The Obsessive Photographer

Salad? No, Work of Art?

A friend of mine, Jeff Chapman, is a Chef and professor for the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Tampa [Link].  Being a bit of a “foodie” myself it’s pretty neat to have a friend who is a professional chef, it sure beats the heck out of some of my other friends who believe a burger, fries and a shake is a three course meal.

Recently Jeff asked me if I would be able to do a shoot for the newly formed Culinary Team at the school.  They needed shots of the team in action, the finished plated dishes, and head shots of the team members.  Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity and scheduled a session during their Sunday practice.

I met with Chef Ricardo Castro (Director of the Culinary Program) last Sunday who introduced me to the Team and gave me a rundown of what they were looking for.  The student chefs were already hard at work preparing their individual dishes for the upcoming competition in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend (August 22, 2009).

Student Chef Arwin Lucardie

It was an interesting and impressive experience watching these young chefs working.  The term “well oiled machine” comes to mind.  The Instructor Chefs were there to guide them to the higher level they need to compete at.  It was refreshing to see younger people (ouch, did I write that?) showing so much passion and focus in their approach.

I watched the action for a while, shooting the whole time.  As the dishes started taking shape Chef Castro and I went to the school restaurant to set the table for the shoot.  This is the first team the school has put together to compete abroad, so the pressure to perform is pretty stout.

The thing that impressed me the most was the fact these students were doing this on their own time.  Chef Castro reminded me most of them are already working in restaurants in the Tampa Bay area.  Spare time on the weekends is a valuable commodity for anyone working a full time job and going to school every day.  It takes a lot of dedication to join a team like this when time is at such a premium.

The dishes started rolling out and were presented to my camera as if it was a visiting food critic.  The salad is pictured above, and led into the appetizer below:

Delicious

Followed by the main course:

Beautiful Presentation

And last but certainly not least, dessert:

Carmelized Bananna Torte

So the question you should be asking:  Did you get to eat the food?  Yes, and it was fantastic.  Every dish had not only beautiful presentation but wonderful characteristics.  I would love to go through each dish individually, but “Dammit Jim, I’m a photographer not a chef!”.  Suffice it to say they were wonderful…all of them.

The entire experience was great.  I look forward to watching the team grow and see how well they compete in upcoming events…but mostly I look forward to shooting…and eating more of their food.