The “Almmond Project”, Barcelona

Almmendra, #4. Barcelona, 2015

Yes, “almmond” with two “m’s”. That is the trademark name of this healthy food restaurant, soon to open its doors in Barcelona. In Spanish, it will be “ALMMENDRA”, as in the above sample stock image of mine.

My assigned role was to create photographs of the food providers and the food products–photos which might possibly be used either in a photo book for the owner, or as large prints on the walls–or not used at all, depending on the final decision. (See the October 9, 2015 blog post, “Portrait of a Master Baker”, for images of one of the providers.)

For me, though, regardless of the outcome, the project was quite an education in many areas…in lighting in general, in the use of light boxes in particular, in food selection and arrangement (oh, attention to detail!), how to add steam to hot tea in Photoshop, and so on.

In short, I was quite uncomfortable throughout the whole journey…not my cup o’ tea, so to speak.

I consoled myself a bit by thinking that at least the product shots were like little mini-landscapes. And I also had plenty of help–my significant other and the restaurant owner herself designed the basic food setups and arrangements.

The computer backside of the project was also very time consuming what with the processing and formatting of a portfolio of 100+ selected images of the several hundred we shot. Yes, it only begins with the snap of the shutter. At least half of the work is in the post-processing.

Whether my images actually end up being used remains to be seen but, still, it was fun and I am likely a better photographer for it.

Here are a few examples of the ALMMENDRA style…