In the Beginning: Let There Be Light

First thing you should learn about taking pictures (though many, many never do) is that it's all about the light. Even before holding the camera steady and getting your subject in focus, nothing you do is as important, especially if you're taking pictures of food. A digital camera makes it both too easy and impossible, since the everything looks bright on the tiny screen but the in-your-face flash washes out all the details. Oh, what to do? What to do?

Help is on the way. New York photographer Lou Mann (website: LouTheMan.com!!) is coming to teach our legions of food-blogging picture-snappers some tricks. Not that we don't have excellent food photographers and stylists locally; our friend Lara Feroni of PlatesAndPacks even ran a food photography meetup in Seattle, but Lou is the real deal, an out-of-town expert with cred. Ex-NY Times lensman, prof at the School for Visual Arts, "Olympus Visionary" (for the camera company), author of Digital Food Photography.

Mann will teach an all-day workshop called FoodSnap! at the Georgetown Studios on Friday, Sept. 18th. (It's an ideal venue for photography, often rented for commercials and advertising shoots, owned by photographer Kathryn Barnard herself a professional photographer.)

FoodSnap! is co-sponsored by Keren Brown Media (and food blooger, as Frantic Foodie) and the folks at Foodista.com. Tickets ($180) at BrownPaperTickets.com. A separate event this weekend at Rover's is already sold out.