Last week I was lucky enough to get sponsored to go to Camp Blogaway, a food blogger conference. I did notice later that this is mostly geared towards recipe and cooking bloggers, rather than someone like me who mostly does restaurant reviews. But no matter! I enjoyed myself and the panels that were presented to us bloggers that day.
The panel I was interested in the most was the Food Photography panel by Danny of Food Bloggers Unite. He gave some good tips on how to set up an area for food photography, taking into account your lightning, how to set up an lighted area, props and tricks you can use to diffuse light for your photos. While it won’t always apply to me, the tips and tricks were great to hear (and I took copious amounts of notes). I do a recipe here and there and it seemed mystifying to me how people did their food photos – I’ll have to do a little photography practice for recipes!
It was also interesting to hear about other bloggers’ gigs during the “How Bloggers Score Great Gigs” panel with Erika from In Erika’s Kitchen and L.A. Cooking Examiner, Rachael of La Fuji Mama and Jenny of Picky Palate. They talked about some of the great gigs they’ve done, how they got set up with those gigs, and more.
Something I took away from the conference (besides a nice swag bag and edible treats in my tummy), is knowing that some bloggers do this as a business and as a means to generate revenue. It made me think about what I want to do with this blog and if that’s a direction I want to take (and how awesome it would be to have that as a title on my business cars?!).
In any case, cheers to Patti from Camp Blogaway for organizing and putting together an event like this! They’ll be having a proper camp next April, up in the mountains and everything, if you’re a food blogger and interested in attending.
Since it was a food bloggers conference after all, there was of course a little “food competition” in the afternoon after lunch. Here are the photos of some of the really delicious treats that people brought in to share with their fellow food bloggers! Forgive me, I don’t remember what everything was and this is only a partial photo set of what was there – it was all good, of course! The items I enjoyed the most will be at the bottom.
Bloggers descend and take many photos!
And my favorites were:
Raspberry Streusel Bars
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
And of course, my #1 favorite is the blurriest photo of the bunch: Salted Caramel Chocolate Bars. Totally going to make these ASAP.
What an awesome opportunity to meet some food bloggers and compare notes.
I struggle with my blog too wondering if I do too much restaurants vs. recipe but I’m doing it because I like share information. What I say on my blog is normally what I would share with my friends and coworkers but on a more public level.
Yeah, I don’t think I’m ready to “take it to the next level’ so to speak. I do it because I like writing and taking photos. Gotta use that journalism degree I got for something…
Neat! And so cool to see all those people taking food pics all at once. Culturally we only do it during special occasions – People’s Birthday Cakes and maybe the token Thanksgiving turkey. Maybe slowly that would change… 🙂
Hey Dennis – I seem to get less strange looks when I am out taking photos now, that’s a plus. When I went to Croce’s for SDRW, the couple at the table next to us were talking photos of their food, too! I think it’s a new trend.
Hi Mary! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the Salted Caramel Chocolate Bars and that you’re gong to make them soon!! Woothoo! It was great meeting you at Camp Blogaway. Take care!!