This month we鈥檙e featuring 64体育contributor Ariyani Tedjo on our . She has a burning passion for food photography and capturing ethnic cuisine.
Here鈥檚 her insightful experience in food photography.
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CG: How long have you been a photographer and what made you want to get into photography?鈦
AT: I have been doing serious photography for seven years. It all began from my love of travel, food and images with a shallow depth of field. Even though I love to eat and enjoy many kinds of food, at that time I did not think that food photography existed. Once I knew this, I started to think of pursuing this genre. When an agency requested images of ethnic cuisines, I then decided to put my focus on traditional Indonesian food.
CG: What’s your all-time favourite shot from your collection and why?鈦
AT: (Image above) This project is so far my biggest, costliest, hardest to plan and most ambitious one. It started by coming across stalls in Malaysia, I was in awe seeing how the snacks could be captured from a top angle view. I then thought of replicating one for my project.
The next challenge would be deciding the origin of the food 鈥 should it be Malaysian, Indonesian, or a mix of them all. The decision was Indonesian. Then came to the next challenge: which food items to include for sale in the stall. It definitely had to be savoury and sweet. The rest were picked based on colour, texture, cooking method, presentation, cost, and how to get them. Indonesia is a vast country with a diverse range of cuisines. 鈦
鈦燭he shapes, sizes and arrangement of the containers were also included in the planning: did I want a uniform size just like the ones in the real market stall, or different sizes and shapes to make a more dynamic arrangement. I picked the latter.
I also decided to use woven bamboo trays, as opposed to coloured plastics, because they鈥檙e more beautiful. For the seller (which happens to be my house assistant) I picked an outfit of Javanese Batik. I purposely selected a long sleeve one, so that when the lady stretched out her arm the Batik pattern can be boldly shown off.鈦
颁骋:听What motivates you to keep on making images and being so creative?聽
础罢:听Creativity shows that there are many possibilities on how we can portray food images. My typical style is luxurious traditional as it can give the food a new look and I can play with a combination of traditional and modern crockery.
CG: How do you compose a good food image?鈦
AT: In composing images, usually I start with the food then followed by the crockery, sometimes it goes the other way round if I find a special and unique crockery piece.
After that I continue with the plating style, then the usual styling of background, props and finally with the lighting direction. Food presentation is my strength I like the composition of a pre-plated meal. 聽The individual dishes in the background make up the pre-plated meal in the foreground.
鈦營 like this composition style as some Indonesian pre-plated meals are quite complicated, they consist of many side dishes and condiments that are not familiar to many people. By making this composition, people can learn more of the meal portrayed in that image. Some meals offer extra optional side dishes, so I also like to compose a pre-plated meal with a background of those side dishes. 鈦
CG: What advice would you give to a fellow photographer who is just starting out?鈦
AT: Keep shooting, keep learning, and be unique. There are tough times here and there, but in the end it’s truly rewarding.鈦
Check out Ariyani Tedjo鈥檚 stunning food photography collection here.
Don鈥檛 forget to check in next month, for the next feature.
