the art of food

here's my long due photo of our billboard for URC down at nlex. (courtesy of my good friend tin, who adeptly used her cellcam while speeding on the highway) and again, i can just say "i'm so happy with the end product!"

speaking of work, i just had THE longest photo shoot of all time yesterday, yersternight, and yes 'til the wee hours of the morning. who would've thought a few layouts of food will take that long? i certainly didn't foresee it and it's proof that food styling isn't some glamour job where you get paid tons of money just brushing oil on food to make it appetizing. there was actually a point during the shoot when i questioned my talent in this career. was something wrong with the way i was styling the food? am i meant for this job at all?! gosh, i never thought i would come to that point in time. but on hindsight, i really felt the situation was beyond my control. there was just too many opinions and as they say, "the customer is always right". at the end of the day (or the second day in fact), i really felt that that shot of food was not my work of art. they wanted something that looked natural and fresh, but ended up controlling every minute detail that it just looked contrived. for me, it was one big learning experience! next time i'm doing a shoot that heavily pressured, i'm just gonna stand my ground and express my piece of mind. after all, they were supposedly paying me for my expertise on making food look its best. and though, i'm getting paid for the overtime, i'm just not happy with that shoot. and as erwin put it, "it's like someone telling an artist how to draw his portrait- what paint to use, and what strokes to make". what made our billboard looked so good was the fact that the client gave us free reins to make that shot brilliant. the pasta didn't stand there for hours on end 'til it's dead, and there was only one person to make the approval. ....whew. i just had to let that one out people. more on food styling next issue. right now, i need to catch on zzzs.