Something I have been wanting to do for a while now was enrolling in a course that could challenge me a little bit. Sometimes a project is good to focus the mind and when I saw Catherine Frawley was releasing her Food Styling E Course, I took the plunge and used some of my savings to enrol. I have always admired Catherine’s gorgeous photographs of food and felt this was an area I could definitely do with some improvement.
I thought I would share some pictures I created from the course and the results of me FINALLY shooting with Auto off!
Week 1
Story: Prepping for an Italian Feast
I wanted to bring an authentic feel to the image, rather than it be polished hence the flour. The pan in the top right on hindsight is probably too black and also probably a bit too modern for the shot but I love the vibrancy of the tomatoes even if they did just come from Tesco!
Prepping for an Italian Feast Flatlay
Week 2
Story: Breakfast Flat lay
There are lots of props to convey an authentic breakfast story - jam jars, milk jugs, granola, croissants, coffee makes the perfect Sunday morning shot. Looking back at this image now I would probably lose the teaspoon as it’s a bit too straight and random looking.
Sunday Morning Breakfast Flatlay
Week 3
Story: Stacked Doughnuts
This was probably my favourite challenge of the 4 weeks. I thought long and hard about what I could stack and make look delicious. Pinterest brought doughnuts to my attention and after quick trip to Sainsburys, 12 doughnuts later, I had created these set of images.
Stacked doughnuts and milk
Zebra doughnut flatlay
Stacked doughnuts and mug
Week 4
Story: Sunday Afternoon Banana Bread
So this is where I really pushed myself and actually baked! I’m not much of a baker, cook or domestic queen but everyone reassured me Banana bread was really easy to do. Turns out it was! And it actually tasted nice! A bit of mascarpone dolloped on top and my favourite Mind over Matter mug (a percentage of the sale goes to Mind Charity) filled to the brim with a homemade mocha, the perfect Sunday afternoon was created!
Freshly baked banana bread with mascarpone and mocha
Freshly baked banana bread - Sunday afternoon treat
I have just seen that Catherine is releasing her last course of the year and if you were considering it, I would thoroughly recommend. I loved having challenges to get creative with, we all need to push ourselves sometimes!
After completing this course, a couple of friends of mine started their own Taco side hustle so it was my pleasure to help them out. Manchester folks make sure you check out No Manches Tacos for upcoming gigs. Here are some of the images I created, really hoping to do more of this. Thanks Catherine - you really got my creativity ignited again!
