{"id":14259,"date":"2011-10-15T11:22:30","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T11:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.tehelka.com\/?p=14259"},"modified":"2011-10-15T11:22:30","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T11:22:30","slug":"we-had-three-minutes-flat-with-each-dish-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/we-had-three-minutes-flat-with-each-dish-perfect\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We had three minutes flat with each dish. Perfect\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photographer<\/strong>\u00a0Rohit Chawla, 46, likes to shoot things that move. So his new coffee-table book The Fine Art of Food is an exception. Chawla ventured into the kitchens of The Leela hotel in Delhi and captured over 60 dishes prepared by chefs from across the world. Writer William Dalrymple proclaims in his foreword that the book celebrates the \u201cskill of new India\u2019s chefs\u201d. Chawla tells\u00a0Aradhna Wal<\/strong>\u00a0why it is important for good food to look appetising.<\/em>
\nEdited Excerpts<\/strong>
\n

\"Flavour<\/a>
Flavour of art<\/strong> Rohit Chawla<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nDoes food photography demand a different approach?
\n<\/strong>I have a very graphic, minimalist sensibility to most things. The Leela gave me this opportunity to play with design. The food from the restaurants Le Cirque and Megu was perfect for the concept \u2014 to concentrate on the food and to not get sidetracked by props. Minimalism is like Haiku poetry. I had to evoke the taste. So I stuck to the realm of the dish, without using extra ingredients.
\nHow would you describe your transition from high voltage fashion photography to minimalist food art?<\/strong>
\nWorking in advertising has instilled discipline in me. That is why I could complete this book in 15 days. No one has done food like this \u2014 focussing on its design aspect. Restaurants like el Bulli in Spain made food look sexy, but even they haven\u2019t done such a concept.
\nWhat were the particular challenges?<\/strong>
\nSince I shot the food from a top angle, it was difficult to bring out the shape and the contours of each dish. One hurdle was the powerful white light underneath the glass surface on which the food was placed. Its heat sorely affected the presentation. The ice cream would melt, so would the chocolate. We had three minutes flat for each dish. Which is perfect. Something that requires 30 minutes is boring. One person who helped me was chef Karan Suri. I could work spontaneously with him. There\u2019s no rocket science to food or any photo graphy. What you need is a brain, and you also need to be quick on your feet.
\n
\"Flavour<\/a>
Rohit Chawla<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nWhat dishes made the best and the worst models?<\/strong>
\nThe cover dish \u2014 Le Cirque\u2019s vegetable garden \u2014 is my favourite. I\u2019ve framed and hung it in my house. Another memorable one was the crispy fried red snapper with spicy mango sauce. William Dalrymple took one look and pronounced that it resembled the \u2018Unswept Floor\u2019 mosaic from 2nd century BC Greece. That was a happy coincidence. Indian food was hard. How do you make poori bhaji look stylistic? I had to pick food that was malleable, that I could set up aesthetically. This entire shoot is a tribute to Nouvelle cuisine that states good food should also look good.
\nWhich international food photographer do you admire?<\/strong>
\nNo one in particular. Looking at food bores me. This is the last time I\u2019m shooting food. I respond to design, whatever the subject. The digital age has forced us professionals to reinvent the eye. Some stick to simple document ation and call it a pure art form, but that\u2019s bland and lazy. We need to incorporate our style and personality into our photographs to push the boundaries.
\nAradhna Wal is a Trainee, Features with Tehelka.<\/em>
\naradhna@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photographer Rohit Chawla, 46, likes to shoot things that move. So his new coffee-table book The Fine Art of Food is an exception. Chawla ventured into the kitchens of The Leela hotel in Delhi and captured over 60 dishes prepared by chefs from across the world. Writer William Dalrymple proclaims in his foreword that the book celebrates the \u201cskill of new India\u2019s chefs\u201d. Chawla tells Aradhna Wal why it is important for good food to look appetising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[7051,7340,7341,7342,7343,7344,7345,7346,7347,7348,7349,7350,7173,2678,7351,7352],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}