One Morning in the
Photo Studio...
Groovy
As art director, I typically plan photo shoot themes a year in advance. One afternoon the food editor, Marie called attention to the fact that September had been overlooked, and a quick decision had to be made. She suggested a number of recipes that had already been tested, that we might be able to use. As she ran down the list of recipes, Curry Chicken caught my atten-tion.
I IM’d one of our IT guys, Kapinder from our partner company in India and asked him, “What would you serve with this?” He gave me several options for a nice meal. I thanked him for his help, then confirmed with the food editor that we could indeed get the other foods for the shoot.
But the issue was not resolved as I soon realized, “How does one present traditional Indian food as American nostalgia?” I consulted with my Set Stylist, Deone. We threw around a few ideas: nehru jackets, hare krishna, peace and love. A spark grew into a creative fire as we came up with the perfect theme: Ashbury Haight... the Hippie Movement. We were excited.
This is that photo shoot:
Some of the props included
incense, candles, daisies, a beaded
curtain, and henna. The blue
and burgundy fabric is Deone’s
personal saree.
Mint sauce: with powerful properties that
make people speak the truth.
As per special request by Amit.
Chapati (flat bread) ... check
out the smoke of the incense
rising, man. Groovy.
Deone inspects details of the
props on the set.
Deone thinks we need more daisies.
We need a magic sitar.“I onwy thpeak the twoof.”
(That was a reference to the movie, “Moulin Rouge.”)
I am really turning on to
this scene, man
Food Stylist Sarah brings in the “hero” food
and works her magic with the
mango lassi.
With an expert eye, Sarah fusses over garnishes.Thank goodness for Food Stylists. They see details
most people don’t. To me, food is to be eaten, as long as food doesn’t look and taste like “caca.”
Dan the photo-grapher does
double duty as Fire Bearer to
light the incense and candles,
while Sarah uses a tweezer to strategically
place greens on top of the rice
and Chicken Curry.
Light ‘em if you got ‘em, Dan!
Dan checks out the lighting, exposure and focus of this colorful shot.
Is that Hindi music on satellite radio? Groovy!Hee-hee! Dan actually danced for us... he wasn’t bad.
I wish I would have gotten that on video to post to YouTube!
How’s that smoke from the incense looking
to you, Dan?
Another angle of the set...
An artsy moment in
time...
Me and Deone on the set...
no, we did not coordinate our
outfits...great minds think
alike.
We work well together and
have lots of fun with the shoots.
The final result.
Someone commented that “it really wasn’t
a picture of food, but a work
of art.”
It was the tastiest art I’ve ever eaten for
lunch!
Hm...this could be a cool
puzzle!
One last artsy moment back in
my cubicle!
The End