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Maple Taffy

Maple Taffy
14" x 17", oil on Bristol board, 2020,
private collection.

I was assigned to document this year's Ice Box event (February 2020) in photos and video and I noticed, almost without fail, that my first few shots taken outside would be overexposed (if I had come from shooting indoors) and the first few shots taken inside would be underexposed (if I had come from shooting outside).

On the second weekend, Chef Chris Byrne and food stylist Ruth Gangbar were making maple taffy from local maple syrup on a makeshift apparatus recreating the methods used in sugar shacks. When reviewing my first few photos, I noticed this one of a young girls enjoying a sweet treat was way overexposed with everything but her red hair being blown out. I really liked the "minimalist use of negative space" that my incorrect camera settings "designed" for me, so I kept it to paint later on.


Here's the time lapse video of its creation:




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