If you can't stand the heat

September 30, 2012  •  Leave a Comment

 

So the brief seemed simple enough, shadow a top local chef and capture the culinary genius on his own turf…which turned out to be a very fine restaurant near Cambridge called The Willow Tree (try the sponge cake, by the way).

Whatever you imagine a restaurant’s kitchen to be like, I can guarantee you they are much, much smaller and I was left with a pickle on which lens to use. What’s more, the action didn’t stop to wait for my decision – sauces were boiling and meat was cooking.

Given the close proximity I was working with, my head said: “stick with a wide angle optic” but with a max aperture of f/4.5 the poor light in the kitchen would have resulted in a high ISO or slow shutter speed. So I went with my gut and pulled out the trusty 50mm f/1.8 – probably the most underrated and consistent lens in my camera bag.

A longer focal length meant I had to be far more careful with my framing, but photography is all about taking the odd risk.

Displayed above is my favourite image from the photoshoot as the chef finished the dish by adding a splash of magic sauce to the plate. When it comes down to it, that’s pretty much what I try and do to my images.  


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