Food Blog Forum 2012 – Day 2

You can view my Food Blog Forum Day 1 post here.

Day 2

I was beyond excited to start day 2 of the Food Blog Forum. Our day started promptly at 8am. We had to take the monorail from the Polynesian resort, transfer at the Ticket & Transportation Center, and then another monorail to Epcot. Our Saturday seminar took place in the Odyssey Pavilion.

Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, a lot of attendees, including myself, were festive and wore green. We had a delicious breakfast and got settled for the seminar. The first presentation was Photography & Styling: Sharing  Your Food Story Through Your Creative Voice by Diane Cu and Todd Porter.

They presented on Focus, Balance, Texture, Color, Lines, Movement & Motion, Height, Moment and Story. Among the great advice Diane and Todd gave, were a few points that I felt were the most valuable.
 – Don’t compare your photographs to others
 – Authenticity is beautiful
 – Don’t be afraid of highlights and shadows
 – Mood, Feel, Voice, Message. Know what you want to say

Another presentation I thought was very valuable was David Leite’s How to Write Bigger, Better, More Badass Food Posts. David focused on twelve points in a “checklist” about how to write a better blog post. I could list them all here and discuss what he discussed, but I’m not going to. Instead, I am going to tell you something he told us, in fact, it is what stood out most from his entire presentation. “Write about life with honesty, authenticity and specificity.” I think that definitely sums up how I want to write and how I want to become a better writer.

Lunch at Epcot was an event in and of itself – Disney really does know how to throw a party!

This is just a sample of the amazing food offered to us…

In addition to the desserts, the Disney Pastry Chefs also had cake and chocolate showpieces decorating the tables.

After lunch, we headed back to the Odyssey Pavilion for our Round Table discussions. I chose Blog Design with Lindsay Landis, Writing Bigger, Better, More Badass Food Posts with David Leite, Photography & Styling Live Demonstration with Diane Cu and Aran Goyoaga, and Recipe Development & Writing with Jennie Perillo and Kelly Senyei.

All the sessions were extremely helpful, but I wish they were more than just 30 minutes each. Lindsay did a question and answer type session and focused on specific blog design questions we had. David did basically the same thing, and went into more detail on helpful writing tips. Diane and Aran styled and shot a salad in front of us, and showed us a little of the process between a food stylist and food photographer. Jennie and Kelly talked to us about the different types of recipe categories for blogs and tips for writing and testing recipes. I’m glad I chose those four round tables, because they are what I am currently focusing on trying to improve at the moment.