Pinch My Salt

Food, Recipes, and Photography

Fun in the Kitchen with Film and Eggs

by 27 Comments

Breaking an Egg

Although I haven’t written much about it, my black and white photography class has taken center stage in my life for the past several weeks. At first it was difficult and frustrating moving from digital back to 35mm. But I’ve slowly started to become a darkroom addict! Although I’m only in class for 6 hours per week, I have been spending several extra hours per week in the school’s photography lab trying to learn printing techniques from other teachers and students with more experience.

It’s amazing how time flies when I’m in the photo lab. Although I can’t imagine spending eight hours in photoshop trying to perfect one photo, last week I found myself in the darkroom for eight hours one day trying to perfect a single print. And I enjoyed every minute of it!

I guess you could say I’ve found a new passion 🙂 And since this new passion has kept me from updating Pinch My Salt as much as I would like, I decided to move back into the kitchen for my latest photo assignment.

Flying Egg

For our current project, we are supposed to be exploring motion. We are required to make one photo featuring frozen motion and one that shows blurred motion. These egg photos are from my first attempt at freezing motion. I shot an entire 36 exposure roll of nothing but eggs. And now I have a bowl full of liquid eggs in the fridge that need to be turned into a quiche or custard…or maybe both!

The lighting wasn’t great for these shots but this was really just a practice roll. I’m still happy with the way they turned out! These digital versions were scanned from the negatives with some post-processing done in Aperture. I haven’t tried printing any of them yet.

Cracking an Egg

If you are interested in seeing some of the other photos I’ve taken so far this semester, I’ve created a photoset on Flickr. The final prints that I turn in as assignments end up looking quite a bit different than the online versions that have been scanned from negatives. Hopefully the actual prints look better! I plan on scanning the prints from my final portfolio at the end of the semester and then you’ll be able to see why I’ve been spending extra time in the darkroom!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Whitney says

    I can't remember if I've commented on your blog before, but I really love it. Your photos are lovely! I'm taking a documentary food writing class right now, and we've talked a lot about food photography. Your work is a great example of the right way to do things, and I enjoy coming back here to see what's new. Keep up the good work!
    Reply

  3. Bob Younce at the Writing Journey says

    This is SO cool! I'm not a food blogger (my wife is, though) but I've been stumbling through food blogs for a series I'm working on with my writing blog. Anyways, I've noticed something: food bloggers, more than any other type of blogger, always have AWESOME pictures. These pics are just proof of my theory. Good form, Nicole!
    Reply

  4. Johanna says

    I love the first picture on there, of the yolk suspended. It's fantastic. I love photos of food done by people who love food. It's always got more passion showing out from the photo, don't you think?
    Reply

  6. Shannon says

    I don't think I've ever posted before, but I've loved exploring your site! Getting into photography is always something I've wanted to do--taking a class would be a great idea :) Checked out the photos on flickr, too, they're great! I really liked the one with the fence, don't know why, but it struck me for some reason. Ah, food... an outlet for so many things!!
    Reply

  8. magpie says

    These are really cool. I'm also a food blogger and I really try to make my photos look great... This makes me want to take a class as well :)
    Reply

  12. Emon says

    Those are some amazing shots, Nicole! And anyone who makes an egg levitate is cool in my book. ;) Your black and white set is amazing! More, more, more!
    Reply

  13. Emon says

    If you played Cricket...the way you're holding the egg in first shot would be a 'leg-break' bowling technique. Just thought I'd share. :)
    Reply

  15. Quinn says

    Those are wonderful shots! Please do scan your final portfolio -- I know I'm not the only one interested in seeing it. There's something about real B&W shot on film that can't be duplicated with Photoshop filtering. I totally understand what you mean about spending hours in a darkroom working on that one print. Just thinking about it conjures up vivid memories of those darkroom smells.
    Reply

  17. Erin @ The Skinny Gourmet says

    The photo of the yolk in mid-air is indeed delightful. Actually the entire series reminded me powerfully of my first time living abroad (in Costa Rica) where the women in my village thought I was very funny because I couldn't crack an egg one-handed. I miss my days of having access to a dark-room. There is something wonderful of watching your work appear under your very own hands. That is the part of me that has always secretly wished to be a tradesman or a mason. To step back and say "this is a thing my hands have made" and not have to add the addendum "with some help from the folks at ofoto.com" or something. Congrats on the class and keep up the beautiful photos!
    Reply

  19. Nicole says

    Thanks, everyone for your nice comments and support! I've been nervous about sharing my photos from class because I still feel like I'm not doing as well as I would like. But honestly, your comments make me feel much more confident! :-)
    Reply

  20. Jeff says

    Hi there: Love your blog and good to see you are blogging again. I have been shooting b&w film since I took my first class about 5 yrs ago. Recently I borrowed a negative scanner from a friend so I can scan in some negatives. Can you tell me how it works from your experience? So once you scanned it in, you can print them out as digital? Unfortunately, being in the darkroom is too time consuming so I'm hoping this way at least I can print out some of my prints, even though it's not the same as in the darkroom. Great pics, you have a great eye. Keep clicking that's the only way to improve.
    Reply

Leave a Reply