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Fusion Gourmet Website | Food Photography

Winnie — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:36:30 +0000

One of the best things about this job is the people I meet along the way. Aside from doing what I love, it’s the people that I get to work with that really makes it worthwhile for me. When I first set out to shoot food, I think I was only expecting to create images and be happy with it. But it’s much more than that….it’s bringing to life the vision that someone has in their mind to reality and making it happen for them. Contrary to popular belief, shooting food doesn’t mean you get to shoot it whatever way you want, any way you want to and however you like. With every assignment and project, there’s limitations and boundaries based on the style the client wants, the look they are trying to achieve and the purpose of the shoot. It’s critical to take into consideration how the client will be using the images and to create the correct “look” for their use.

I was really really fortunate to work with the wonderful folks over at Fusion Gourmet and for the past 4-5 months, we’ve been working on various images for their new website. Though they had certain requirements and provided me with a lot of reference shots, we really got the opportunity to flex our creative muscles and pretty much did whatever we thought looked best for the product. It was one of those really rare opportunities to shoot the way we wanted and how we felt best showcased the website. Not only were they gracious enough to provide us with limitless samples (“Uh yes we need more products…..nomnomnomnom”) but they gave us free reign to really have fun at our own pace!

I’m really happy to announce that their new website has finally been launched and I hope you’ll get a chance to take a look at it in its entirety. I should mention that their products are absolutely sensational (and I’m not only saying that because they are my clients). They carry two delicious lines of products: Bali’s Best Candies and Dolcetto Wafers — so why not order some products while you’re visiting their site and taste for yourself how great their products are? Tell them I sent ya. You can really taste the quality of their ingredients and trust me, you’d wish you found out about them sooner if you haven’t already tried them before. I was actually quite surprised that a lot of people have already tried their candies/wafers – which you can get at Whole Foods among other places. My favorite are the Dolcetto Wafer Squares! Believe me, once you taste your products, you can’t stop at one.

I don’t know about you but I already know what I’m getting everyone for the holidays! Muhahahahaha.

Styling by: Peilin Chen Breller

Lee Kum Kee | Recipe Card Food Photography

Winnie — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:21:41 +0000

Oyster sauce. Hoisin Sauce. Black Bean Sauce. Surely you’ve heard of them before? Even if you haven’t, you’ve probably eaten something made from one of those sauces – especially if dining in a Chinese restaurant. One of the most famous sauce makers worldwide is Lee Kum Kee. No doubt you’ve seen something from them on the table of a Pho restaurant or the multitude of jars, bottles in all shapes and colors flanking the aisles of 99 Ranch Market. If you haven’t, just trust me.

I received an opportunity to work with Lee Kum Kee last November (yes I am THAT behind on my blog *weeps*) to shoot some images for their Vietnamese Recipe Cards. We shot 5 dishes in total but am sharing the first 3 below (gotta save *some* content for later right?). It took them awhile to produce these recipe cards so I really didn’t get to look at the final product until earlier this year. The cards are in English on one side and in Vietnamese (not shown here) on the other. I figured some of you may want to try cooking some of these so English uh, made more sense. We of course got the opportunity to taste the final dish made from the hands of their in-house chef and everything was really delicious – especially the Vietnamese “Shaking” Beef. You gotta try it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Great, now I’m craving Vietnamese food.

Food prepared by: Lee Kum Kee In-House Chef

Food styling by: Peilin Chen Breller

Chinese New Year Edibles Part 1 | Food Photography

Winnie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:23:14 +0000

Sure, Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us but you won’t see any red hearts or pink cookies in my kitchen….oh noooooo….this year Vday coincides with Chinese New Year on the Lunar Calendar and that my friends, take precedence above all else. Every year during Chinese New Year (which will be acronym-ed into “CNY” from hereon), my family makes some amazing food items for sale. It stems way way back when we owned a bakery (yes the type that made light fluffy cakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream) and Chinese customers would beg us to make some CNY favorites such as the brown sugar rice pudding, coconut rice pudding, water chestnut pudding and the savory daikon/turnip pudding and taro pudding. Most of you may have tried the daikon pudding at dim sum where the ladies would fry up little squares right in their cart. Unfortunately the ones at dim sum are usually without any real ingredients inside and you’re probably just eating a lot of flour. So I think this is why true foodies really love our stuff – it’s full of real ingredients you can taste and see! Even after our doors closed for over 15 years now, we still have customers calling.

One of the most popular and well received items is the double koi fish coconut milk pudding. It’s so beautiful that it would be a shame to not shoot some photos of it. My stylist was so awesome to pick up this amazing water-like platter to complement the fish. I still can’t get over how striking it is……some customers even comment that it seems “cruel” to cut into it. Haha. The amazing thing is that no two fish have the same pattern and you never know which one you’ll end up with. I still can’t get over how talented my mom is for making all these things.

The daikon pudding aka “law-baak-gao” is a favorite for many. After it’s pan fried, the outside has a crunchy layer while the inside is soft and savory with turnip. You’ll also expect to find some dried shrimp, chinese sausage, chinese bacon, shiitake mushrooms etc inside. I love to eat mine with a mixture of chili sauce, oyster sauce and hoisin sauce. Will showcase more CNY goodies again soon – gotta get back to cooking now.

Gung Hay Fat Choi!

Food Prepared by: My mom!

Food Styling: Peilin Chen Breller