Styling: Jazreel Chan and Photo: Dario Milano
No, this is not my food styling, but it might very well be soon! Some exciting news is that I’ve been invited to attend the upcoming Denise Vivaldo’s Introduction to Professional Food Styling class in Auckland. As you can imagine, I’m over the moon about this!
One of the things that I want to develop is my styling skills for the blog and contract work, so this could not have come at a better time for me. Interestingly before starting my blog, I never gave it any thought at all but as I took more and more photos, fluffed a little here and there, raided my cupboard for props, then added and subtracted, I saw how much pleasure I got from this little artistic moment. I guess it’s a way to satisfy my visual creative urge because admittedly I am hopeless at art, in fact my almost 7-year-old son can draw better than I can – this is true and a little embarrassing!
Styling: Jazreel Chan and Photo: Dario Milano
It’s going to be so much fun to learn the tricks of the trade by Denise Vivaldo, author of The Food Stylist’s Handbook and the woman who has cooked for presidents, royalty and celebrities, oh and even catered for the Academy Awards! This is just a tiny bit of her string of accolades so talk about learning from the best. Along side Denise will be Kirsty Bryson, a Dunedin girl who has a stella career in food styling and who will be returning home from Australia for the course.
I feel like so much is going on in my little blogging world right now. My head is spinning with the possibilities about what this journey is all about and the future for me. Do you ever have these moments when everything seems just so exciting? So before I sign off, I want to say a BIG thank you to all of you, because if you didn’t turn up here, most probably all of these sweet things that are coming my way right now wouldn’t be happening. So I promise to learn every little technique possible and delight you with my food shots okay!
If any of you food bloggers, photographers, and stylists or wannabe stylists like me would like to hone your skills and learn from the best, you can find all of the details over here. From what I can tell, Denise is a real character and the day looks set to be really entertaining!
Mel xx
P.S. Apparently that ice-cream is fake and the steak not cooked through and we’ll be learning these techniques in class!
Styling: Jazreel Chan and Photo: Dario Milano
All images courtesy of Denise Vivaldo. Styling: Jazreel Chan and Photo: Dario Milano
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I’ll be interested to read your thoughts on Denise’s food styling workshop in Auckland. I did the same in Sydney last year and wrote 2 blog posts on http://www.passthesalt.co.nz (if interested, search ‘The Perfect Egg’ and’ Make it or Fake it’.) I enjoyed her immensely but was alternately wowed and horrified at the tricks of the trade. In my experience with Life & Leisure magazine, and talking with other food writers, we are much more true to life with our styling in NZ. I think Denise’s form of styling – and she really is a magician – is more suited to the food advertising and packaging industries.
Anna
Hi Anna, lovely to hear from you and sorry about the delay in my reply – I’ve been away. That’s right and Denise confirmed that the editorial here and mostly in the States is done with natural light.. it’s definitely the for the advertising. I’ll pop over and have a read next week, I’m interested in reading your thoughts and also discovering your blog:). I’ll do a post myself soon. Mel x
dear mel , you are already so amazingly artistic, and i just can’t wait to see what you post as this exciting journey unfolds!!! that first photo with the shades of blues is stunning !
i know what you mean by the exciting possibilities, head spins, and no memory of what day of week it is! =)
Oh thanks Ananda! It’s very exciting, what a journey blogging has become. Have a great day! Mel x
How exciting Mel. I’d love to learn some food styling too. Can’t wait to see what you come up with. Have a great week ahead! x
Thanks Geraldine, I’ll be experimenting on all of you ;-) xx
Hi Mel, your post made me chuckle, people always call me creative because of our house decor, and because I make the odd thing, and like to style everything, but I can’t draw for toffee either! Like you, my 7 year old is better than me. Enjoy your workshop, I’d love to do something like that too, it sounds fabulous xx
Yay we’re sisters Emma ;-) You made me smile! xx
The ice cream is fake? Really? Well, that’s new to me. I don’t understand anything about food styling but never thought it would be done with anything else than real food. It’s good to try different things and learn new skills. Good luck in your new adventure, Mel! xx
I know, I had no idea either. But I guess you know how long it can take to get that great photo so imagine that under hot studio lights. I remember a friend of mine who worked on design packaging and would often go to the shoots telling me that the food is usually not cooked so that it held it’s shape. Mel xx