Sticky ‘n Sweet… Oh Yeah, Maple Syrup

The new website is finally up and almost finished. It seems many who visit professional photographers’ websites don’t want to be entertained with animation, Flash templates and other time-wasting eye candy.  I don’t blame them, so, back to HTML and its quick-loading simplicity.  Now on to a more interesting topic…

Pure Maple Syrup

Pancakes

 

When I got the chance to bid on a maple syrup job, I made sure I did everything possible to get it. The job was for a new maple syrup company (Crown Maple) and the opportunity to be around all that sticky-sweet bliss made my enthusiasm level rise. I spent the weekend in NY State to capture the owners, facility, production crew, tree-tappers, grounds and their beautiful cabin. The weekend was fun, educational and a great experience to see how syrup was made.  Above all, the people were such a pleasure to work with. Their hospitality and assistance throughout the weekend made the whole job run like a Swiss watch.  The next shoot was the following Friday in NJ. This is when we saw the recipes come together. Now we’re talking!  On to shooting the food…

Sticky Buns

 

I used to think of maple syrup was just for pancakes, waffles and an occasional twist to a recipe, but this was an eye-opener. There were pancakes and some of the usual drool-inducing items, but then they brought out trout, (yes, trout), sticky buns,  breads, pecan squares (these were hedonistic) and the list went on.

Coffee Sweetened With Maple Syrup

 

The last item was coffee. They sweetened coffee with maple syrup!  I didn’t question the idea, I just listened and put the set together. I can never look at pure maple syrup the same way.  When I mentioned this coffee thing to a friend in Canada, he thought I was nuts for not knowing this.

The client wanted to create a warm, homey feel in the images. I mixed three strobes with a series of mirrors, flags and cards to create the effect. I did a custom white balance and then after, gelled only one of the lights with a 1/2 CTO against the custom white balance.

 

Kulwant Ji

How did you do that? What lights did you use? Who is that? These are the most often questions asked of me when people see this portrait. For this post, we’ll take a small departure from food and jump another passion of mine – Portraiture – to let you know how it was made and why.

Kulwant Ji

First, I’ve been involved with Indian culture for many years, partially, because I’m married to a wonderful, Sikh/Punjabi lady. So, I visit the local gurudwaras (Sikh temples) in my area specifically, Bridgewater and Carteret, to shoot portraits of the ragis (musicians) and the giannis (priests). It’s more of a humanitarian service since many have never had their portrait taken. After the portrait sessions, I’ll return after a week or so with the hard copy prints and they’ll send most of them to their families in India. They’ve all got some great character about them that makes for a very dramatic portrait, but I ended up doing something different this time.

Back in early March of this year, I was at the Carteret gurudwara and did a larger-than-normal session with about eight or nine ragi and the gianni.  Kulwant, the man in this portrait, is a type of gianni. He interprets the Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh holy book) and conveys the wisdom in a way the general public can understand. Kulwant was somewhere else and missed this session yet, when I first met him, he had this beautiful energy and the facial character that I needed to capture before he went back to India (patience, we’re getting to the point). I stopped by unannounced the following week to visit and have some tea with the group and wasn’t  prepared for a shoot.  In other words,I didn’t have my Elinchroms (studio lighting) with me only some Nikon Speedlights, the SU 80 commander and some diffusion and light-weight grip equipment. That’s when I found out that Kulwant Ji was leaving in a few days and this was my only chance to shoot his portrait. No Elinchraoms – a Speedlight – let’s make something of it…

By looking at the setup image below, there wasn’t much to it. It was shot with a single SB 800. But, I needed to diffuse the heck put of it. I hung a beat-up Gary Fong lightsphere on the 800, shot it  through the Lastolite softbox that had a baffle and the outer diffusion material, and finally, through a diffusion disc. It may sound conceited, but there are a few things that I really love about this image. Kulwant is so immersed in his natural character that it just works. He went someplace in his mind and the essence shone through. Then there’s the light that frames his right side. It has that beautiful northern window light effect that ignites his cascading beard and offers an ethereal glow. Five frames and we were done.

Given the choice, I still prefer to use the larger studio lights where I have more control, but in a pinch, one can do some pretty cool things with these little lights – or in this case – light. I’ve done some of the ragi portraits with the Nikon Speedlights and just a single piece of diffusion material on my portrait and beauty website (to see them, please visit www.davidverdini.com and click on the Sardar Ji link). They’re punchy little lights that need a lot of diffusion to create a soft look.

Thanks for your attention. Stay well and I’ll be back soon…

Cooking With Tony – November

Ragu di Costatine di Maiale

Pork: The Other White Meat. Most of us have heard that expression from the commercial. I’ve slowly weaned myself off of meat for the most part. Starting with pork a few years ago, then beef and now chicken is on its way out. (fish is still on the menu). Tony, from Il Capriccio, made a pork ragu for this issue of Suburban Essex magazine and as always, it’s a pleasure to watch a master chef at his craft. When it comes to taste, you can’t go wrong with tomatoes, garlic, and pork. Ok, pure vegetarians and vegans are probably in complete disagreement and disgust with this, so I’ll address the carnivores in this post.

As I was photographing Tony in the kitchen during the cooking process, the aroma was wafting my way as a sinister tease. My internal drool mechanism kicked in and I had to leave both for my sanity and to get the lights set for the final image. Fast-forward 18 minutes when the pasta and ragu were ready to be plated is when the fragrance of this creation was paired with the presentation for me to shoot. Adjusting the mirrors and the back light to get the right look for my image, I got my shot before the basil became something that would’ve resembled just another dead leaf. After Tony’s approval, the true test of will power appeared. Tony asked if I wanted to take the food home. My knee-jerk response was: “I appreciate it Tony, but I haven’t had pork in at least three years, so I’ll have to pass”. It all seemed to be in slow-motion from that point on. He offered the plate to me, stretched an ear-to-ear grin like the Cheshire Cat and in his Italian accent spoke the unthinkable: “Here David, just smell it.” One hit of his culinary art and my will power was gone. I was transported to my grandmother’s kitchen! Down the rabbit hole… (It’s amazing the sense of smell’s power and how it works on the memory.) I lost all control and consumed it only a few etiquette levels above a tree-dwelling savage. Alright, I exaggerate, but you get the picture.  I actually tasted my late grandmother’s cooking again after 19 years. I went back in time and reveled in the experience. I’ve got to say that it was worth the slip-up.

As for Tony, he has a section in every issue of Suburban Essex magazine called “Cooking With Tony”, where he shares his own recipes with the how-to’s, some prep images and an image of the completed dish.

Until next time, thanks for reading and stay well…

SLAVE TO SWEETS

 

Ferraro's Cheese Cake

 

Photographing food over the past several years has given me the opportunity to sample it, consume it with dignity and in some cases, eat the generous offerings as if I was going to the chair.

During a recent shoot, the chef insisted I try his freshly-made cognac-pumpkin cheese cake. Initially, I resisted due to the high fat and caloric content (let’s face it, properly made cheesecake is not on any health food menu). I succumbed to the temptation and entered into a state of sensual bliss. After the chef gave me the slice of taste bud Nirvana, he went to get things prepared for the next part of the shoot.  Anxiously, he returned to get the next item photographed and that’s when I informed him not to disturb me –  I was experiencing a higher plane of existence and I would continue working only when finished. He gave me that proud  I told you so look and left me to my vice.

Ok, this may seem a bit dramatic for a slice of cake, but there are some culinary pleasures that one can relate to and appreciate my indulgent actions. The image posted is not the cake I experienced, but their standard cheese cake made at the restaurant, which has been a popular item on their menu. Regardless of the image or food item, texture, taste and the balance of flavors are so critical in producing a quality piece of culinary art that executive chef, Guiseppe of Ferarro’s, in Westfield, NJ, has succeeded.

Not to mention some of the other items I sampled that day…

 

Ferraro's Cannelloni

 

Kill The Comfort Zone!

Many of us get caught in their comfort zone and become complacent and sometimes lazy. This past weekend I broke through mine. I became very comfortable shooting in a studio with a white background and decided it was time for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I love the white background that Claudio Basso taught me how to shoot with. It’s beautiful, clean and classy and I’ll continue to use it when necessary.  This time I wanted a change, so I changed my lighting, the location (my living room) and my lens.  My “Indian Sister”, Sonia Kohli, who is one of the beautiful models featured in Scott Barnes’ book “About Face”, was here this weekend to work with me. I was out of my comfort zone with no studio and she was out of hers, since she had no makeup artist other than herself. We pushed forward until we saw something different and beautiful. Breaking through has given me some insight to another creative area in my mind and it’s a great feeling to accomplish that. Breaking out of a comfort zone may sound so fundamental on paper to some, but when it happens, it’s an amazing rush. I’m hooked!   Here are some of the images we wanted to share.

For those who want to know what equipment we used: Nikon D3X, Elinchrom Ranger, beauty dish with a sock, Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 (sunglass picture), Elinchrom strip light, Nikon 28-70 f/2.8 (couch picture).

ASMP Salon Night

The ASMP-NJ chapter had an interesting attendance last night at our monthly salon meeting. We try to bring inspiration with education the chapter’s attendees with some famous guest speakers such as Bob Krist, Michael Grecco, Parish Kohanim and Paula Lerner to name a few. These professionals have given us some insight from their experiences while showing samples of their work. Then on another other side, we have the guests of the business and equipment area. ASMP has a great resource pool of those who are qualified to speak about our the photography business, marketing, copyright laws, etc. to keep our “passions” paying the bills. Then there’s the third side: the salons. These are the meetings to display samples of  some of the attendees work. It could be commercial or personal projects that they’re willing to share. This is something that I encourage from time to time since we are artists at heart and need to be recognized for our work.  This is not a typical photo club “show & tell”. This where the presenter has the opportunity to share with the group more of the psychological aspect. Explain why you took the shot. Was it the lines, the color, the expression on the person’s face? What was your mood at the time of the capture? Were you angry, relaxed, in a muse? We can’t see what you saw through your eyes, but share with us. We as photographers, when we capture something, we have that  ”feeling” when it’s the right time to push the shutter button.

As with most things, the more you put in, the more you get out. Check out the chapter’s website at www.asmp-nj.org.

Look forward to seeing you there. Stay well…  D

New Posts Coming…

Waiting...

It’s been many, many months (October to be exact) since I’ve posted anything. However, quite a bit has happened and I also have much to share. I’ll be posting some techniques, opinions and experiences from some personal projects and commercial work with hopes of inspiring and encouraging comments relevant to the posts for discussions.

Some may have noticed that I’ve moved my blog from Blogspot to WordPress. It seems to provide a more flexible and robust way of presenting. It’s been suggested to me by many others who are using WordPress, so I’ll try it and see how it works. My intention is to have the first post within one week’s time. Collecting ideas and material. Until the next post, enjoy life.  David

Dessert Time

I occasionally shoot for Dining Out NJ (formally NJ Tables), which is an upscale restaurant/spa guide and foodie-type of publication. I got an email from the Creative Director asking if I wanted to shoot a dessert for them. Say no more! One of my favorite food items to photograph is desserts. They have their own personality and creative beauty (we’re talking Montrachet Brulee Cheesecake with a berry compote here, not cookies and milk). This edible art appeared as a beautiful flower with its delicate petals. This was a pleasure to capture.

Fr. Donal

There are many who influence us in life and leave a lasting impression. I had a few of those people in high school. Some of them have passed on, but recently I connected with someone who wasn’t my teacher, but a priest who was one of the “guys”. Back then, we’d consider him – cool.

Fast-forward many years and I found Fr. Donal retired, yet quite active. I was glad to again enjoy his sense of humor and his great intelligence. The feeling of finding long, lost friend was there. Inevitably, it lead to the futile efforts of trying to catch up after this long period of time in one afternoon, which prompted the next step of setting up another time to meet.

A couple of months later, Fr. Donal sat for me to create his portrait…

Swami Chakradhari

A very special guest of EBC Radio in Monmouth Junction, NJ was at the station last week. Program Director, Kulraaj Anand, invited for me to photograph Swami Chakradhari for his appearance.

Swami Chakradhari is a holy man with a great international following, so when I spent a few minutes with him, I knew what kind of lighting I wanted for his portrait: something ethereal and soothing. Swami Chakradhari being such a popular figure was very comfortable in front of the camera, which always makes the shoot go much smoothly more. The portrait was shot on Saturday in the lobby of EBC Radio with large strobes to create the effect.


The rest of the images were selected from the bunch taken in the broadcast booth during Tuesday’s airing.