Photographer- Carl Kleiner

 Carl Kleiner, a photographer from Sweden, teamed up with stylist Evelina Bratell for the company IKEA. In this project titled 'Homemade is best,' they focus on the recipes, and creating these innovative photographs in which compliment the recipes.

Moodboards for Carl Kleiner

You can see from this image that there are various ingredients which have been accurately placed onto a pastel coloured surface. The ingredients that are presented, are all the components to create a product, therefore, insinuating that the ingredients shown within this composition will combine to create something specific. The composition has been taken from directly above, showing a birds eye view. The photograph itself is cropped into rectangular dimensions which compliments the shapes of some of the ingredients. The ingredients are intricately placed on the surface creating a neat and tidy composition. Subjectively, the ingredients shown could be placed in the order that they are added into the recipe. The orderly composition reminds me of the mental illness, OCD. If something appeared to be out of place in this photograph, then the photograph would not have the same impact as it does now. The coloured background that is used in the majority of Kleiner's work, compliments the ingredients. They either reflect the colour of the ingredients or the outcome, this gives you an indication at what is likely to be achieved, therefore giving a feeling of satisfaction. 

My Response;

As an initial response to the photographer Carl Kleiner, I wanted to focus on the colours that Kleiner uses within his work. I started by choosing food items that contain vibrant colours so that it could compliment the colour scheme within Kleiners work and also the OCD effect. I separated the colours of the skittles out onto a white background using the studio flash. 

Moving on from skittles, I chose some baked items so that it relates to my project, I chose digestive biscuits and flapjack squares. I picked these specifically because of their shape and uniform. I layer these out onto the white surface and created a order as I placed them down. With the topic of OCD in mind, I created some compositions that compliment this. Improving on these, I found that my lighting wasn't suitable. As you can see, there are harsh shadows present, specifically within the photographs of the biscuits. This was due to the fact I only had one flash, I placed the flash high up beaming down onto the subjects, however, it was not directly proportional to the food. Also, I found it difficult to block the lighting whilst taking the shots as I ended up leaning over the subjects. 

RESPONSE- Further Experimentation;

For my second attempts, I wanted to solve the harsh shadows caused by the lighting that I discovered in my first attempts. I decided to take some different food items and take them into the studio with the black backdrop. I used the same processes and layout as I did with my first attempts- The lighting was placed shining down upon the food, and I stood on a chair to get the overhead angle. I found these results much more successful, as the black removes the harsh shadows that the white background picked up. The vibrancy of the colours are much more noticeable within these compositions. 

For my last attempts, I experimented with using coloured surfaces, similar to Kleiner's work. I used 2 different pastel coloured paper and placed it on the table that I was using in the studio. I chose to use a pale yellow and orange as I felt that they compliment the colours of ingredients well. I am particularly drawn to the photograph of the all pink sweets on the pale yellow background. The mood that this photograph gives, is one that is very calm because the colours are subtle. Yet I find that the order creates slight tension within the composition. I am pleased with my second attempts, and am confident that if I take this into my developments, I can successfully experiment with this.