projection of pictures from the Food Porn Flickr Group inspired around the phrase - “In Paris, everything looks like dessert.” Soon Frank Bruni graced the stage and he introduced tonight's event and presenters.
The two standout presenters of the night were Mitch Feinberg and Victoria Granof.
Mitch showed a stunning collection of his food photographs and described the abstract concept in one or two words. He explained the difficulty shooting abstract ideas as opposed to concrete objects or nouns. For example, one can easily photograph a runner, however it is more difficult to capture an image of speed.
One memorable photo in Mitch's presentation was an image of 15 pounds of various cuts of red meat arranged in a rectangular shape. The title was “Dead Weight.”
He explained details of memorable photo shoots, accidental successes on film and the unexpected frustrations of being a food photographer. Mitch spoke slowly and deliberately, pausing at precise moments to give his words their full impact as the audience listened. Check out his website here
Victoria was technically challenged with her slide presentation, but it didn’t matter. As an artistic food stylist she easily found the words to describe her photographs once she got the right photo on the screen. She joked about torturing food into submission and her love of food photographs featuring a controlled mess such as accidental drips of oil or crumbs left on a table.
Victoria’s website can be found here
Both Mitch and Victoria agreed that you often have to play with food to get the best photo and that everyday objects have their own personality.
I’ll think about that next time I pull out my blender.
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