Cincinnati-based photographer Marlene Rounds was having a conversation with her friend (also a photographer) about an experience she had with an art buyer. The art buyer had been perusing her friend’s printed photography book. Additionally, he asked if she had any pictures of apples as only oranges appeared in the book.
This request got Marlene thinking about the phrase “comparing apples to oranges.” He decided to create a picture with both fruits. (Why aren’t they comparable?) Marlene was quite taken with the resulting picture. After sharing the image with her food stylist friend, she decided to run with the idea and use it as a jumping-off point for a personal project.
To plan for the rest of the shots, Marlene put together a mood board of inspiring images. While many contemporary images and ideas inspired her, Marlene also cites Irving Penn’s food photography as an influence for this project.
Much like Penn, Marlene wanted to take pictures of food unexpectedly. However, he also wanted to add a sense of modernity to the photos.
Seeing food presented in new ways is always fun for me… I mainly shoot products and food and I liked that these pictures were a combination of the two in a lot of ways.
Marlene emailed the mood board to food stylist Jeffery Martin, and they later discussed the details over the phone.
I had already made the first piece, so the set-up was pre-determined. Now, it was just a matter of fleshing-out the nuts and bolts.
Marlene had a blast making the pictures. It was her first time working with Jeffery. She was enthusiastic about how productive and seamlessly they worked in the studio together.
We cranked up the 80s jams and just went with it…lot’s of fun!
Although most of the shoot went smoothly, Marlene knew photography often necessitates problem solving. There was one particular image where the ingredients just weren’t coming together to create a solid image. Marlene is thankful she didn’t spend too much time working on a fruitless image.She knew when it was time to move on to something else.
Although people commonly believe that pink is feminine, she wanted to remove these associations and reclaim the color as less gendered.
I always felt pink was off-limits because I didn’t want to seem too girly, but I have always loved the color and it compliments my business and favorite color turquoise nicely.
Marlene was happy with how everything came out, and she enjoyed the entire creative process, especially her collaboration with Jeffery.
Looking ahead, Marlene is currently working on expanding the project through additional pictures and by creating stop-motion animations using the same setup.
See more of Marlene’s work on her website.
Further Reading
Read more about Marlene Rounds.
Read more about Food/Drink photography.
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