Steni Simon By Express News Service KOCHI: Many of us may have felt the temptation to eat a particular dish after coming across a picture of it in an advertisement. It could be a plateful of juicy spaghetti, a fully-loaded milkshake with choco chips or even street food, like pani puri. For Mangaluru-based photographer Pradeep Javedar, who loves to tell stories with food, crafting appetising frames is a passion. A pharmacologist by profession, Pradeep is currently teaching clinical pharmacology at Yenepoya Medical College, Mangaluru. For the past seven years, he has also been a freelance photographer capturing travel, lifestyle and macro images of creatures in nature. Being a foodie, Pradeep used to visit every newly-opened restaurant in his hometown. He started clicking random photographs of the food he ate and this slowly became a hobby. “I loved exploring this genre although it has got many challenges. It is quite interesting, with many meticulous layers to it. I have been focusing on food photography for two years now,” says Pradeep. Pradeep has taken a few remarkable shots of dishes for a clientele that includes brands like Drnk Lab and other few projects. “They came across the food pictures on my social media accounts and approached me. A few projects down, I understood how to make each picture drool- worthy,” he says. Having spent most of his photography career shooting landscapes and people, Pradeep learnt to pay attention to the fine details around successful food photography. “There are things like the styling of your frame that reflect on your portfolio. I learned them through online tutorials by Joanie Simon, a Phoenix-based food photographer behind the instagram handle @thebiteshot. I was amazed by her styling and attention to detail,” he says.Pradeep conducted his first food photography workshop in Mangaluru after repeated request from bloggers who follow his work. “To get a single shot, it might time around a few minutes to an hour. As most of the shots are theme-based, I style the shoot and then bring in the food, so that it looks fresh,” says Pradeep. He will be conducting a three-hour food photography workshop at Space, near Law College Junction in the city on March 22. At the session, he will be focusing on the basics of food photography, including framing.

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