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Moody Peas- A Lesson in Photography and Writing- Plated Stories Workshop

May 13, 2015 by Renee

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In photography, it’s important to push your boundaries, challenge yourself.  Look at things differently; think about lighting, angle, composition. Adjust your focus.

In general, my photos tend to be light and airy, bright and colorful for the most part. So it was quite a challenge to attempt the first photo assignment given by our gifted instructor, Ilva Beretta, at the Plated Stories workshop.  I drew from the pile of folded slips of paper on the table. Mine was marked with the word Spring.  Perfect, I thought. Easy.  I can do this. Spring is bright and cheerful.

But no! We were tasked with breaking out of our comfort zones. How can we reconsider our chosen theme?  How can we see it anew-look at it from a different angle, adjust how we light the set, create tension in the composition?  We were to use a style completely different than the one we had become accustomed to.

Spring. Dark and moody. Complete opposites. Unless there are thunderstorms. But then it’s all rainbows and sunshine afterward. This is going to be tough.

There were many props to choose from. There were plates, bowls, platters, boards, linens and flatware of all sizes and colors. Many items were kindly brought by several of the participants of the workshop for others to share.  There was also much food- various fruits, vegetables, cheeses, sausages, eggs and breads-lots of colors and textures to use. The kitchen could hardly contain the abundance of the bounty that was provided for our use.

We each took items that inspired us and went off to shoot our photos. I chose a Spring favorite, green peas in their pods. I cracked a few of the pods open and sampled the sweet new peas, then I created my set. I chose a grey linen cloth and draped it over a board with a beautiful dark wood hand carved bowl to hold my peas.

Some used the lush gardens that surrounded the beautiful Hotel Diderot, others chose windows they felt gave them the best light. Still others, like myself, would choose a small space in the kitchen that would serve our needs.

Ilva spent quite a bit of time with each of us- watching us, suggesting different angles and additions or deletions of composition elements, guiding us through our assignment and helping us create the best possible photos.

Once the time was up and we were finished shooting, we gathered back at the table where we edited our photos and narrowed them down to just one photo each. This was the hardest part, the cutting back of a hundred photos to just one shot that you considered the best of the lot.  We passed around a thumb drive for Ilva to display the chosen ones on a large projector screen for all to see.

There were beautiful, stunning images shown. Everyone really worked hard to create the best shot for their given theme.  We each critiqued and were critiqued. Every instance was very constructive, thoughtful, and helpful.  It was also very supportive.  There is a fine line between critique and criticize, yet the warmth and honesty of the other women in the group never tipped the scale towards being critical. Each lesson we gleaned from one another can be considered and implemented into our own individual methods. There was an overwhelming sense of sharing and camaraderie.

Another exercise was to create a narrative with photos- a series of two or three images- used to convey a story.  It’s far easier to narrow a hundred photos to three than to just one. I will get the hang of this condensing and curtailing thing at some point. But I still find that to be hard to do.

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I really liked the simplicity of creating a series based solely on one ingredient. I could easily add a recipe that calls for sliced carrots and tell a story about the trip to the market where we picked them up from. Or maybe even tell a story about the knife or the peeler. There could be many tales to tell all revolving around a simple carrot.  It’s a way to think of things in a different light.

The most difficult assignment was a location shoot, where we would have to find something that inspired us, shoot it and write a piece sparked from that imagery. (I’ll tell you about that magical place in my next post!)

The photography part of the workshop was easy for me. The writing part was hard work.  Aside from the valuable lessons about my own creative process, as a visual person, learning how to describe what you see without the benefit of a lens was the ultimate challenge that required even deeper concentration and more acute awareness. Not to mention a notepad and a pen. But Jamie Schler, the talented and inspiring writer behind Life’s a Feast and Plated Stories patiently and generously led our every step. She coached and coaxed words from each of us and provided immeasurable feedback and valuable insights to help us craft our stories.

While certain nuances are easy to pick up with a camera, smells, sounds and movement are much harder traits to capture. To see something verbally and have the ability to conjure a sense of place requires a mix of skill and endurance. Writing, editing, rewriting, editing some more, and rewriting yet again. You need to have patience and stamina.

Interestingly, as I spent more time with my pen in hand, each time I went out into the streets of Chinon, the more I wrote and tried to paint with words the scenes I was viewing. It’s been a long time since I wrote in this fashion instead of the dry, journalistic version of who, what, when, where and why.

All of these exercises were meant to elicit creativity in and from us.

I left Chinon with several short writing pieces and a thousand photos.


She’s always been a bit of a radical, while everyone ventured down the hill to the center of town for their assignments, she turned and went straight up the hill. To the top was her goal. Past the old church with its modern stained-glass windows fitting, just barely, into ancient sills, up a steep narrow path surrounded by sweet-scented purple lilacs and an old hand railing. It was a steep climb that slowed her down after the first few yards.

Pausing midway to take in the view and to even out her breathing, she set the alarm on her watch, so she would know when to turn back, estimating the time it would take. It was in sight but distance can be decieving.

On the right were homes built directly into the side of the crumbling hill. It looked as though several had disintegrated under the weight of rocks and golden clay mud that had tumbled down the sides  and all that remained were some stone steps leading into  dark, shallow caves.

Others homes were well maintained and very modern, half hidden behind tall gates draped in purple wisteria.

To her left, a small vineyard had been fashioned into a few terraced steps below the path. Pale yellow blossoms framed the view overlooking the River Vienne and fields of bright yellow colza spread across the far horizon. It was a good place to pause.

At a fork in the path was a bench, where many others may have stopped and rested a while before continuing on, but there was no time for that now.

The path continued winding upwards, a good ten minutes walk before flattening out near the top. There were views of the entire town, the peaked rooftops and the backyard gardens below. You could even see the monument of Francois Rabelais, the French Renaissance writer, doctor and humanist that had been erected by the river.

At the end of the path lies a great 10th century fortress, built by the Count of Blois, Thibaut I, commanding a strategic vantage point to survey the valley below. It was here that a historic meeting took place between Joan of Arc and the future king Charles VII.

Sadly, just as she arrived to the gates of the fortress, her alarm buzzed.There was not enough time to wander the grounds of the castle or enter into the chateau. She had just one hour to explore, write her visual study and get back to the hotel. She snapped a few photos, turned, and catching her breath, started on the path back down the hill. It would soon be time for dinner.

Being the radical that I am, I, of course, took photos of some of the things I described in my story. On the way back down the hill.

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Filed Under: Travel, Kitchen Sink, Classes, France Tagged With: Chinon, France, Photography. Writing, Plated Stories, Workshop

A Recipe for Inspiration- Plated Stories Workshop

May 5, 2015 by Renee

Hotel Diderot

Hotel DiderotIf ever there were a place to become inspired, it is in France.  Artists, poets, and writers have all flocked to Paris for centuries in search of inspiration. And while Paris certainly conjures up a multitude of inspiration inducing thoughts, there is a small city in the Loire Valley along the banks of the Vienne River where Kings held court and where Joan of Arc convinced the future King Charles VII to send her to the siege of Orléans.  It is also where a group of six women from around the world gathered this April to learn and gather seeds of inspiration, now planted and growing in ways we could not have imagined before.

Longtime favorites, the exceptionally talented writer, Jamie Schler and the brilliant photographer, Ilva Beretta, both of Plated Stories  led their first workshop of the year in Chinon at the charming Hotel Diderot, which Jamie now co-owns with her husband, Jean-Pierre.

Back in January when Jamie first posted about holding the workshop in Chinon, I googled the city and the hotel and immediately said out loud, “I am going to this!”. The winter dragged on endlessly, I got sick with strep throat, work was very busy, my blog was neglected and there was no inspiration in sight. But I just knew, once I was in France, all that would change.

The hotel itself provided a picture perfect backdrop for this insightful and inspiration filled weekend. Housed in an enchanting historical 15th-century limestone mansion, the hotel maintains many of its original features such as stone walls and exposed beams but it also has recently upgraded guestrooms.

Hotel Diderot

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There was a lovely garden with beautiful blooming purple wisteria, spurge euphorbia, clematis Montana and other flowers surrounding the cozy terrace- a spot where I spent quite a bit of time just relaxing and breathing in the lightly scented floral air.

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Throughout its history, the hotel has become famous for its spectacular breakfasts; offering a large selection of homemade jams served with delicious French bread, brioche and croissants. Now, Jamie is taking over the time honored tradition of jam-making and the flavor combinations are incredible! My personal favorites were the tropical, bright and lively Passion Fruit Tutti Fruitti, the not too sweet Bananas with Vanilla and Ginger and the tart-sweet Strawberry Rhubarb.  There was also a velvety Blueberry jam and a Summery Peach jam that when spread on brioche, would make your head dizzy with delight!  There were too many jams to choose from, but half the fun was trying a bit of each one every day during my stay. Not to leave out the wonderful locally produced fresh goat cheese, yogurts, and honey too that Jamie picks up from the weekly market in the town square. But the jam was the shining star of the show.

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One of the best ways to improve yourself is by observing the habits of those you find to be inspirational and talented and learning what makes them successful and applying what you learn to your own creative process. What I gleaned from both Jamie and Ilva during this workshop is invaluable and I have already begun using the kernels of wisdom they imparted to us in my own workflow.

Of course, we all work differently, but one thing I learned from Jamie was to accept and embrace certain aspects of my own creative process. What I felt was a hindrance before is actually just part of how I work. I have also learned since, it is actually how a lot of people work- even those I think are so gifted and talented that it must be easy for them. It helps knowing I am not the only one who works this way and there is hope for me yet!

For instance, I tend to do a lot of research before I write about a subject. Sometimes, I think this research is just “busy work” that I create for myself and I should just get on with the writing part. In actuality, it is part of my process- I like being very informed about a subject before I write about it. Partly because if anyone asks me something, I will be educated on the subject, and partly because it is what gets me the best end result. The “busy work” is just my way of becoming familiar with the topic so I can write about it well and earnestly.

One of my favorite parts of the photo session lessons were the critiques- rather than say “it’s a nice photo” as so many do in critique sessions, there were actual useful tips, such as how to light the set, ways to adjust the composition to give a photo more appeal and where to crop the pictures. The hardest lesson was learning how to, painfully, cut back to just one or two images. With the advent of digital images, it’s easy to snap eighty shots of a set but it’s very hard to choose just a few of the best shots!

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Over the course of the weekend, we were given several assignments that both challenged and excited us. They were designed to inspire and stimulate our creativity. I was left in awe of the work the women around me created; beautiful language and stunning imagery. I was deeply inspired by each and every one of them.

Over the next few days, I will share more of these assignments; what we did, plus what we ate and where we went.

Filed Under: Travel, Kitchen Sink, Classes, France Tagged With: Chinon, France, Plated Stories, Workshop

Kitchen On the Road- Cambridge Graduation and Food Blogger Connect London

August 10, 2013 by Renee

Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer! I have spent the first month or so traversing back and forth across the big pond. First to visit a close friend and attend his daughter’s graduation from Cambridge University and to attend the Food Blogger Connect conference in London. Then, I found myself back in NY working day and night on two projects I had undertaken that required more concentrated efforts than “working on the road”.  Once those were under control, I headed back to England to continue my vacation, which included the Cambridge Folk Festival and a side trip to Paris. Here’s a bit about the first trip…

It was such an honor to be invited to the graduation!  Not only to witness a fascinating ceremony but to share in such a special day in their lives!  I was so grateful and humbled to be a part of it.

Each college that makes up the university has its own graduation ceremony in their time honored tradition, with elements dating back to the university’s origin, some 800 years ago. Needless to say, it is very different than graduations here in the U.S.. There are no celebrity speakers, no throwing of caps, and no mega venues like the Carrier Dome at SU, where I went.

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Held in the neo-classical Senate-House, which was built in 1730 and is primarily used for graduations at this time,  the ceremony itself is conducted exclusively in Latin. The graduands become graduates after kneeling before the Vice-Chancellor and receiving their blessing of admittance to their degrees. It is so quiet and somber in the room as each new graduate rises, bows to the Vice-Chancellor, and exits through the Doctor’s door of the Senate-House to receive their degree certificate- and to finally be able to verbally express their excitement with cheers from the other side of the door.  In adherence to the strict decorum during the ceremony, photography is also not allowed inside the building! All I kept thinking was, these poor parents deserve to be able to video tape, photograph, and cheer on their children as they receive their degrees! But alas, the parental cheers had to wait until the entire ceremony was over.  All in all, it was a great event with the culmination of many proud parents and some very happy young adults.

Later in the week, I traveled from Cambridge down to London to attend Food Blogger Connect, a conference celebrating its 5th year with a three day event at the Battersea Arts Centre.

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I’ve been to many food blogging conferences here in the U.S. but it was exciting to experience one that featured bloggers and brands from our European counterparts. And it was a rare opportunity to network with some great bloggers that I may have never gotten to know otherwise. I am so happy to have met all the people I did. Everyone was really warm and friendly!  The list of speakers was quite impressive too, with two of my favorites, David Lebovitz and Penny De Los Santos headlining.

I signed up to take a Behind the Lens Workshop given by Penny and (of course!) it was great. She is so incredibly inspiring and so giving of her knowledge. I could truly listen to her stories all day. The most poignant piece of advice she gave was “Don’t be afraid to be messy. Flaws and tension make us human and makes writing (and photos) interesting.”. How very true.  Of course she said many other brilliant things too, but that one thing is what I find often holds us back. We always try to be perfect- no typos in our posts, no spills on the edges of the plates, napkins folded perfectly etc. When things are a bit askew, or a bit messy, that’s real. That’s what life looks like. (And, often my kitchen too.)

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David, Niamh Shields (@eatlikeagirl) and Emma Gardner(@poireschocolat) gave a panel on what successful blogging looks like, which is very different in the U.S. than abroad as they don’t have the same opportunities to monetize and to make the branding connections on the scale that we do here. Although, Nick Carter, the Co-Founder of Sous Chef (@souscheftweet) gave a brilliant presentation of monetization  and how it is possible to use display ads, affiliate marketing and sponsored content to make money, I think the way Europeans in general measure success, with an importance on work-life balance is really something we often miss here. Work to live, not live to work. (Also, even though they do have fast food restaurants, and the eco-socionomic crisis is widespread, they don’t have nearly the obesity, diabetes or other stress related illnesses Americans suffer so greatly from. Makes you wonder!)

One of my favorite sessions was given by the gregarious and outrageous Kerstin Rodgers, (@msmarmitelover) the pioneer of the underground restaurant movement in the UK. She is the chef/patronne of The Underground Restaurant, a supper club, held in her NW London home.  She even has a book called ‘Supper Club, recipes and notes from the underground restaurant’ which came out in 2011.  I love meeting new people and the idea of a group of random people gathering at your home and paying you to serve up a fabulous home cooked meal is a really awesome. What a fun experience that would be!  May have to try it sometime!

A stand out session was presented by Regula Ysewjin of Miss Foodwise (@missfoodwise) on breathing life into your brand. She is hard to miss as she actually is her brand. Her rockabilly, 50’s inspired theme permeates her persona as well as her blog. It’s refreshing and everything she mentioned was right on target about building your brand. Of course, the most important aspect to a successful brand is to find your real voice and stick to it- not to mention writing good content- often. Much easier said than done- but that’s what I think we all aspire to do. Regula is also a graphic designer and her husband is an art director/ illustrator and they have company specializing in branding and graphic design called The Tiny Red factory.

You know how I love cookbooks, so I especially enjoyed the session about those who had written their own.  One of my favorites was a Germany-based blogger and Mexican food specialist, Veronica Gonzalez-Smith (@muybuenocooking) who discussed the multi generational inspiration behind her Muy Bueno Cookbook. Another book for my list,  A Family Farm in Tuscany was written by Sarah Fioroni, who is the manager of her family’s organic farm near historic San Gimignano. She shared several stories of her family’s traditions and daily life on the farm.  Becky Thorn discussed recipes for typical meals served up in the lunch line at British schools from her youth including pies, mash and puddings drowning in custard. Her little book School Dinners: Recipes and Reminiscences of the Good, the Bad and the Spotted Dick is one that seems quite interesting especially since I am loving ‘puddings’ these days!

The founder of FBC, Bethany Kehdy also debuted her book, The Jewelled Kitchen, A stunning collection of Lebanese, Moroccan and Persian recipes.  Soon to be released here under the title Pomegranates & Pine Nuts, this gorgeous book features a contemporary twist on the Middle Eastern and North African recipes of her youth growing up in Lebanon.

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Of course it wouldn’t be a food blogging conference without food- so check out these eats we tried at the StrEAT Party we had each day:

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Tomorrow I’ll share my whirlwind London tour and talk about the awesome gastro pub I found…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Travel, Kitchen Sink, Classes, England Tagged With: Cambridge, David Lebovitz, England, FBC5, Food Blogger Connect, London, Penny De Los Santos, UK

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