FOOD STYLING AND FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE MARCH 2018
After lots of planning, anticipation, excitement and heaps more vegan cooking the London food styling and food photography course Silvia and I hosted this March has come and gone. As you all know from this blog post teaching food photography is what fills my heart more than anything in the world. So just imagine what I was like before and during the workshop (HINT: a child in a sweet shop).
Silvia and I thought you'd like to see what a food photography and food styling workshop with us looks like which is why we are both sharing impressions of the two and a half day workshop with you today. Just click here if you'd like to see Silvia's take on the workshop, or read on if you want to re-live the workshop through my eyes.
Image shot by Silvia Bifaro. Me, tired but happy.
LONDON WORKSHOP DAY 1 - SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOGGING
Just like at my Madrid workshop, we kicked off the two and a half days with an evening talk all about food blogging, social media, instagram growth, branding and SEO. The workshop was held in the heart of central London, namely inside the conference room of DR Wakefield, THE place to go if you want to learn some serious stuff about coffee!
The group was kept to 6 students to allow for LOTS of individual attention as well as time to answer everyone's questions and address each person's individual struggles around blogging and social media. Despite the small group we ran over by nearly 30 minutes (!) with still so much to talk about. I had a ball as social media is a topic I can't get enough off and I was delighted to be able to share my passion with a group of pretty awesome, talented female foodies!
LONDON WORKSHOP DAY 2 - FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AND STYLING FOUNDATION COURSE
Silvia and I had only a few hours of rest before we jumped straight into day 2 of our workshop which we again kept super duper small to ensure everyone got lots of 1-2-1 attention. During day 2 we focused on teaching our four lovely students how to control their camera, understand their camera settings and shoot in manual mode. We also spoke at length about controlling and manipulating light and shadow and gave our students ample opportunities to put their learning into practice - first with a breakfast scene shoot, then a savoury food scene shoot and finally by styling and photographing a cake. You can see some images of day 2 above as well as below.
Furthermore, students were given the chance to choose from a range of different backdrops and have a play with all our food photography props, some of which were especially purchased for the workshop to give our students an extra special and unique experience. With a custom made 2-course vegan lunch at the award winning BABUR and a goody bag to shout about, the workshop details were designed to ensure the best possible experience for our wonderful students.
It was amazing to teach such a lovely, warm group of women alongside Silvia and though I must confess, I was exhausted by the end of the day, I was also really looking forward to day three (my favourite!)...
LONDON WORKSHOP DAY 3 - VISUAL STORYTELLING
On the final day of our London food styling and food photography workshop, we focused on visual storytelling during which we take our readers (AKA you!) on a journey through our kitchen from the start of a recipe all the way to the finished product. After some back and forth Silvia and I decided to cook a home-made soup, bake some focaccia breads and make these goodies the focus of our visual story. Our four awesome students seemed excited about the storyboard theme and worked hard to put together a great visual moodboard which guided our photography and styling efforts for the day.
During the shoot we went over camera setting again and again to ensure everyone continued to feel confident about shooting in manual mode. We pushed our students' skills further by working in low light conditions and capturing movement in food photography. I am in love with the shots we took as they show how much our students grew in their food styling, camera and photography skills over the course of the workshop. I also love the variety they dared to tackle, pushing the boat out for each and every image taken. You can see my favourite shots of day 3 below.
With a delicious lunch, this time at the laid back MAMA DOUGH, and yet another goody bag to die for, the workshop ended with a session all about editing in Photoshop and Lightroom. The editing process allowed everyone's pretty images to become totally and utterly amazing! In short, the perfect ending to a great, creativity-filled 2.5 days!
Before I leave you with some more information about how to attend one of my food styling and food photography workshops in 2018 and provide you with details about how to start a blog and grow your instagram, I want to give a MASSIVE thank you to our lovely attendees namely Saskia, Nicole, Rupi, Elisa, Katja, Leiliane, Laura, Abi and Sole. It was an honour to teach you and be entrusted to guide you though the ups and ups of food photography, social media and styling.
And last but not least a BIG BIG BIG thank you to our fabulous and amazing partners: We could NOT have done this without you!
DR WAKEFIELD for allowing us to use your conference room and drink all your coffee on Thursday evening!
AR CERAMICS for making the most beautiful two-toned ceramic plates on planet earth (see above in the soup shot underneath all the vegan butter)
MUD for generously gifting our attendees your edible bentonite clay
BLOOMING YOU powders made our attendees goody bags taste that extra bit more special. Thank you for all your do.
JARR kombucha is HANDS down the most delicious drink in the world and goes perfectly well with chickpea curry we all discovered (see above ;))
MEMATCHA made me and Silvia jump for joy. Peach flavoured matcha! You're a genius!
DAILY CULTURES for sending over that deliciously healthy porridge
TRIBE cuz your vegan energy bars are simply the BEST
WANT TO ATTEND A FOOD STYLING AND FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP IN 2018?
Have a look at my workshop page and my FREE instagram food photography challenge! Please sign up to the mailing list below to get the dates the moment I release them and before they go live on the blog. I can't wait to teach you all I know.
WANT SOME HELP WITH YOUR INSTAGRAM GALLERY AND ADVICE ON STARTING A BLOG?
Then sign up to my 1-2-1 Instagram and business mentoring classes I look forward to working with you ;)