Category Archives: Food

07/29/11

Food Friday – Chocolate Drink

When you buy a tub of cocoa, you likely have one thought: hot chocolate – one of life’s great blessings. Yet, have you ever used it to make a cold chocolate milkshake in the summer?

I remember growing up in Holland that cocoa had a dual, season-dependent purpose. In fact, we drank more of it cold than hot. Moving back to the UK many years later, I don’t recall it being marketed or consumed in that way. Mostly, it was a winter drink. Same here in Ireland. Or perhaps I’d just grown up and switched to Old Speckled Hen or Merlot by then.

Anyway, having produced the packaging photographs for Java Republic’s new The Other Bean For Kids drink, it was interesting to hear that the company is marketing it as a double purpose drink. I couldn’t resist:

Two straws in a glass of chocolate milkshake

The Java Republic's Other Bean For Kids chocolate drink (c) Roger Overall 2011

Drinking it brought back memories. And it’s creating new ones for the next generation:

Little girl drinking milk chocolate through a straw

Always make two batches of a chocolate drink when in the vicinity of a child (c) Roger Overall 2011

06/28/11

Java Republic – My Kinda Client

It is nice to get presents in the post, especially when they come as a surprise. Even more so when they have been sent by a client.

Last year I produced a series of documentary photographs that were intended for use on the packaging of Java Republic’s new chocolate drink for children. The product was launched a little while ago, and because Java is the kind of considerate company that likes to keep in touch, it sent me down a sample of the new product. Not just a small sachet. No, that’s not Java’s style. It sent a big tub. Classy.

06/9/11

Food Friday – Inch House Black And White Puddings

Frying pan full of black and white pudding being cooked

Inch House black and white puddings. (c) Roger Overall 2011

My daughter has been described by her art teacher at school as “a ticket”. I think that means she’s a character. Or, more exactly, a disobedient charmer.

Yesterday she charmed her way into a free batch of Inch House black pudding while out doing the weekly shop with Anne, my wife. Nora Egan, who produces terrific black and white puddings from her mother’s recipe, had traveled all the way down from Co. Tipperary to cook up and hand out samples at our local supermarket. She got talking to Anne and they spent a good bit of time chatting about the wholesomeness of the puddings. Meanwhile, with no one paying much heed to the freshly-fried sample batch, my daughter helped herself. To all of it.

Anne was mortified. Nora, though, took it all in her stride. She was about to pack up anyway, she said. By the way, she had a small block of uncooked pudding left over that she would have to throw out. Did Anne want to take it away with her?

I don’t know Nora. I’ve never met her. I like the sound of her, though. And I have to say, her puddings are delicious. Not only did Anne arrive back with the left over black pudding sample, she had bought a pack of white pudding too – feeling guilty that our daughter’s appetite had brought a premature end to the sampling session.

It’s probably just as well that she decided to do the grocery shopping late in the afternoon.

06/3/11

Food Friday – Raisin Bread

My wife and daughter are great bakers. Actually, my wife is. My daughter does participate, but left to her own devices she would likely mix ice cream, flour, some glitter, a doll’s shoe, and possibly a daisy or a beetle to be baked.

We ran out of bread the other day. We could have gone to the shops to buy more. Instead, Anne prepared this in less time than it would have taken me to buy some.

Raisin Bread. (c) Roger Overall 2011

05/19/11

Ardsallagh Goat’s Cheese

Food really interests me, so it’s nice to get the occasional food shoot. This one for Ardsallagh Goat Farm and Dairy was very simple. Window light and little else. This is the first shot I took. A little too dark and moody for Ardsallagh’s intended supermarket use, so the final images are much brighter. I like the feel of this frame, though. It has atmosphere.

By the way, did you know that goat’s cheese has no cholesterol?

Ardsallagh Smoked Goat's Cheese. (c) Roger Overall 2011

 

05/2/11

Eat It While You Can

A couple of weeks ago, I photographed a party that was organized for a boy. All his classmates were there. He hadn’t seen much of them this term. He’d been in hospital. He was very ill. This was his farewell party. I don’t know if he is still alive as you read this.

I can’t show you any of the photographs that I took – except for the one below. You understand why. Instead, I’ll describe my favourite to you. It is one where the boy is touching his mother’s cheek as she looks into his eyes while showing him a card. The photograph contains such a beautiful connection.

My second favourite is one where he is peering into a big, glass popcorn dispenser waiting for his portion to be served to him.

You don’t need me to tell you “Life is short”. You’ve either already figured that out, or you’re still too young to grasp the full weight of those three words. Thing is, we all have dreams and ambitions. We are nearly all of us Olympic level procrastinators as well. On two separate occasions in the past two months, I’ve been shown quite starkly that you cannot postpone your life while you wait for things to sort themselves out. You simply may not have the time, regardless of how old you are.

Whatever it is that is stopping you from chasing your dream, it will not go away of its own accord. Or if it does, it will merely be replaced by a new barrier. Your mind will create another one. Minds are good at doing that. The minds of photographers in particular. Maybe that is why so few try to push out of the pack, why so few try to develop a truly unique style, or why so few take that one giant leap of faith that could transform our careers and our lives for the better.

You must take action. Whatever it is you want to achieve. Do it.

Now.

Please.

You must grab your popcorn and eat it while you still can.

Abandoned popcorn on the red carpet that had been laid out to welcome the boy to the party. (c) Roger Overall 2011

04/14/11

The Nearly Split

I’ll be honest with you. Bessie and I have been through a rough patch. For a while, a split was on the cards.

The problem was the quality of the photographs we were producing. It just wasn’t happening. Nothing to do with me, you understand. All her fault. I’m an award-winning photographer, trophy shelf and all. So it couldn’t be me.

Turns out, it wasn’t Bessie either.

The problem was that the standard of scan that my lab is able to produce from film negatives with its automated equipment aren’t great. The files lack punch. Actually, they lack everything.

Here’s an example:

(c) Roger Overall 2011

Eowww-ugh.

On top of that, the files, even at the highest scan setting, aren’t really big enough to give me an accurate idea of focus, especially as they are hyper-sharpened. As you zoom in, the image just disintegrates into hard-edged, colourful static. A bit like what you get on a television that isn’t receiving anything.

I won’t blame the lab, as the dev/print/scan machine is set to “Lowest Common Denominator”. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for it to do an optimal scan of individual negatives. Besides, the files are really just a way of proofing – digital contact sheets if you will.

I’d always planned to scan the best negs myself using an old CanoScan FS4000US film scanner. It’s so old, that I cannot get it to work with my Macs. Instead, it is running off an equally old desktop Windows machine. Scanning is slow and laborious, but it is at a resolution of 4,000 ppi, it does give me a much better file to work with and learn from. It also produces a file with a peculiar edge around the image that I quite like.

The same negative, but scanned on the Canon device and then colour corrected to my own taste in Photoshop:

(c) Roger Overall 2011

I’m seeing a quality to the photographs that I had forgotten existed. Digital files can be so immaculately clean and soulless. Film has a different character that I find hard to describe.

Anyway, Bessie and I have patched up our relationship.

Mind you, I was offered the loan of a Leica…