Dhanraj Emanuel Photographs Simple Ingredients for “Fully Fed Up” Cookbook

Stuck inside during the COVID-19 lockdown, a chef friend of Greensboro, North Carolina-based photographer Dhanraj Emanuel decided to create a cookbook based on the ingredients he had at home. “Fully Fed Up” features adaptable recipes that give readers the basics to a variety of dishes while allowing the reader to incorporate their own spin. He called upon Dhanraj to create the conceptual imagery for the cookbook.

Like all projects, taking something from concept to reality is a process riddled with doubt, dead ends, obstacles, and problems to solve. And during COVID the challenges increase: from conceptualizing the shots, shooting solo without a crew or stylist, to getting it all done in a short time frame.

The chef, Abraham Jacob, originally wanted to use Dhanraj’s stock imagery for the cookbook, but Dhanraj thought this would be a good opportunity to showcase his conceptual work for a commercial purpose. After consulting with the design and direction team, the photographer moved forward with his concept of using only ingredients from the dishes rather than portraying the dishes themselves.

A main source of inspiration for Dhanraj was board games, another quarantine life staple. The photographer drew from games like Tic-Tac-Toe, Mancala, Ludo, Darts, Carrom, and Chinese Checkers. He also used his knowledge from previous pigment drawing and beauty and aesthetics shoots, as well as his cultural knowledge of India.

In India, snack always means tea, so I used tea bags for the start of the ‘Small Plates and Snacks.’ It’s a tradition in India to put powders out in the morning and make these elaborate designs. And I’m drawing on the Buddhist ideal of putting something down and wiping it away.

Since the cookbook was created on a small budget, Dhanraj had to source the ingredients himself. Though the photographer was familiar with almost all of the chef’s recipes, he needed to be sure that he had enough of each ingredient for the shoot and that the ingredients looked fresh. Some ingredients, like tea bags, dips, and chutneys, were easy to find in his local grocery store, but others required Dhanraj to look a little further away.

For ‘Desserts,’ I used Chinese Checkers as inspiration. The Chinese Checkers were tough. I used these round paneer balls. I couldn’t get them in Greensboro, so I drove to Chicago, Illinois and bought them there. I could get just three colors.

A large part of Dhanraj’s concept was to shoot each image in one shot. That meant the photographer had to get the set up of each ingredient perfectly before shooting. His previous work with powders was helpful for informing how each powder would flow, and his knowledge of the dishes helped him decide which spices would express each chapter’s overarching ideas.

The powders I’m used to working with, and I’ve practiced how to just lay powders down and different methods to tap it to make it look nice, but the toughest part of this was frying that egg for the dartboard shot.

Dhanraj’s imagery can be found in “Fully Fed Up,” which was published on September 9, 2020.

Credits:
Chef/Author: Abraham Jacob
Book Design: Shonali Madpa
Ilustration: Joji Jacob
Direction: Paul Vinod

See more of Dhanraj’s work at dhanrajemanuel.com.

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