Cooking Assistants and Food Photos

I've been busy with my photography class, so this post is just a short diversion about my final photography project, I decided to focus on my Cooking Assistant and explore his world, since he's so laid back and willing to pose for food. This shot really captured his total contentment with life.

I chose black and white because Finn is always a prop for food photos and with black and white the focus is more on Finn.

He's patient in this position but change his position and the picture-taking moment is uncertain.
Sometimes he loses his focus, but once food is underneath his nose, he assumes a pose. He's a ham with his one pose that sometimes reminds me of Ben Stiller in Zoolander with his "Blue Steel" look. I think perhaps my gentle Cooking Assistant has always wanted to be a model. He has no idea how small-time he really is. I don't have the heart to tell him "he'll never be Marley."

As soon as the food is within reach, I tell him "Wait." But I totally confused him when I handed him a carrot and then said "Wait." In this photo people thought he looked a bit like Winston Churchill with a cigar. Black and white is analyzed differently in the brain than color photos, that's why the two are rarely mixed in a show. If I had gone with color, I think everyone would simply look at the food first.

The last photo stumped the class. Most people thought Finn had a mirror image, but in fact the dog behind him is Chloe, Finn's sister. Finn never lets Chloe come close in his photo shoots and at first I nearly tossed this picture out, but on closer examination, I realized she was staring and learning about what he does with the camera. When I showed the picture to Tom he laughed and said, "Doesn't matter who you are, if you've got something good going, there's always somebody waiting in the wings to take your place."