For this module I have been fortunate to work for and produce images for a local small business, Thornleys foods. Thornleys foods are a small local business run by a mother daughter Gail and Abigail Brown. The company produces packet sauce mixes which cater for specific dietary needs. The company has been trading for a relatively short time and have secured orders with large retailers such as Booths and Morrisons. The company has recently altered their packaging and produced some new products which required photographing for use on the new company website. I made contact with the owner Gail and had a lengthy telephone conversation about my photography abilities and experience, their business and their photographic requirements. We agreed a suitable time to meet and for me to take a look at the products. The brief was to photograph the products on a white background,the images to be used in the distributors catalogue. The packets were made with aluminum foil which were very reflective. In order to fulfil the task I purchased a couple of items that I thought would allow for the type of shots required. A purpose built light box and black and white acrylic risers. Once the images had been produced I offered a few samples images to the client to ensure their "vision" was being met for their needs. I edited the images to the clients satisfaction, the images were later used by the client to pitch to supermarket retailer Morrisons Plc. When the images had been delivered the client discussed with me their requirement for further images. The client required full resolution images of food dishes to accompany each of the flavoured packet sauces. The client had specific aesthetics for the images they wanted which was to photography all the packets and dish in one shot. I attended the clients home as they wanted to have the images made in their kitchen where they were also going to make the food dishes. I rearranged the kitchen table, placed it next to the window to use the natural light the client wanted to use a white table cloth and on my advice made sure it had been ironed. Setting up the table and creating the final images was a collaboration between me and the client. I suggested that the food and packages should also be shot individually.The client reluctantly agreed but was later pleased with the results. Once all the product shots had been completed I arranged with the client to return at a later to date for some head shots to be used for their website and social media profiles. Learning outcomes During this assignment with Thornely's it was clear that the client had specific aesthetics in mind regarding how they wanted their images to look. As the photographer this can limit some creativity, like photographing products with a bland white background. Limited scope for creativity can also hold challenges to produce the right images, such as lighting several bowls of food and packages at the same time. During this assignment there were specific time constraints for the type of photography like food cooking times and how long they will keep whilst being photographed. Also some personal time factors for the client as the images were photographed in their home. I also having to work to deadlines ensuring all the images were ready and available to the client for the imminent launch of their new website. The client remarked on some of the images asking for further editing as the some of the images appeared to bright or to dark. This was a fair criticism I made efforts to re-edited images to the clients satisfaction. I have shown some of my images during show and tell session receiving over all positive feedback. I have had some good critique from my tutors who have guided me to look at some of the finer detail in setting up the shots and what to look for in the final image, like over exposing white crockery on white table cloths and using a more even lighting technique. Client feedback "Following our introduction James was very prompt with communication and flexible when arranging appointments. When preparing for the photo shoots James took all of our ideas on board whilst contributing his own as well as adding his expertise to improve our ideas and make our vision a reality. This meant that we had very focused photography sessions and we very much appreciated James' patience with our 'perfectionist' traits, when we weren't quite happy with a photo James always knew a few other methods to try to get it right and wouldn't settle until we were happy! James is very patient and accommodating, despite his already excellent knowledge and capability with photography it is lovely to see how willing he is to learn and listen to his clients to better his abilities. We now have an array of photographs that we are eager to use and show to our customers. James has been an absolute pleasure to work with and we very much hope to continue our working relationship when we require further photos." Best wishes, Abi Scholars Restaurant The scholars restaurant is the on campus restaurant which forms a large part of the Catering and hospitality department at Blackburn college and the University center. The restaurant and Kitchen is a fully functioning restaurant and hosts dining facilities internally to members of staff and students and externally to members of the public often on pre-arranged events. The head of department wanted to revamp the decor within the restaurant and replace the existing framed pictures with a contemporary look and feel. I made contact with the head of dept, Paul Sharples, via email and arranged a meeting. The meeting took place within the restaurant also present were the head chef Head front of house and the dept financial facilitator. During this meeting I was informed of their vision to update the 7 year old decor and aesthetics of the restaurant. During the meeting I gave a short presentation showing some of my previous work. The dept wanted new images on the walls which represent the Restaurant as an educational facility also to highlight the high quality of service and cuisine the students provided. After the meeting I emailed all the participants of the meeting with details that had been discussed. This was done to confirm the details ensure clarity of the task and to clear up any ambiguity with the clients request. From this email I contacted the head Chef Anthony Prince and arranged some dates to attend the Kitchens to photograph plated food and the students at work in the kitchen. I arranged to attend the Kitchen and get some photos of the students at work during a live service and images of the food that was being produced. I attended the restaurant on a 2nd occasion having arranged with the chef to photograph some plated food. I set up a table in the restaurant next to one of the large windows. I also took photos of the food being prepared on the hotplate. I sent the images to the client via microsoft one drive. Anthony, the chef was pleased with the results and excited to share the images with the students. The images fulfilled the brief however after some research on restaurants and kitchen art my ideas and images took a different direction. Looking around at restaurants I frequented and searching on-line, I found that most restaurants do not have photographs of food hanging on their walls. Images are often of historical views, abstract art, murals and landscapes. keeping the brief at the forefront I considered using the Kitchen images i had taken to represent the academic and learning center of the college and the department. Having taken a number of images of students in a learning situation I took photos of the kitchen environment which I considered using as images for the restaurant walls. I continued to develop my ideas taking inspiration from other artists, such as Andre Kertesz and his Fork! I took a number of experimental images using my camera phone. Continuing the theme of close up cutlery I set up some speed lights and black board along with some forks. I was happy with some of the results because of the simplicity of photographing forks with just one light. I continued with the theme of abstract cutlery which I thought would look well as framed prints on the restaurant wall. I photographed table spoons and table knives in a similar fashion with the following results. Moving on from the basic knife ,fork and spoon I used a number kitchen utensils and photographed them in a similar manner. I produced some images using glass ware that could be considered to compliment the bar area and the role of the front of house students. I now had several images that I thought would be suitable for the restaurant and fit the brief. There had been no time scale or target dates as part of the brief. I made contact with Paul Sharples and requested a meeting to give an update on my progress and to present my work and to discuss the way forward with the project. A meeting was arranged and I presented a short digital presentation of my ideas and thoughts. I then exhibited a number of my images as mounted and framed prints. The progress of the project was discussed regarding framed prints, numbers, sizes and costings. The meeting concluded with an agreement for me to forward a cost projection of a variety of prints and frames. Client feedback
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