Foodbuzz Content Session - Part 2

Okay, final post on Foodbuzz, I promise!

So after the Featured Panel Discussion, we broke for sessions. I signed up for the DSLR-Free Zone lecture and stayed around for the Effective Social Networking even though I had not originally signed up for it. It was worth my time to hear what they had to say.

The DSLR-Free Zone lecture was presented by Angi Chau (Rice and Wheat), Chuck Lai (Foodgawker) and Greg Henry (Sippity Sup). They are amazing bloggers and they do it without the use of a DSLR, which is fabulous because I don't have one. I'm so sorry for the foggy photo. They all deserved to be seen in crystal clear images. They offered up some of the most useful photography tips for food images!

Greg is a professional celebrity photographer by trade but he uses a point-and-shoot for all the images on his food blog. This boggles my mind! Here are some of his tips that I was able to jot down on how to have drool worth food photos using a point-and-shoot.
     1) Simplify your image by removing clutter and unnecessary object out of the way. Don't ask your
         point-and shoot to do more than it is capable of doing.
     2) Narrate - your image should tell a story. Use props and color palette only if it helps with the flow of
         the story.
     3) Compose - Take time to set the stage for your food/plating. Use a "stand-in" to adjust for angle and
          lighting so that when your food is ready to plate, the image will already be shoot ready.
     4) Refine - edit/chop image in a way to help tell the story.

Angi who blogs over at Rice and Wheat talked about using a Micro Four Third format. A Micro four third camera is mirrorless, has a digital screen instead of  a viewfinder and there are currently only 8 manufactures that produces these cameras.
     Pros - closer in size to a point-and-shoot than a DSLR, electronic viewfinder, fewer moving parts,
     deeper depth of field for equivalent aperture.    
     Cons - Small sensor, no optical viewfinder, auto focus is slower than DSLRs, fewer lens choices,
     deeper field, you need to walk up close to the image, produces "noisy" images in low lighting.

Chuck blogs using images solely from his iPhone (by using his Instagram App). He says that the best camera you can own is the one that is always with you. Makes sense! He also says that he likes to take pictures with his iPhone because it is more discrete. Here are some tips from Chuck on how to make your Instagram images look their best.
     1) Good lighting - when you first walk into a room/restaurant, evaluate the setting and identify the
          light source and pick your seating according to the direction of the light.              
     2) Prepare your composition - clear the table around your image, compose the shot, capture the dish
         from multiply angles, take the photos quickly as not to "weird out" the other diners.
     3) Post process - make adjustments in photo editing software and crop in closer.
     4) Low/Bad Lighting - bring your own light source (LED light). 

Finally, Irvin Lin (Eat the Love) and Stella Parks (BraveTart) spoke about Effective Social Networking! Irvin is very upbeat and friendly and Stella, well she is a CIA trained pastry chef! I know, right? This presentation was very interesting to me because I am shy in-person and socializing online is like a dream come true. I can use all the tips I can get. Irvin and Stella both emphasized that you should use social media to increase your readership not just your hits. They said it was important to get to know your readers and develop a connection with them for long term success.

Some tips that they gave on how to effectively use social media:
     1) Be yourself - seems like a no brain-er but apparently there are a lot of fakers out there or else why
         would they keep reiterating this point. :)
     2) Don't keep retweeting about your new blog post. It may cause some people to unfollow you. If you
         do retweet about new blog postings, do it creatively.
     3) Klout, Facebook and Google+ are other good social media platforms to be involved with.

Okay, that's all I have. Well that's all I have time for this. And that is the end of my Foodbuzz posting.

I am on my way out to Santa Barbara this weekend to run a marathon. Pray to the weather gods for me that it doesn't rain...too much! Have an awesome weekend!

Foodbuzz Gala Dinner

The Gala Dinner was hosted at the Grand Hyatt Ballroom and sponsored by Alexia. This pretty light fixture hung above the escalator that led us down to the lower level to the reception area.

Open bar...yes please!

Appetizers courtesy of Alexia! I like french fries, don't get me wrong, plus these are actually baked and not fried but I would have liked something else along with the fries. Something to break up all the potato. Why so much fries, well these are blogger recipes that we were asked to sample and vote on. Okay, it's a tough job but someone has to do it.

The stage was set for the special guest!

Yum!

Well hello again Tyler Florence! Whatcha cookin'?

Delicious juicy pork chops you say. How did you know the key to my heart is through my stomach? I think someone needs to quickly invent smell-o-vision because it smelled amazing inside that ballroom during the cooking demo.

Pre-dinner appetizers...you know in case you still had space in your stomach after all that french fries.

This Bibb lettuce salad was so good! So good! The lemony bleu cheese dressing was heavenly!

Things started to head south after the salad course. The Surf and Turf dinner was meh! Meh=uninspired. I use that word a lot...for me it means when a dish is not very creative.

Dessert trio - I was not impressed and I love dessert.

Look how much was still on the plate after I was finished eating. This is a rare scene.

Foodbuzz Taste Pavilion (aka Day of Gluttony)

I'm going to talk about the Foodbuzz Taste Pavillion today because I have way too much notes from the second part of my Content Session post so it will take some time for me to type it up. But here is some food eye-candy. So after the Content Sessions, Foodbuzz had buses take us over to the Metreon for the Taste Pavilion.

The Metreon is a movie theater/shopping/eating complex! 

 

Check out the view from the 4th floor of the Metreon!

Okay, forget about the view. Check out the food!

And more food!

And my favorite category of food...DESSERT!

Need something to wash all that food down! 

These heat and serve ciabatta rolls from Alexia frozen food products were surprisingly delicious. I would serve this at home. I would probably eat the entire batch myself so I'd give everyone else a one minute headstart.

You know what else Alexia had? Chef Tyler Florence! Yeah Alexia has everything a girl needs! I've been watching Tyler on the Food Network for many years now and it was such a great opportunity to get to meet him in person. He was so nice. He told me that he almost named his daughter Madison. It was their second choice. I tell this story to anyone who will listen to it. Want to hear it again?

I only have one plate shot for you but just multiply this plate by about a hundred and you get the idea. This plate of seafood inspired delights was provided by Alaska Seafood. Out of everything I ate at the Taste Pavilion, this stood out in my mind. So good!

Mission Minis Cupcakes. You know I had a bunch of these babies as cupcakes are near and dear to my heart but surprisingly they were not as great as they look. I hate to diss a cupcake but these were bland and uninspired.

Needless to say that after this three hour eating fest, I was ready to collapse into my bed! And I did, I almost missed the Gala Dinner due to my food coma.

Foodbuzz Content Discussion

Look at this road construction mess near my hotel that I had to maneuver through to get to the Foodbuzz sessions on Saturday morning. I'm so proud of me. Not only did I use the BART like a champ in SF but...

...I also learned how to use the MUNI. This is big for me because I drive everywhere!

I even made it there with time to spare.

Foodbuzz advertised this as a "light" breakfast but look at this spread.

This was the panel for the featured discussion (Taking Your Blog to the Next Level). They gave lots of good advice on how to get your blog "popular". Sounded like a lot of work to me and I already have a full time job. But here is a bullet point list of what they talked about.

       - Develop your own voice and don't try to mimic anyone else as it will be transparent. Be unique and
          put your own spin on it.
       - If you love what you do, you will spend more time on it and it will show. Be passionate about your
          subject matter.
       - Always be yourself.
       - Regarding photos: use natural lighting when possible, Adobe lightroom is a good photo editing
         software, use props to enhance your food photos but only if it helps to tell a story not just as
         "decor".
       - Share stories to engage and create a connection with your readers.
       - Be active on social media resources such as Twitter/Facebook.
       - It takes a lot of time spent and hard work to create a post that looks effortless.

As I said, I already have a job and this is about the extent of how much time I can dump into this hobby. Unless Nike wants to sponsor me! I'm currently a free agent. :)

I met Mama Pea! She is a lovely person and so enviously tall! She squatted down so that I didn't look like such a dwarf next to her.

Mama Pea hand carried her famous dough balls to the session and I had the good fortune of snagging one. Yum!

Next up, what I learned from the DSLR-Free Zone and Effective Social Networking sessions.

Foodbuzz Farewell Brunch

I left the gala dinner early last night because I am just not a hearty traveler and was already really sleepy by the time 9pm rolled around. Let's just say that I got a lot of sleep last night with the addition of an extra hour thanks to the time change.

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and hungry. Definitely hungry. I took the BART to Perry's on the Embarcadero for the Foodbuzz Farewell Brunch.

The brunch was sponsored by Godiva. 

Mimosas and bloody marys were made to order.

Godiva coffee!

And the food! Oh the food. So much food!

Plate #1

Plate #2

Now I need to go and run 1000 miles to burn off all the calories I consumed this weekend. Wow Foodbuzz you sure know how to throw a shindig! I got some great blogging tips and had some tasty food! I took a bunch of notes during yesterday's sessions that I will type up in the next few days. So happy to be back home and sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Foodbuzz Welcome Reception & Awards Dinner

I'm going to make this quick because if I don't post this up now, I'm probably never going to get to it. Plus, I am really sleepy after eating all that delicious food at the Foodbuzz Welcome Reception and Awards Dinner. Get this...I didn't win any awards, shocking right? I came for the food anyways and it was all good!

Some bad photos are about to follow due to very low lighting in certain parts of the Terra Gallery. Basically just about any where I happened to be when I want to take a photo it seems.

Bloggers doing what they do best, networking. I am terribly shy so this was a nightmare for me. I guess I was suppose to come prepare with some blog business cards to hand out. I didn't have any. It was a travesty! Although I did meet some very nice people here and found some new blogs to read.

And of course the food kept me company. Because you know, they don't judge. This spread was sponsored by Sabra!

So this was plate one of seven. What? I eat when I am nervous. Thank goodness it was mostly healthy.

Later we all headed upstairs for a buffet style dinner. These were winning recipes submitted by bloggers for a Foodbuzz contest. I had a piece of chicken (upper left-hand corner of photo) and it was good. A bit undercooked but good.

Small plate action station consisting of a pork belly dish and a seared scallop dish. They were both outstanding. I especially enjoyed the seared scallops served with mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower and sliced green grapes. I took a bite with all the elements of the dish and it worked well together. I might try to replicate this at home.

More amazing food sponsored by Electrolux. The photo in the center are salt cod cakes and they were so crispy.

So I had already eaten too much by the time they started setting up the dessert buffet but I just could not say no to dessert. I mean how could I, just look at it!

So my photos are terrible because well first I have a point and shoot and second this was my light source.

There was so much food and eating going on that you almost forget that this is a gallery with pretty art on display. This one caught my eye.

Hosted bar!

Deanna Brown, CEO of Federated Media started up the award ceremony. I didn't hear half of what she was saying because the mic was either on too low or people in the room were just talking too loud over her.

Jen Che, winner of last year's Project Food Blog Contest. She was telling a nice story about how she was donating the money she won from the contest to a charity but I only heard half of that story as well since people in the audience were talking even louder amongst themselves at this point, at least where I was sitting. It's a shame because she was actually doing something nice for her community but half the people there weren't even paying attention.

 Wow, who's plate is this? What a pig!

Fine, it may have been mine.

The line for the dessert buffet was crazy long at one point.

Dessert made by Sabra...hmm, could it have hummus in it? Don't know but it was not tasty.

Found Sister J in the crowd downstairs towards the end of reception so we sat next to each other at dinner. Here she is enjoying a watermelon flavored beer.

A nice warm cup of tea to put an end to an evening of over indulgence. If only I was running a marathon tomorrow to burn off all the calories I stuffed in my face today. I'll be good when I get home. Promise. Good night!