Coconut Kitchen: First Photo Shoot

The first photo shoot for Regee's upcoming "Coconut Kitchen Cookbook" took place last Tuesday. Here are the three principals--Regee, Tina Concepcion Diaz, Food Stylist, Paulo Valenzuela, Food Photographer--at the end of a long day of cooking, styling and photographing eight of Regee's amazing dishes.  Two more photo shoots will take place this Thursday and the week after for a total of about 24 dishes.

Click on "Read more" below for a short photo essay on how the process worked.

We gathered at Tina's ancestral home in Timog, Quezon City.  The whole operation was carried out

in what used to be the verandah surrounding the house but which has now been enclosed.  While not a kitchen, you can see that there is plenty of room for several large tables where the ingredients were laid out and where all the cooking took place on two induction cookers.  

Just beyond this room is a smaller room where Tina and Paulo worked their magic, transforming Regee's dishes into fabulous photographs.  Tina and Paulo decide on all the settings and props for the shoot and have worked together for a long time, producing many famous cookbooks (more on that later) and regularly working for Manila's premier "Food Magazine".  In the photo below, Tina and Paulo discuss how best to lay out Regee's first dish, surrounded by Paulo's flash gear and a "trade secret" cloth that gives the food a "bathed in sunlight" natural look.

In the photo above, Tina and Paulo discuss how best to lay out Regee's first dish, surrounded by Paulo's flash gear and a "trade secret" cloth that gives the food a "bathed in sunlight" natural look.

First, Chef Regee does the cooking on her two induction cookers

And behind every great chef, there is someone frantically chopping 

away!  Here is Ana, our kasam bahay, doing the preparation

I had to do some chopping as well but under strict supervision!

In the "magic room" Paulo begins to set up his photographic gear

 Tina takes Regee's dish and begins to develop the setting, 

the props and "styles" it to highlight color and texture

Paulo takes endless photos at different angles, settings and.... 

.....they are transferred directly to his computer.  He will decide 

with Regee and Tina what photo to choose for the book

A lot of Paulo's photos are taken from above

with a hand-held camera which demands balance!

Regee's Waldorf Salad in preparation.....

....and transformed by Tina and Paulo on Paulo's computer!

Look how Tina and Paulo took the individual ingredients of 

Regee's signature Coconut Shrimp Dip.....

....and deconstructed them in this photo 

on Paulo's computer!

A little background on the above photo.  Paulo wanted to show where the coconut meat had come from.  A coconut chopped in half was not considered original enough.  He wanted the meat scooped out but we did not have a proper scooper.  Without hesitation, Regee picked it up and ran outside in the pouring rain to find a scooper.  She found a lady in a sari sari store across the street who had a proper electric coconut scooper and Paulo and Tina got exactly the photo they wanted.  Phew!

And yes, we got to eat everything that Regee had cooked during the course of the day. Tina's food styling is completely natural so everything was edible after the shoot. The day ended well with our dinner beautifully "styled" and presented on the table in Tina's dining room.  Sarap strap.  We had had the earlier four dishes for lunch.  Food shoots have their benefits!

I mentioned earlier that Paulo and Tina had worked on a number of cookbooks together.  This is the latest book that Paulo and Tina helped to produce with Chef Tatung Sartou, a good friend of Regee's and an early member of CHOP.  The photos and food styling are breathtaking.  Regee could not have found a better and more accomplished team.  

Coincidentally, we were invited to the grand opening of Chef Tatung's new "Agos" restaurant last night in the Mall of Asia.  Evidently, Paulo was also thereabout we did not see him in the large crowd of diners.  As you can imagine, the food was simply amazing and I will be writing a separate blog on Chef Tatung in the future.  Here he is at the grand opening of Agos (which means "flow" or "wave" depending upon the context.  We like to think of it as "Going with the Flow".

Our first photo shoot was a fascinating day and it was both a pleasure and an education to observe Regee, Paulo and Tina working so effortlessly in tandem and I look forward to our next session this coming Thursday.  So, one last photo of Regee coming into the "magic room" to check how things were going.  A picture of concentration!

(This blog typed in haste at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where I found a reliable WiFi source and some great cappuccino.  Please excuse any typos.  No time to check the spelling before I am timed out)!