Food Photography: Chefs are Artists Too!

In the 8 years that I’ve been shooting professionally, I have had numerous opportunities to work with hoteliers, restaurateurs, and their executive/sous chefs of various nationalities. Each one of these assignments offered a different level of satisfaction and experience. I guess part of the attraction of commercial food photography is getting acquainted with the kitchen crew that diners aren’t privy to normally. I see a significant increase in demand for food photography this year compared to just a year ago. I can’t say for sure what the surge is attributed to other than there’s also a jump in number of eateries opening in the Brunei capital.

“Respect is a two-way street, if you want to get it, you’ve got to give it.”

― R. G. Risch

With food photography comes food styling comes art and I for one prefers simplicity when it comes to styling. Don’t mistake a plain looking dish to lack styling when in fact it may have been styled for simplicity and elegance. And who better to style the dishes than their creator – the chefs who ultimately creates the art for their patrons to enjoy. I titled this post “Chefs are artists too” because I respect their profession and the artistry that comes with that profession. It’s evident from the photos below the dedication and effort the chefs put into their creation. This post features chefs from All Seasons Restaurant, D’ Pinang Cafe, Radisson Hotel and The Empire Hotel & Country Club.

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Chef preps lobsters topped with melted mozzarella cheese.

Chef Wong showcases the art of deep frying, puts the finishing touches before it gets photographed.

See also: All Seasons Restaurant’s Black Peppered Crab (Facebook)

Chef Wong torches a Buttermilk Cheese Crab for shoot at All Seasons Restaurant.

Buttermilk Cheese Crab – one of a number of ways I photographed this dish.

It was a pleasure working with Chef Muhammad and the team from the Fisheries Dept (headed by Hamidah) to produce their first proper Seafood Cookbook. I first saw Chef Muhammad in April 2009 when he assisted TV personality Bobby Chinn at DST (BSB) and Early Childhood (KB) cooking demos. The cookbook will consist of 40 dishes and will be a bilingual publication (English and Malay).

Chef Muhammad putting the finishing touches on a dish called Ikan Kukus Bersambal.

This work of art was created specially for the recipe book cover although there are other pictures they could use too.

See also: Photographing Mr Baker’s Cafeteria at Gadong Central

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Executive Chef Cameron pictured here prepping ‘Selection of Scones, Maccarons & Jams’ and ‘Malay Kuih” for next shoot.

Executive Chef Cameron preps a plate of Greek Salad with extra dressing.

See also: So loving Radisson Hotel’s Caesar Salad with Poached Egg

TASEK BRASSERIE: Greek Salad (left) and my favourite Caesar Salad with Poached Egg.

DEALS: Gratinated Cod Fish with Almond Crumb served with Pakchoy and Prawn Emulsion

DEALS: Angus Beef Rib-eye with Spinach and Sweet Potato Puree

See also: Behind the Scenes – Photographing Fish & Co Brunei Menu
Photographing “SHEET” – The Empire Hotel and Country Club’s First Edition Recipe Booklet

It was a privilege to work with Executive Sous Chef Henry Tan and his team. His experience and attention to detail are attributes that sync well with my eye for detail in food photography. We collectively rejected shot after shot until we got the composition and details right on minimizing need for post-processing.

Photographing Mr Baker’s Cafeteria

The first official hint that a cafe was in Mr Baker’s Bakeshop pipeline was this ad in Borneo Insider’s Guide magazine featuring pictures from my first shoot at the bakery, a day which coincided with the delivery of a 15-inch fresh vanilla fruit cake to Wu Chun. Months later, in the weeks leading up to the cafe’s opening, the much anticipated shoot took place at the spacious location at Gadong Central — arrived on location to set up at 8am and finished packing up at 7pm — 11 hours of styling and shooting I kid you not and I got to sample their freshly prepared sandwiches and beverages.

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Equally busy during the shoot is cafe owner Eric who kept his social followers updated on Facebook and Instagram.

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My choice of available light for food photography — a pair of 60-inch umbrellas made by Photogenic USA with shots tethered to a Dell Studio 17″ laptop for instant, critical feedback.

It’s impossible to undertake a commercial assignment and not have on hand a large high definition
display for critical review of shots. My Dell Studio 17 goes with me everywhere.

The Cafe’s selection of Italian style grilled sandwiches called Paninis. I sampled these and loved the crunchy exterior and warm insides.

Freshly baked healthy variety of take-out breads now a convenient access in Gadong Central while you dine-in.

A clean, modern, rustic cafe interior designed by WaMa Designs

Photographs from this shoot are to fill the white vertical spaces to the right of this photo.

This photo was lit by 3 flashes, one firing into a 60-inch umbrella, another a 32-inch umbrella hidden in the far end corner to provide balanced lighting from front to back including a third flash to light up the kitchen.

On the day I delivered the recently photographed images of the new Cafe, local Bruneian staff were given hands-on training in food and beverage preparation to equip them for the official opening. At time of this post, MrBaker’s Bakeshop employs 70% local Bruneian staff.

So Loving Radisson Hotel’s Chicken Caesar Salad With Poached Egg

So yesterday, 3 days to the Brunei Darussalam 28th National Day celebration, I returned to Radisson Hotel to finish off some work that were omitted previously — a different perspective of Tasek Brasserie and the Business Centre.

The idea for the brochure was simply an overview shot of Tasek Brasserie restaurant. As a chef was in the vicinity, I asked for 10 minutes of his time to pose for this shot. I quickly setup a Full CTO gel on a flash right next to subject while another across the room for ambient.

Shooting at the Business Centre took longer than I realized. Got this shot of the restaurant landscape out of the way before lunch hour. If you think this shot could do with people in it, I agree but unfortunately time was a luxury this time and client needed just this.

I wrapped up the shoot after 2.5 hours and looked forward to lunch at what has become one of my favourite venues to dine in — Tasek Brasserie (including DEALS of course). Now, I am not a big fan of heavy meals so when treated to lunch compliments of the hotel, I had no knee jerk reaction to head to the buffet table. Instead, I savoured the opportunity to go a la carte and enjoyed a light and delicious Caesar salad with the works. The last time I ordered one was at least more than 10 years ago and it wasn’t that interesting to be memorable. This one, however, is a different story — it’s very good, I’d go as far as saying I loved it and wanted more. I finish off lunch with the only beverage that made sense: cappuccino to wake the senses for my long drive home.

Tender roasted chicken caesar salad with perfectly poached egg sprinkled with beef bacon bits, crunchy lettuce and delicious dressing. Click on photo to view a larger version like you really want to 🙂