I came across the first candid review of our new book at Still Life With. It is interesting for us to get an outsiders honest opinion of the work we have assembled. It is also interesting to look at what is in a critique. For instance, the analysis of the book discusses the flawed nature of several photographs because of harsh shadows. We actually sought this shadowy effect in a number of our pictures to accent, sharpen and pique the arrangement of food on the plate. So, although we can see how it might not be appealing to everyone, it was a conscious decision on our part. On the other hand, the comment about selective focussing is important. We have been taking pictures for just under two years. We are learning and can always get better. Yes, we culled through our thousands of pictures to present what we believed to be our very best. There are definitely flaws in some of the photos, and our photography is something that we constantly strive to improve. The learning curve is apparent in the progression of our photographs over the course of the last two years. The improvements are due to repeated practice and tips and guidance from several readers of this website and a few professionals who took an interest in us.
The book is not organized chronologically, rather it is organized by inspirational ingredients. That being said, can you see the difference? We can clearly tell which photos are from the beginning and which ones are more recent. For us, the constant progression and development of our cooking, writing and photography is the crux of what we do here. In the end, no matter how long we do anything, we're all still students because there's always room for improvement. We appreciate that someone cared enough to write a review so quickly and we'll learn from those comments as we do from everything else.
