Cook & Click Workshop with Elaine and Morgan

This sounds like lots of fun to me.  Spend two consecutive Saturday mornings cooking with cookbook author and journalist Elaine Corn, then photograph the food you make with award-winning photographer and picture editor Morgan Ong.  These professionals bring their expertise to Beatnik Studios in Sacramento for a first-ever cooking and photography class using a combination kitchen-studio.

It’s all hands-on and open to anyone of any cooking or photographic ability: bloggers, photographers, foodies and anyone interested in cooking and food photography.

Just bring your camera, be it cell phone, point-and-shoot or advanced digital SLR.  They’ll cover aspects of all digital imaging devices.  Elaine said you’ll leave well-fed with new cooking skills and camera tricks to photograph the food you love.  In a nutshell:

* cook in a group and learn techniques to improve your hand-work, knife skills, and gain confidence in knowing when food is done;
* cook with a seasoned culinarian at your side;
* eat and enjoy the food you make, then take a set-aside portion to the photography area;
* improve your photography skills with one-on-one assessment of your equipment, whether camera, camera-phone, or digital point-and-shoot;
* unveil powerful capabilities you never knew existed on some of the most basic camera devices;
* acquire skills in camera adjustments and settings specific to food photography;
* shoot fresh handmade food and instantly have your work assessed in live tutorials;
* learn framing and composition, even if you’re in a restaurant setting;
* sharpen techniques to avoid problematic shadows and over-exposures;
* enhance images with props and styling.

Class specifics:

Date:  July 10 & 17, 2010
Time:  9:30 am to noon
Cost:  $90 per person (total for 2 weeks)

Location:  beatnik studios, 2421 17th Street, Sacramento, CA – (916) 443-5808

Registration:  (916) 501-1202 – Fees collected at the door for 1 week or 2 weeks.

About the instructors:

Morgan Ong spent several decades as a photographer and picture editor, including work with the Associated Press, Knight-Ridder and McClatchy Newspapers. While at AP, Morgan’s photojournalism appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, and Time and Newsweek magazines. He shot more than 50 food assignments for The Sacramento Bee’s food section. Morgan’s photojournalism was part of the collection “Without Words: The Sacramento Bee’s most powerful Photographs” exhibit in 2007 at the Crocker Museum.

Elaine Corn is a former news editor turned food editor and author. She’s covered food for more than 25 years, starting as founding food editor at the Austin American-Statesman. She’s held food editor positions also at the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Sacramento Bee. While at the Bee, Elaine took the food section into award territory, gaining wins for Best Food Section, Best Food Reporting and several awards for column writing from the Association of Food Journalists. Elaine is author of six cookbooks. Now You’re Cooking: Everything a Beginner Needs to Know to Start Cooking Today won Julia Child and James Beard cookbook awards. The past five years, Elaine has covered food as Contributing Reporter for Capital Public Radio, the NPR affiliate in Sacramento.