kitchenalia — Words — Andrew Barrow

Posts tagged kitchenalia

From the kitchen ‘man draw’, I retrieved a screwdriver and simply removed the cradle from the red kitchen scales. For those who know me personally having me actually owning a screwdriver might come as a surprise… but there it was. Still in its original packaging…

The oversized red scales look lovely but the cradle and tray is large enough to hold a small child and proved impossible to use in the Kitchen Scales series of food pictures. Removing part of it means it doesn’t work as a scale anymore but I don’t think that matters in terms of being a photo prop.

For the first image, I went with Sausages from my local butcher. They are simple herby sausages, they call them Farmhouse Sausages, and are a firm favourite. I just used a tray from one of the other scales and am rather pleased with the result.

Having uploaded the image to Instagram and put the print up for sale on Etsy, if the background is a bit ‘muddy’ and I should have gone for a cleaner green texture…

The Kitchen Scales series is progressing well. The intention is to construct two calendars - one focusing on fruit and vegetables, a meat-free version if you like, while the other has a mix of fresh produce and meat/fish and so on.

In the StudioAndrew Barrow30 March 2021kitchenalia, kitchen scales, prints for saleComment

Hot Cross Buns on Vintage Kitchen Scales

I was reading a little inspirational book the other day, one targeted at photographers and artists. One passage jumped out at me “There’s an intuition that you only gain through the repetition of practice”. It struck home as I struggled to use that large red kitchen scales in an image.

It just was not working. I couldn’t get the angle right, the tray positioned so the 16 (!) hot crossed buns inside displayed as I wanted. Intuition told me it just was not going to work.

I had to prop the tray up at the back so the rull array of buns was fully visible. But in doing that the tray became detached from the scales supports. To hide this I slide the camera along seeing that the little and would fix the issue in photoshop. But no, intuition kicked in and I abandoned the idea.

Actually I abandoned the scales rather than the idea by replacing them with a different set. A few test shots later - trying to get balance with buns outside the weighing tray - and I was happy. The final image is now up on Etsy. Hot Cross Buns on Vintage Kitchen Scales by AndrewBarrowPhotos https://etsy.me/2Qto8iv

In the StudioAndrew Barrow21 March 2021kitchenalia, kitchen scales, food photographyComment

Kitchenalia

Enjoyed a little eBay indulgence last week. Seemed to have ended up with five different kitchen scales. All are old and battered as I was after a certain vintage kitchenalia vibe. If I am honest I only wanted one or two of these sales; NO IDEA how I ended up with five… I’ve just checked eBay to ensure I haven’t bid on any more!

Now they are all here I have enjoyed a few hours of using them combined with various food items. Some didn’t work - spinach for example looked like wilted weeds pulled from a central reservation. But the ones below I am happy with.

Production is similar to my other studio work, but I’m using a flash rather than natural light. Small flash and a huge softbox. The ability to move the light so it wraps around the subject is vital here when compared with the natural light of, say, the Washing Line images.

One thing I did learn from submitting the Washing Line images to the RPS for the Fellowship is that the subject must be instantly recognisable. Spinach didn’t. Doughnuts, flour, lemons and the rest do.

I have also dipped my toe into the world of Etsy selling and have added these to my new store. Would be lovely if someone made a purchase! Food Related Fine Art Photography Prints by AndrewBarrowPhotos (etsy.com)

In the StudioAndrew Barrow3 March 2021kitchenalia, kitchen scales, food photography, prints for sale, etsyComment