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30
Aug
2012
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve featured a styled shoot so when Victoria from Victoria Made sent me in her most recent styled cake shoot I was over the moon and pretty hungry after lusting over the photos! Victoria is one of my favorite cake suppliers and it’s a big help that she is local to me in Sheffield. She creates couture wedding cakes not only for the Yorkshire area but for the whole of the UK, and she recently created an Olympic torch cakes for Jessica Ennis.
To highlight her love for cakes and in this case dessert tables Victoria has put together a new styled shoot entitled Chiaroscuro, which means light and dark, and takes influence from the great Italian master Caravaggios and his paintings. It includes a few of Sheffield finest wedding supplies and is shot by my good friend Jess Petrie.
I’ll let Victoria tell you more about the shoot…………..
I suppose it’s uncool to like ‘old’ art these days but as a child being taken round various art galleries it was the detail, the story telling and the astonishing skill with light, colour and texture that those old masters used to perfection in a time where lighting was provided by candles…
It’s Caravaggios paintings that draw me the most and make use of the Italian term ‘chiaroscuro’ (the name of the shoot) meaning ‘light dark’ with stunning effect. It’s on this that I wanted to base the dessert tables and the shoot.
I did two set ups loosely using the ‘light dark’ expression and styled the cakes and desserts around this, using different intensities of colour on each table. Of course every still life has to have a bowl of fruit and to be honest at times you can’t beat nature so it played an integral part not just ‘filler’.
Dessert tables are becoming more popular for weddings and they are something that I would like to do a lot more of – the options are endless and styling ideas can run wild, much more so than you can with a single wedding cake. I think if it’s creatively executed dessert can be a beautiful talking point and something to really engage the guests, trying and tasting the different items on offer. It’s so enjoyable telling a story or creating an image this way and also using a lot of differing skills in terms of design and creating the desserts, making the pasty and sugar work etc.
The people who made it possible………..
I approached Anna from Swallows and Damsons as her flowers are simply stunning and was so pleased when Jess Petrie agreed to photograph the shoot – I had seen her work on facebook and twitter and was blown away, was even more blown away to find she is a Sheffield photographer! I’m also very lucky to have Hansley Beard Events 5 minutes away from me who’s is filled with the most amazing glass ware and vintage china which I made use of.
For the venue I approached Simon Kriel from the Sheffield Town Hall events team who was more than helpful and was happy for us to share the beautiful building for the shoot. We used the stunning Lord Mayors Parlour and the light and layout proved pretty much perfect.
Once again it’s been fantastic to work with some amazingly talented Sheffield folk from start to finish. I hold a special place in my heart for Margaret the magpie, kindly loaned from Anna at Swallows and Damsons.
I hope you enjoy the photos and many thanks to Kelly for featuring me.
Supplier Shout Outs
Styling/desserts/cakes www.victoriamade.com
Photography www.jesspetrie.com
Floral displays (and some props!) www.swallowsanddamsons.com
Glass ware and china hire www.hansleybeard.co.uk
Venue – Sheffield Town Hall – contact [email protected]
For more information on Victoria’s work go to:
www.victoriamade.com
[email protected]
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Absolutely divine! Love the concept and the photos are stunning – photographing food is harder than it looks! The close p of the gold leaf on the pear is my favourite.
both delicious and gorgeous-looking!
Thanks for your comments & Louise you are so right… It is not easy photographing food at all, especially when using specific lighting to try & create a “mood.” Oh and of course drooling over them whilst editing & trying to keep a diet! ha x