Brooks students focus
on Grappolo
The
students, part of the culinary photography program at Brooks, had come to photograph
virtually the entire menu in a matter of a few hours. It was no small
undertaking.
Fighting
off the morning chill, the students gathered in front of Grappolo,
normally serene at 8 a.m., clutching coffee, clipboards and a dream. This was
their final experience before venturing out into the world to make their mark
as professional photographers. Brooks instructor Bill
Robbins kept the throng in check as they awaited the arrival of Grappolo owner and chef Leonardo Curti.
Food stylist Claire Stancer arrived, cold and without
coffee. Pointed in the direction of The Roasted Bean, she returned smiling. A
beautiful day was unfolding.
Leonardo,
his thick black hair and goatee framing a broad smile, arrived in a big white
pickup and announced that he must take his twin daughters to school but would
be right back.
The
anticipation built. Meanwhile Giorgio, Leonardo’s younger brother, had started
the fire in the pizza oven and had begun preparations for what would be
anything but a typical day at Trattoria Grappolo.
Leonardo
returned, introductions were made and the adventure began. Light fixtures and
reflectors were hastily assembled; tables were dressed; laptops flickered — the
activity was hectic yet organized.
Stancer, with the assistance of photographer
Deborah Denker, moved like a dancer from one group to
the next, steaming hot pizzas in hand, offering tips
on where to position the glass of wine. “Who’s ready?” Claire’s voice echoed
through the restaurant. “Is that the one with the prosciutto?” She handed plates
of exquisitely prepared food to eager students and guided them through a
positioning and placement ritual.
While
it might appear to the unsuspecting onlooker like some sort of invasion by a
group of young, blue jean-clad 20-somethings, it really was part of the “real
life” experience provided by Robbins, the institute’s culinary photography
instructor, to help prepare the students for the tough challenges they will
face working on location.
“This
is very different from the studio experience,” remarked Robbins as he shot the
fiery interior of Grappolo’s pizza oven. “When you’re
on location, you have to deal with all sorts of variables, like inconsistent
lighting, limited space and sources of power. This is what the students will
face in the real world.”
Leonardo’s
distinctive voice boomed across the room, calling out in Italian as he prepared
various dishes and worked with his team to keep the flow of food moving. Becky
Reams, a project manager and one of the Brooks students hoping to make this
day’s work a key part of her portfolio, put it in perspective: “I know that I’m
going to be working on shoots in locations where the comforts of the studio
aren’t going to be there, and I want to be prepared. Sometimes it’s not very
glamorous, but it’s fun, and we get to eat all this
delicious food when we’re done.”
As
each dish was photographed, it was taken to a large table known as the
graveyard. Hungry students dashing to and fro stopped momentarily to savor the
delicious preparations. A quick bite of crostini here,
a forkful of gnocchi there -- it was a frenzied assemblage, each team becoming
an island of digital magic. Alfonso, another brother in the Curti
clan, arrived to join the team behind the bar.
A
wide-eyed, smiling Claire leaned across the bar and stopped to breathe, “Oh,
that’s beautiful. Does that need sauce? It’s perfect just the way it is. Oh
God, I love it.”
To
say the least, she is passionate about her work. As a food stylist, her role
was to keep the food looking sumptuous and beautiful every step of the way.
There was, after all, a sense of urgency, because the hot dishes would hold
that special look for only so long. Once cooled, the food would begin to look
less appealing to the lens.
“When
the dish comes out there’s a window of maybe five minutes to get the shot. I
work with the students on the little things that have a big impact — a touch of
basil here, a bit of carrot there, a little sprits of olive oil — it’s amazing
how these things impact the outcome,” she said. “The real magic happens when
beautiful food comes together with light, perspective and the masterful eye of
the photographer.”
As
11 a.m. approached, the mêlée was reduced to a flutter as the last items were
transformed into bits of digital magic and the main dining room was quickly
restored to its former state. That night, unsuspecting guests would dine in the
shadow of hopeful, young photographers who, only hours earlier, had turned Trattoria Grappolo into a
three-ring culinary circus.
From
behind the bar, Leonardo, stirring some absurdly delicious sauce, smiled:
“These kids are really great; it’s impressive to see how fast they work and how
well they’ve captured the essence of what we are trying to achieve with our
food here at Grappolo.”
As
the first lunch guests appeared, the students moved swiftly out to the banquet
room to consume the remaining morsels of Grappolo’s
finest fare. Robbins stayed behind to get a few shots of Leonardo’s new
cookbook. All that remained to be captured were the desserts — not so easy when
you’ve got ice cream melting on top of warm, flowerless chocolate cake — Claire
Stancer to the rescue.
Finally,
well ahead of schedule and with cameras, tri-pods, lights and laptops packed
away, the group gathered in the banquet room, where an obviously impressed Leonardo
presented each with a letter of appreciation and a Grappolo
gift card. He spoke for a moment about the importance of their work and the
opportunity that lay ahead.
“I
love what these creative young people are doing,” Leonardo said, “and I think
it’s fantastic for them to have this work in their portfolios.”
For some it is the first compensation they will receive
for their professional services as photographers.