Blog | 34 - Pretty Raw

October 20, 2017
bokeh photographic (Alistair Grant): Food & Drink Photographer; Commercial Photographer, Product Photographer & Packshot Photographer; Event Photographer; Portrait Photographer; Corporate Photographer & PR Photographer; Engagement Photographer & Wedding Photographer and Photography Training Courses in Cambridge, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Bedford, St Neots, St Ives and London. Freelance Photographer & Freelance Photography Services in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and across the UK.    
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   Alistair Grant 

Freelance Photographer Cambridge & London

     
     

bokeh photographic: Blog No: 34

 Freelance Photographer Cambridge Blog Image | Blog 34 | Pretty Raw (Deliberately grainy and slightly out-of-focus shot of food preparation during a restaurant service with clipped highlights and blocked shadows to illustrate just how brutally raw prep, service & clean-down can be). © bokeh photographic (Alistair Grant): Freelance Photographer; Food & Drink Photographer; Commercial Photographer, Product Photographer & Packshot Photographer; Event Photographer; Portrait Photographer; Corporate Photographer & PR Photographer; Engagement Photographer & Wedding Photographer and Photography Training Courses, St Ives, Cambridge. Blog 34 – Pretty Raw (Deliberately grainy and slightly out-of-focus shot of food preparation during a restaurant service with clipped highlights and blocked shadows to illustrate just how brutally raw prep, service & clean-down can be) | bokeh photographic - Alistair Grant | Freelance Photographer in Cambridge, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Bedford, St Neots, St Ives and London. Blog 34 – Pretty Raw (Deliberately grainy and slightly out-of-focus shot of food preparation during a restaurant service with clipped highlights and blocked shadows to illustrate just how brutally raw prep, service & clean-down can be) by Alistair Grant. Food & Drink Photography; Commercial Photography, Product Photography & Packshot Photography; Event Photography; Portrait Photography; Corporate Photography & PR Photography; Engagement Photography & Wedding Photography and Photography Training Courses in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and across the UK.

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Pretty Raw

I have found myself repeatedly thumbing through a photography book in several bookshops recently. Somewhat annoyingly I haven’t purchased a copy which is rather unusual for me as I tend to buy most photography titles I come across. I intend to put this right next time I spot this particular book. If I’m honest I really don’t comprehend why I haven’t picked up a copy of ‘Why It Does Not Need To Be In Focus’ as it is a truly refreshing read. The book does what is says on the tin, or should I say cover. The strapline is [the book] ‘focuses on not focusing and other unconventional methods that have been successfully employed by acclaimed contemporary photographers’. I like this. Despite the dominance of ‘mainstream’ images photography is a broad church and all variations of the discipline should be allowed breathing space. Somewhat ironically, all the exciting left-field approaches learnt about at college are quickly discarded when photography students qualify and turn professional i.e. to get commissions and/or published you need to shoot conventional images. Hold that thought!

As a professional photographer I produce ‘pretty’ images especially when it comes to Food & Drink Photography. We expect (because we have been conditioned) photographs of food & drink to look a certain aesthetic way. Convention dictates that commercial images (i.e. photographs shot for the specific purpose of selling something) need to be ‘correctly’ framed, focused, exposed, colour-balanced and so on. I should point out I’m not necessarily talking about style trends. Although I have written previously how food styling changes over time - in a gradual almost insidious manner - the moot point is that whatever the underlying style, most food and drink images conform in a small c conservative way. Although Martin Parr's excellent book ‘Real Food' includes garish colour images (which act as a proxy social commentary on the characteristics of the people consuming the foods featured in the book) the images are otherwise conventional. Whenever shooting ‘correctly’ framed, focused, exposed, colour-balanced etc. food & drink images I often think about the more unconventional photographic approaches that could be employed. Especially so when it comes to photographing things other than a pack shot or a chef’s plated-up signature dish.

This distinctly non-pretty photograph is from a recent food photography assignment. In the general scheme of things it’s not terribly unconventional, especially compared to many of the shots in the WIDNNTBIF book, but it is certainly radically different to the rest of the images from that shoot. The image is (deliberately) grainy and slightly out-of-focus with clipped highlights and blocked shadows. In conventional terms it could be considered to incorporate multiple ‘photographic errors’. However, it’s meant to look like this! Quite simply, a conventional ‘pretty’ image didn’t seem appropriate when photographing kitchen prep prior to restaurant service. Diners, even when there is an open-plan kitchen, just don’t get to see just how brutally raw prep, service & clean-down can be. Incidentally, whilst I often photograph more dramatic action (cooking on flame, carving a joint etc.) the type of preparation featured in the photograph is far more representative of the activity that goes on in a restaurant kitchen and so it seemed a more apt image to illustrate the WIDNNTBIF point.

   
     

Call Alistair Grant on 07775 365507, Email [email protected] or click Booking Enquiries if you have any questions or would like to make a booking.

   
     

bokeh: "the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens"


Freelance Photographer offering Food & Drink Photography Cambridge; Commercial Photography Cambridge, Product Photography Cambridge & Packshot Photography Cambridge; Event Photography Cambridge; Portrait Photography Cambridge; Corporate Photography Cambridge & PR Photography Cambridge; Engagement Photography Cambridge & Wedding Photography Cambridge and Photography Training Courses in Cambridge. Also covering: Huntingdon, St. Ives, Ramsey, St. Neots, Peterborough, Bedford, Stamford, Newmarket, Sawtry, Alconbury Weston, Brampton, Hartford, Warboys, Houghton, Wyton, Godmanchester, Hilton, Hemingford Grey, Hemingford Abbots, Fenstanton, Whittesley, Yaxley, Needingworth, Somersham, Chatteris, Ely, Bar Hill, Grafham and Buckden.

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bokeh photographic - Alistair Grant | Freelance Photographer | Cambridge, London, UK

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