Food Photography: Christmas recipes for Irish Independent Weekend Magazine with chef Edward Hayden in Kilkenny, Ireland
The counting has officially begun: it will be Christmas a month from now! With that, today’s Irish Independent Weekend Magazine features baking recipes by chef, cookbook author and owner of Boutique Cookery School, Edward Hayden.
Ok, to be honest, I do not like the whole idea of Christmas advertising starting as early as September. We all feel it’s always a bit too early, don’t we? Ok, maybe except the John Lewis Christmas advert with Elton John, that really touched my heart recently…the rest of it puts me off and makes me feel like they just want us to buy a lot of stuff.
But I do like to talk about Christmas food: who will make prawn cocktail, what’s for Christmas dinner, who will join us at the table, and oh... the cakes…
I think every food photographer can agree that Christmas photo shoots are so much fun and we do love them, even if it’s way too early to even mention the word Ch….
Working in the publishing industry, everybody knows that Christmas features need to planned, photographed and edited weeks in advance. That was the case of this year’s baking feature that I was asked to photograph for Weekend Magazine in Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny.
When I arrived in Edwards Hayden’s Boutique Cookery School, I was greeted by Edward’s big smile and as soon as I stepped into the bright and spacious kitchen filled with all kinds of cakes, treats and Christmas props, I knew this one would be fun to photograph.
A quick look around and I spotted the dining area with beautiful deep red walls and a big window. I knew that this would be just perfect to create a warm, festive mood. I brought a lot of my props from Galway and when I was laying them on the table, next to Edward’s Christmas decorations, I started to visualize which plates and props to use, so the images would be consistent, yet each one of them a bit different, complementing a specific photographed dish. I didn’t want to create a typical ‘red & gold’ set, but something more subtle, contemporary. I have chosen white and faded green theme as a base, with the use of natural elements, like pine tree branches and cones that I picked up from Yes Flowers a day before. I decided to go with silver bits and pieces to add a bit of sparkle. Elegant crockery, vintage linen tablecloths, and old silver cutlery worked perfectly as well. I love this part of my food photography projects: when I get to stylise the food and choose the props that will complement the whole set.
If possible, I try to use daylight for food photography. This time of the year, the light is soft and very diffused (for once, thank you cloudy Irish skies!) which is best for food photography. A big silver reflector was in place to balance the shadows and I was almost ready to go! I set up a camera on a tripod with camera settings that allowed me to shoot on low ISO and with shallow depth of field for that soft and faded look. You might notice that I added candles and fairy lights in the background to add a bit of warmth and light and my lens allowed me to blur and soften them.
Camera setting might vary, but this was my base:
Camera & Lens: Nikon d850 + Nikon 50mm F/1,4
Camera settings: ISO 160, 1/200s & F/2.
Additional gear: tripod, 120 cm oval silver reflector.
We started with a beautiful Christmas cake topped with leaves decorated with sugar:
Christmas cake topped with leaves decorated with sugar. Simple yet effective trick to add a unique touch to your cake.
Mince pies & home-made stuffing
Christmas Pudding, a classic!
Next, I changed the setting a bit for Christmas biscuit cake and added a bit of red – the reason for that is that the chocolate cake was quite dark itself and shooting it on the white would create a very strong contrast. The red table mat elevated the chocolate texture and balanced the whole set.
Christmas biscuit cake
I also loved shooting the edible Christmas decorations, cute little biscuits, filled or plain, covered with icing sugar. These were so much fun to photograph!
And here’s Edward himself, that after the photo shoot he changed from the chef’s apron into a Christmas jumper and posed for a couple of shots. I must say I really enjoyed working with this gentleman. Edward was very professional, well prepared and passionate about his food. I enjoyed the fact he trusted my vision and worked with me side by side ensuring that the food was presented in the best way. It was so much fun and I got well fed too!
Chef Edward Hayden for Irish Independent Weekend Magazine
The whole project was such a great, creatively fulfilling experience and I am always happy to take photos for Irish Independent Weekend Magazine, especially when they land on the front page. Many thanks to Barbara Power, Sophie and Laslie Ann.
Irish Independent Weekend Magazine front page - Christmas special. Food photography by Julia Dunin
