Monday, July 22, 2024
Giving a Hand - by Vince Kehn
Early in February 2021 my daughter invited me to test some recipes for an upcoming cookbook project for the Quadra Island Children’s Centre. A Taste of Quadra Island: Island Cookery III was going to be the third fundraising cookbook in 30 years for the Quadra Children’s Centre. Recipe testing led to suggestions of taking some photographs of cooked dishes. When I submitted some shots of the food I had cooked and styled, the committee was impressed. They asked me if I would be interested in doing photography for the project. Their idea was to have volunteers cook some recipes, then have them photographed in their houses or outdoor environs. They also wanted any photography to have a strong sense of place, as Quadra Island is special that way. I said I didn’t do food photography. As I thought about it, my early years cooking in the hospitality industry and my life long love of cooking really did make me an ideal candidate for taking on food photography. So I said yes, I would take on some of the photography. This morphed into doing the feature photography and curating and editing of all submitted photographs from other volunteers.
As I started to practice photographing food items, it became apparent that just cooking recipes and then taking some shots was overly simplified. Preparing, styling, composing and lighting the food took a fair bit of time, but the results were worth the effort. The book committee started to change their thinking on how the book would look as the food photography really upped the caliber of the project. We did some marathon sessions of food prep, styling and then photography. As the work progressed, my skills and feel for the work grew.
The committee had been tossing around many ideas on front and back covers for the book but nothing had been hitting the mark. I suggested one photo of some seared tuna, it was considered but didn’t immediately win approval. It went on to prove to be the hook that had people picking up the book to have a look and then the quality of the content and photography sealed the deals.
By mid November 2021, with the help of 183 volunteers, the final edit of A Taste of Life on Quadra Island: Island Cookery III was at Friesens for printing. With a lot of nail biting we waited for the printed books to run the gauntlet of supply chain issues and trucking delays to make it to Quadra Island just before Christmas. Much to everyone’s relief, book orders for Christmas were fulfilled. Distribution of the book for sales was initiated locally, eventually spreading to Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
For me, it was a whirlwind of photography, editing, back and forth with the book designer and the committee, more changes, and more editing. Then some long sessions soft proofing all the images to CMYK colour space and the printing profile for the paper used for the book. Soft Proofing was new for me. Take what you feel is a good looking image, make it look horrible and then try to make it look awesome again. It was challenging for sure but knowing that it was going to allow the printing process to translate the images to their best in print was critical.
In the end, it all came together to become this beautiful cookbook full of delicious recipes, appetizing photography and anecdotes of Island life and Island folks.
It was great experience to work on this project and I learned so much. The people were dedicated and hard working and I was proud to be part of the team.
As of early 2024, A Taste of Quadra Island, Island Cookery III had generated over $85,000.00 ( $36 at a time) of revenue for the Quadra Children’s Centre. This revenue has enabled them to install new heat pumps and work on other renovations. It will also provide a small stream of revenue for years to come. This is a great help for a non-profit that is always financially challenged.
Check out the Island Cookery III website for more details about the book and how to purchase it. Plus, there are recipes and a blog to keep you craving the food you will make from this cookbook.
Thanks so much for supporting the Quadra Children's Centre
Vince Kehn
