Eat.Drink.Blog food photo competition -- or -- A Detective's Dilemma.

I'm entering a food photography competition. It is part of Eat.Drink.Blog, an annual conference for Australian food bloggers.

The entry criteria limits entry to photos that have been used in a blog post published between 1 March and 1 September. Which kind of sucks because I have photos I'd like to use which were published outside of those dates. Oh well.

I've been through my posts for that 6-month period and have a shortlist. But now I have a problem, because my shortlist is seven and I'm only allowed to enter three photos. Which is more of a problem because there are no judging criteria -- at least, none that I can find.

My initial thoughts are:
* they want something striking -- an image that immediately captures your attention
* the photo should be interesting -- try to tell a story or invoke emotion/curiosity.

I have done some digging into the judges to see if that sheds any light on the kind of thing they're after.

"Grant has been a newspaper and magazine photographer for 40 years working around Australia and abroad." His bio is incredible. He knows his stuff. Not much about what he'll be looking for, but his profile photo is artfully shot, and his photography website has arty photos, mostly of people.

"Sky loves working with food stylists and photographers to ensure Sumptuous recipes are not only beautiful to look at but also inspiring to readers." See above re striking, capture attention.

"Sneh Roy is a designer, illustrator, photographer and food stylist from Sydney, Australia." She won last year's competition. I took a quick look at her blog and saw one photo of Billy Law (for an interview), three nicely-styled food photos (two from the same vantage point), and this photo of a chocolate-smeer moustache.


Putting all this together, I figure my best bet is to enter artfully composed photographs including interesting people and well-styled food that inspires readers.

A pity that they're not the kind of photos I take.

So, here is my shortlist (also at Flickr, with descriptions).

Orange, NSW -- or -- Wines and Truffles and Nuns (oh my!)

Around this time last year, cheese blogger Claire at You're So Blue Vein came back from Orange with a tale of truffles and wine and food. Jealousy reigned. This year? This year it was my turn.

Disclaimer: Detective Chow paid for everything out of his own pocket. But, gosh, he'd be pleased to be invited somewhere on a press junket. So if you own a country town, regional centre, capital city, tropical island etc he's just an email away...

Goblin Cafe, Summer Hill -- or -- Day Watch

Well. It's not often I go out for brunch. It's something easily made at home. Usually paid-for brunch is reserved for times of travel. So, something of a treat to eat brunch in my own neighbourhood.

Momofuku Seiōbo -- or -- The toughest meal in town

I had never heard of Momofuku before they opened a restaurant in my town. But it seemed they came with their own reputation. And a lot of hype. Thought I'd try to get my hat on their stand and see what all the fuss was about. That's what I thought. Turns out that was one hard nut to crack.

Overheard in Food #1 -- or -- What people are talking about when they're talking about food

So, this week F.S.I. online turns one. I'm actually quite surprised this has come around so quickly, but then I suppose I have been neglecting things a little of late. Somehow I managed 52 posts (53 including this one, and 54 including another one I later deleted) in 52 weeks, and a little over 27k page views in the year. An average of one post and 500 views per week is not bad for someone who does this in spare spare time. And when you consider that a 'quick post' usually takes around 3-4 hours to write. (Some, like Marque, took around 12 hours.)

If you're interested in stats there are more below the comic.

I thought I'd try something a little different this week. Yes, I have reviews to write (about Momofuku and about truffles) but, gee Molly, I'll get to it soon OK?