This particular Christmas photo shoot for Mercato was in fact executed along side the food photography done for Cold Storage’s Christmas edition as detailed in the previous post. Some items have to be reused for both these publications, so it was just a simple matter of changing props and setting.
Here’s the same turkey used in the Cold Storage shot, to be reused for this Mercato shot. The difference are evident in the plates and decorative props used. The colour scheme for Mercato was mainly black, brown and shades of subdued pastel colours to convey the rustic country feel, as opposed to Cold Storage’s green, red and white. Here, I’ve used black or brown plates with matching napkins and table cloth.
Here’s the shot of the hamper, showcasing various expensive imported items that one could gather and customize for their own hamper.
I took loan about more than RM 5,000 worth of items from Great Eastern Mall’s Cold Storage outlet to make the above shot (of course not all were used). Some of the items were also used for Cold Storage’s double spread greeting page. Here’s a look at the mountain of items returned after the shoot.
Here are some shots of the non-Halal cold cut items on offer in Mercato for this Christmas.
Perhaps, the most favourite of my pictures in this entire Christmas photo shoot project for both Cold Storage and Mercato, is this Combo Lamb set below, followed by its Beef variant.
Achieving the above ambient and mood wasn’t easy. A large bare head monobloc was firing almost full power from camera left. This light was further diffused by a shoot-thru giant reflector, before passing through a glass door. The light was further carved, cut and fashioned into directional beams highlighting the various part of the scene, creating the mood of a freshly cut block of lamb by the fire place.
A more mottled effect could be achieved by placing a few half-filled glass bottles to camera left. A series of mirrors were placed closed to the set to brush some light back into the lamb. A larger polystyrene foam board was used to provide general fill to the set.
These small handful of anti-pasto was worth RM 300! They consist of various olives namely, black olives, kalamata olives, green queen olives and marinated green olives, sun dried tomatoes and marinated artichoke.
Here’s the setup for the shot, top-down and its resulting picture.
Altogether, it took me about 6 full days to complete all food photography for both Cold Storage and Mercato’s Christmas edition product catalogues. It was really high-pressured work, tiring and nerve-busting, but in the end, it was all worth the time and effort. I was so totally wasted in the end but the fatigue was easily ruled out by an overpowering sense of achievement and absolute satisfaction.
There were days when I had to shoot 12 hours straight, beginning at latest noon. That was after all the running around in the morning collecting the necessary items to be photographed from various locations. It was certainly not easy working on a large scale production like this, without a food stylist. I had to be both the photographer and food stylist. Perhaps, after all, I was also the creative director on set!
This laborious undertaking did not even take into account the time and effort spent on planning, coordinating and sourcing for props and materials from IKEA and Daiso (which happened to top my list as one of my most favourite places to obtain DIY photography equipment. Do check it out). This stage of the project itself took me a couple of days.
Could I have done it any better? Perhaps, but as my very first major food photography commercial project, I have to say, I have met my expectations, though I feel I could have done much better. Of course I could have done it smoother with a larger crew, thereby freeing me to try for more creative lighting techniques. However, time did not permit that and we were working in a very tight timeline.
Looking back, I realised there were many areas I could improved on. I have to be much more meticulous and conscientious to detail and at times, know that being simple is sometimes the answer to a wits’ end. The challenge in any food photography is directing the viewer’s gaze into the main subject of focus while maintaining a complex interplay of shapes, colour and texture. The prize? Elegance! That takes practice and experience, both of which I need to work on much more.
There are much to be learnt of course, but Christmas has been unusually early and wonderful for me this year. Most evidently, it’s been an unexpectedly kind year to me. So here’s to an early blessed Christmas and a jolly Happy New Year to a better 2013!