Starting from today, my food stuff photo collection has been created. Since my enrollment in the food photography course, which was last Friday, till today morning I couldn’t implement any principle I have taken in the first lesson at all. There were two plans at the beginning of the course. The number one plan and the number two or backup plan. The number one plan was like this: spare one to two hours per day, or every two days, to practice the lighting concepts of the first lesson and try to master them as possible. The backup plan was to implement what I learned from the lighting lesson in my shots for the blog.
At first, I tried my best to stick to number one plan. I think it is more concentrated, effective, and it may improve my lighting skills very fast. On the other hand, its time and effort consuming. Well, I’m okay with the effort part, but the time part .. is a big problem. Sometimes I wish that I can work 24 hours per day which is not going to happen for sure. There are a lot of things that want to do and experience in these limited years given to me, though the best thing at the end of the day to make your best and let go of the rest. That was my decision. I let the number one plan go and follow the backup plan.
The backup plan also has its own pros and cons. One of the best advantages is that, you can do two things in one action, multi-task shots. This turned to be also the worst disadvantage. The best way to describe what I felt at that moment is that, your best friend is your worst enemy.
“I am not too concerned with your subject at this point … Keep it simple for now” the instructor wrote in the assignment instructions. Wow .. this is easy, concentrate on the lighting and put anything as an object; I can do this, use an orange for example and that’s it!
While preparing a recipe, I’m not dealing with one orange only. I’m dealing with different ingredients in the same time. I have to finish my meal within a limited time. I have to be synchronized between shooting and cooking. Some of these ingredients are easy to deal with and some are not. In the end, all I can say is that I did my best. Although, I ate my lunch after my family finished theirs.
The last day to submit this assignment is Feb, 14. Hopefully by that day I would’ve shoot good lighting photos.
Rocolla with Parmesan Salad
The first time I tasted this salad was in Dubai. There is an Italian restaurant in Atlantis, the Palm hotel. One of the many people who told me about this restaurant told me “I have been to too many restaurants in Italy, and this one is the best in the Gulf”. I decided to give it a try since I was there. The salad was delicious. After finishing the whole plate I started to guess the its ingredients. When I came back to Kuwait; one day I found the same leaves in LuLu Hypermarket. I picked up the leaves at once and decided to enjoy the taste for a second time. I wasn’t sure that my guessed ingredients will give the same taste. I knew that I was so lucky at the end when they did.
Ingredients
3 cups rocolla
2-3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, grated
making the salad
Wash the rocolla thoroughly with filtered water. Place the leaves in a medium to big size bowl. This bowl will be used for mixing the leaves with the dressing you are preparing in the next step. In another small bowl, mix the Parmesan, olive oil, and grated garlic using a wooden spoon. This mixture will be the salad dressing. Pour the dressing on top of the rocolla. Thoroughly mix the leaves with the dressing until you are sure that all the leave got the flavor of the dressing. Place the salad into a medium sized serving plate and serve immediately.
enjoy with love,
Maryam
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