Once again, I would like pay tribute to Aran Goyoaga and her food photography workshop I attended in October. This was my dream come true. Since I started my journey with food photography I wanted to meet Aran. I wanted to see her thought process as she prepared to take pictures. How she arranges food and props on the set, what angles and light she prefers and how she processes her pictures. I wanted to take a step forward.
Aran began the workshop telling us more about herself, her move from Florida to Seattle, her new studio and new approach to light (which Seattle has way less than Florida). Then she moved to explaining what equipment she uses, how she points the camera, what’s important for her on the set, and many more technical details. At any time we were able to interrupt her and ask questions. She told us where she buys her props, and what’s important when buying ingredients for recipes. She shared with us how she promotes herself on social media, and advertising techniques she uses.
During lunch we were able to move around the studio and take pictures of anything we liked. Sunday Suppers staff made great soup and salad for lunch. They also had a lot of dishes and food items for us to photograph.
The second part was a little more “hands on photography”. Aran showed us the way she takes pictures and it was eye opening for me. It comes so naturally to her and her pictures look absolutely effortless. At the end, she showed us her photo processing work flow on Lightroom. I was surprised how little she has to improve in the post- processing; just a few details here and there. Each of us had one on one time with Aran, asking questions and sharing concerns.
I learned that although we paid to learn some new techniques, what we really experienced was meeting new people, cooking with them, talking, and exchanging experiences. I love watching people meet each other for the first time, approaching each other, starting conversations, eating together and at the end exchanging business cards and phone numbers.
This was an unforgettable experience for me, and I hope to do it again in the future. As a memory, I was left with pictures I took and this salad recipe we had for lunch.
Recipe
2 seasonal apples
1 fennel bulb with fronds
1 small red onion
1/2 toasted hazelnuts cup capers, 2 cups chopped watercress
2 TB chopped chives
orange zest
Goddess dressing:
amount for several salads, you can refrigerate up to 2-3 weeks.
1 cup mayo ( i used canola)
1 cup yogurt ( i used goat, but greek is good as well)
1 cup chopped scallions
3/4 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup of lemon, add more if needed
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of anchovy paste ( or chopped anchovies )
1/2 tsp of salt
1tsp of black pepper
2 tbs of chives
1/4 tsp lemon zest
Peel and core apples. Pull a quantity of fronds from fennel, then clean bulbs. Peel onions and slice very thin. Slice apples and fennel bulbs on hand plane or mandoline. Toss with remaining ingredients and refrigerate. Combine all the dressing ingredients and blend for few minutes until dressing is smooth and creamy. Before serving mix it with dressing
Przepis:
2 Jablka
1 koper wloski
1 mala czerwona cebula
1/2 szklanki tostowanych orzechow laskowych
2 szklanki salaty ( rukiew wodna lub rukola)
2 lyzki posiekanego szczypiorku
otarta skorka z jednej cytryny
Obrac i pokroic jablka
oczyscic koper wloski
obrac cebule i pokroic bardzo cienko
poszatkowac jablka i koper wloski
wymieszac z pozostalymi skladnikami i wstawic do lodowki
Boski dressing :
Ilosc na kilka salatek, mozna przechowywac w lodowce przez kilka tygodni
1 szklanka majonezu ( ja uzylam z rzepaku)
1 szklanka jogurt ( kozi lub grecki)
1 szklanka posiekanej zielonej cebuli
3/4 szklanki posiekanej bazili ( swiezej )
1/4szklanki soku z cytryny
2 zabki czosnku
1 lyzeczka pasty z anchovies lub posiekane anchovies
1/2 lyzczki salt
1lyzeczka pieprzu
2lyzki posiekanego szczypiorku
1/4 lyzeczki skorki z cytryny
wszystkiego skladniki polaczyc i zblendowac w blenderze na kremowy dressing. dodac do salatki zaraz przed podaniem.