I’ve been talking a lot about the Fulfilled Workshop I attended with Bella Karragiannidis in San Francisco at the beginning of May. I just happened to be going through her Instagram stories one day and she mentioned that she was having a series of workshops before she moved to Greece. I felt my heart jump and I swiped up (as per her instructions) to find out more.
Let me say that Bella may be one of the food photographers, whose work I admire the most, so I wasn’t going to give up an opportunity to learn from her. Now, the workshop wasn’t cheap, but she was donating all of the profits to support the refugee crisis in Greece (heart jumped again.)
So not only could I get to learn from someone as talented as Bella, but I had the opportunity to use my money to support an incredible cause. Yes! Sign me up!
If you follow me on Instagram, I have several posts with these shots that I took at the workshop, along with some more in depth reviews of my experience. Here are my biggest takeaways:
- Love the light you have. As a natural light photographer, I used to always wait for that perfect moment in the day that gave me the light I had imagined in my shot. This gave me a lot of anxiety during a shoot because if you miss that moment, it’s gone, and you have to do everything all over again. In San Fran, we had all sorts of light to work with: harsh direct sunlight, indirect light, cloudy light, etc. We couldn’t control what we got, but Bella showed us the beauty in working with what you have an I have to say I feel so much more confident in shooting with natural light now.
- Don’t be afraid of color. Now if white is your thing, cool, but during the workshop Bella showed us how color, be it in the backdrop, props or garnishes on the food, can completely transform an image. I am so excited to play around with color a lot more in my shoots now!
- Think about your food’s story. When styling a shoot, think about the ingredients that went into the dish (if it used lemon, don’t put oranges in the scene), think about what time of day the dish would be eaten, what emotions you want it to convey, what it means to you and what story you want to tell. This was really a great lesson from Bella. It has totally changed the way I think about my shoots now.
The workshop was 4 days long, so there was so much more I learned in terms of the creative and business side of food photography, but I wanted to share just a few of the points that were the most impactful for me.
I’ve been to many different workshops over the last 10 years from creative to business to self-development. I am weary of making investments in them these days because I always felt like the hosts were holding back. I didn’t feel like that at all about Bella and I need to mention that because she gave everything during the workshop. There was no question left unanswered and everyone felt her support and guidance. If you ever have a chance to work with her in any capacity, it is time well spent and I would do it again in a heart beat.
I have to also mention the wonderful assistants Bella had helping her during the workshop – Elena (Founder of Urban Kitchen Affair / @alenka007) and Morgan (@thedailyflourish). They prepared some of the most delicious plant-based meals I’ve ever had and are the sweetest most talented women doing some really incredible work. Please check them out!
