The Week in Pictures
Photographs of chefs from a kitchen service….
It’s been a testing week in a number of ways, my last photographs for this section were obliterated in a computer instant hence the delay in the new ones. This week is unsurprisingly about the workplace. It’s the only place I’ve been so I thought I’d share with you a few snapshots of a restaurant service….
I like the concept of steam coming from a pan and into the photograph, it doesn’t always work but it can give a sense of ‘being in the moment’ as it were. I like to freeze frame the chefs as they go about their work, zoned in on nothing else but the service…..
“Saucing” the Mains
On the Pass
This was taken during a lunch for 153 women! We had to set the starter up in a room next to the banqueting kitchen hence the poor light in the photograph. Not a great photograph by any stretch of the imagination but more of an insight into what it looks like when ‘plating’ so many starters up. This table of starters was one of five tables….
Starters for a Large Banquet
I made some Norfolk black treacle tarts today and was experimenting with some different ice creams to go with it. No sooner had I put my spoon down then in came the chefs like a flock of seagulls and devoured the lot….bloody chefs.
The Pastry Chef’s Perogative
Miles,
I love these shots, great detail !
I really like the candid unstaged nature of these pictures - it’s almost like seeing something you either shouldn’t or never really would.
Even the banquet table has been shot like a behind-the-scenes picture - it’s sort of backstage, before the curtain rises !
brilliant
Best
Rod
December 5, 2009 @ 4:45 pm
Rod,
Thanks, glad you like them. All taken with a Canon G10 as well. I’m enjoying taking these types of photographs, like the last one. I wanted to portray the ‘diving in’ rather than a freeze frame coreographed shot where everything is perfect.
Miles
December 5, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
Ask your mum about OUR week in pictures.
Annie
December 5, 2009 @ 6:41 pm
Miles,
I totally agree with Rod’s comments. I really feel like I am having a peep. Brilliant. I can’t comprehend doing all this work though, amazing.
In response to Annie above, we liked your idea of the week in pictures so much that we started to do the same. It is a great idea and makes you look at things during the day in a different way and you feel that you are experiencing things far more. Thank you for your inspiration.
Anne
December 5, 2009 @ 9:24 pm
Miles,
Steamy kitchens, all action… great shots. Sounds like Anne and Annie are having a good time sharing a photographic diary too…. not sure what mine would look like, probably a revealing insight into small town living with a dash of eccentricity but rather dull in comparison to yours (forgetting the fact that I have a rubbish camera and I’m not much good at photography).
Do the chefs mind when you take photographs of them?
Cid
p.s. black treacle tart sounds wickedly good.
December 6, 2009 @ 12:43 am
Annie & Anne
Just seen some, glad you’re both doing it.
Miles
December 6, 2009 @ 10:02 am
Cid,
No the chefs don’t mind, well they have no choice really.
Miles
treacle tart recipe to follow.
December 6, 2009 @ 10:03 am
Cid,
.
There would be lots of interesting motives to photograph around you. Where is your wonderful imagination? Just point and click. You would be amazed at the things that suddenly look different: shop windows, market stalls and their fare, buildings, people, aspects in your house/garden, food you cook, etc. etc.
For me it is the actual looking at things rather than walking past them that makes them all special. Have a go and surprise yourself
Anne
December 6, 2009 @ 10:58 am
Anne,
Where is your wonderful imagination? … I’ll tell you where it is, I’ve just caught sight of the lovely Patrick Rafter playing tennis on the tv and am now enduring a particularly hot, hot flush
You are right of course about looking at things closely… I do it all the time and bore all my friends with descriptions of life’s tiny details. For me though it’s more about having a camera ready and bothering to take a picture… perhaps I should. Modern communications are great for keeping in touch in friends and family separated by great distance aren’t they…. the world is getting ever smaller. Speaking of which, where is Melissa when you need her? I shall try to get through to her via the ether for some speedy advice on human thermostats and Rafteritis
Cid ~ sipping a glass of iced water!
p.s. none of this was helped of course, by Miles and the mention of treacle tart…. there’s only so much a woman of delicate constitution can take
December 6, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
Miles,
I think you must have sneaked a peek on Facebook, right?? What an inspiration you have, and continue to be.
Annie
December 6, 2009 @ 5:51 pm
Great photos Miles!
Especially love the people shots!
If you use a digital color correction software - you can make up for a lot of bad lighting etc. I tried fading the colors for a hand colored look and it became more like a “Many are Called” photo. With the low saturation, one missed the bad lighting - or it didn’t detract.
Agree that the people shots reveal a hidden world that only a few have access to . . .that’s where I would put my time and money if I wanted to build a portfolio for publication.
Laura
December 6, 2009 @ 6:19 pm
I’m here, Cid.
But first, I must comment on Miles’ amazing photos. I absolutely love “The Week in Pictures” and enjoy the opportunity to get a glimpse of the depth of what you do as a chef, Miles. And also as the one who makes sure these kitchens run smoothly — at least from the diner’s point of view. I love seeing you “in action” even though the photos are never of you. How about passing the camera around?
I’ve tried so many times to get a shot of steam rising from a pot or dish and it never works for me. I’ve even taken the pot outside in the cold, hoping the clash of temperatures would make for a perfect shot. Aahh, but to no avail. Gorgeous photos here, as always! Wow, 153 women? That’s quite impressive, Miles!
Now Cid, I can’t help you my friend as one of my favorite memories is sitting in the front row, on the court at Rolland-Garros watching Patrick Rafter beat someone (I have no idea who his opponent was) on my birthday. We’re on the same page with this one, but I was sipping something other than iced water, I promise you that. A champagne cocktail maybe? A nice pinot noir? I can’t remember that part either, but I do remember Patrick up close and personal (at least as close as the French security officers would allow). I have the ticket stub on my bulletin board.
:-)
Treacle tart? Once again, I’m going to have to resort to my dictionary to keep up with you Brits. I love it though!
Great post, Miles.
Melissa
P.S. Anne and Annie — do you ladies have a blog I don’t know about?!
December 6, 2009 @ 6:33 pm
Annie,
No Facebook. Mum told me about it. I think it’s a great idea especially given the distance between you both. Good for you and thank you for the kind words, it means a lot.
Miles
December 6, 2009 @ 7:34 pm
Laura,
Thanks for that, I do use Photoshop but with minimal touches. I don’t like to ‘over egg the pudding’ so to speak because for these photographs I want people to see it exactly how I do. Glad you like them, it’s the kind of approval that keeps me going with it.
Miles
December 6, 2009 @ 7:37 pm
Melissa,
Nice to hear from you again, glad you like the photographs. I kept well clear of the 153 women, they’d have eaten me alive!!!
Hope you’re well.
Miles
December 6, 2009 @ 7:39 pm
Melissa,
You… on the front row… Patrick Rafter…. hot flushes… no cure…. I’m doomed….
Cid
p.s. hurry up Miles, with that treacle tart…. I’m a woman on the edge
December 6, 2009 @ 8:08 pm
@ Melissa,
Anne and I email our photos to one another. I live in California, and this helps us feel like we are visiting one another. Anne is a dear, dear friend.
Annie
December 7, 2009 @ 8:10 pm