I was engaged by Mandurah Cruises to take food and people photos of their High Tea Cruise. Out to sea and with a busy crowd, I had a few hours to create pictures for the client’s website and social media.
Your first paid food photography gig, how does it feel?
Honestly, it’s a huge thrill, as exhilarating as seeing my byline in a top publication. It feels, actually, terrific. Getting paid for my photography work makes me feel proud.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m Dianne Bortoletto, owner of Pronto PR (boutique public relations agency) and a freelance travel and food writer. I’m Australian with Italian heritage and based in Perth and Margaret River. I am slowly working towards making Margaret River our forever home. I’ve been writing about food and photographing it for many years on my blog, www.travelletto.com.
I first did Le Cordon Bleu’s recipe writing course, and Nelly’s food photography course was the perfect next step. I learned so much – not just about food photography, but photography in general. Nelly has such a great teaching style.
Not only did I learn about food photography but also about composition, light and food styling. One of the best things during the sessions was how Nelly nurtured my confidence to step into professional photography. Ideally, I would love to learn more about portrait photography and combine that with my love for travel and food to create food stories.
Shooting a high tea champagne event on a cruise ship. How was that?
The ‘talent’ were friends of the owner, and besides my request for them to wear bright solid colours, I had no control over the styling. The cruise was happening, and I had to shoot around waitstaff and be mindful of paying passengers. It was hectic. I only had 15 minutes on board before the cruise guest arrived. I had to work fast and think on my feet. During my food photography course, I had time to think, prepare, find the right light and use my reflector or diffusers. Shooting during a cruise didn’t allow the use of studio lights or reflector boards. I had a small part of a table to work with where the three friends from the client sat. I had to direct them, style food, use the available light and photograph. It was more like an event photographer with unpaid “talent”. Keeping the girls from chatting too much or having a mouthful of food was tricky. I learned that next time I will tell them to pretend to chat and have lots of laughs, toast the champagne without drinking and not eat the food. So many of the photos were of someone with their eyes closed or chewing with not a pleasant expression.
I was asked by the client to shoot champagne pouring. We were still in the harbour as the champagne was poured on before departure. I would have preferred to have the open water’s azure blue tones complement the champagne’s pale tones. But instead, I had to work with the surroundings and background available.
When the day was finished, I was super energised and eager to see the results of my photoshoot. I was so grateful that Nelly taught me a system to quickly choose the best images. I had over 2000 photos to sift through, and that could’ve kept me up all night!
The client loved the result, particularly my composition and spontaneous images of the girls. I was thrilled that the client uploaded the photos to the website immediately.
Here are a few things I learned from the shoot.
After delivering the images, they asked me to make the colours more vivid and bright. The purpose of a good mood board will help me in future.
Do you consider yourself a “foodie”?
100%! I’ve always been a foodie, and a good meal can keep me on a high for two days. Regarding capturing food, I like two things: telling readers about delicious dishes/places to eat (sometimes they aren’t the most photogenic) and food that looks pretty.
How did you get into food photography?
It’s a natural extension to freelance writing about food, and food blogs need food photos. Instagram also helps promote my capabilities.
It’s often frowned upon to offer to work for free. Therefore, I offered content (photos and video) in exchange for an experience (e.g. an evening sunset cruise valuable to me). This opened the door for me to this client, and then the publicist liked my photos so much that she engaged me as an official photographer. As a small business, I want to be able to offer my clients (as well as editors) both words and photos. Nelly’s course set the foundation for me to build on that.
Quote
The energy and accountability of a face-to-face-based online course are crucial to success. Without a “live session”, I doubt I would have completed the course or signed up. Live sessions with genuine contact with Nelly successfully stimulated my photography process.
