THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9408300044
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: MORSELS
SOURCE: RUTH FANTASIA
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
``WE'RE GOING FOR excessive decadence here - can you tell?'' said Marcel Desaulniers, adding another berry to the bowl.
The executive chef and co-owner of the Trellis restaurant in Williamsburg was feeling artistic last week. He and pastry chef Jon Pierre Peavey huddled in the back of the restaurant kitchen, arranging trays of chocolate-dipped fruit into a bowl.
Lemon-size strawberries and dried peach and pear slices towered above the rim. Bunches of grapes were so smothered in chocolate, we couldn't see the stems draped over the side of the pedestal bowl.
It was dessert fit for a Roman orgy, but this dish wasn't being prepared for special guests, or for any of the 150 or so customers dining in the restaurant. It was going straight to the basement - a feast for the eyes of photographer Michael Grand.
Grand is making photos for ``Desserts to Die For,'' Desaulniers' fourth cookbook, due out next year from Simon and Schuster.
Grand and Desaulniers have teamed before, on ``The Burgermeisters'' (Simon & Schuster, 1994) and ``Death by Chocolate, The Last Word on a Consuming Passion'' (Rizzoli, 1992).
Grand's skill with cookbook photography is no accident.
``I love to eat,'' he said. ``I used to be a cook who liked to take pictures. Now, I'm a photographer who likes to cook. The secret is to have a repertoire, a relationship with the subject. It doesn't matter if it's a person or food.''
Other than in California, the 39-year-old New Yorker didn't say where he spent time in the kitchen. He shrugged off the question like a tattered overcoat. What matters to Grand is the here and now.
``It's my job to reinforce the special nature of these desserts,'' Grand said. ``Marcel's great to work with because he's so provocative and expressive. He's not afraid to break the rules and play with the food.''
``Michael's developed a really in-your-face style of photography since we did `Death By Chocolate,' '' said Desaulniers, adding another strawberry to the bowl. ``That suits us well for this book because our mantra was `Go for the Throat.' ''
Over the top, Marcel, take it over the top,'' Grand yelled through the window of an adjoining room.
How far are Desaulniers and Grand willing to go with this book? Recipes like Madonna Cake, designed after the pop singer's bustier , lend a clue.
Sometimes, what you don't see in one of Grand's photographs can be as important as what you do. Consider crystal glasses casting shadows around a dish of ice cream.
``Michael has this great ability to mimic sunlight,'' said Christopher Bain, photography director for the Michael Friedman Publishing Group. His company is is producing the book for Simon & Schuster. ``Doing this type of photography is a real challenge, and Michael rises to the occasion.''
Grand and his crew use Polaroid instant pictures to set up the shot. The Polaroids lack the clarity and color depth needed for publication, but it's enough to create the arrangement. They shoot four or five photos until the setting is perfect. Then they load the film that will be used in the book.
``The truth is,'' Grand said, ``we spend two weeks down here shooting hundreds of rolls of film and we haven't seen the first picture. That's really a scary way to work.''
On the shot of Chocolate Drenched Fruit, Grand suggested rearranging a few strawberries, so the stems create a more random pattern, and cutting other stems shorter. A barely bruised berry requires replacement.
``This has to look better than it would if we were serving it in the dining room,'' Desaulniers said.
Although this dish made it through photography with only minor adjustments, other desserts, such as ice cream, are less lasting.
``We may have to make something five or six times in order to get one shot,'' Desaulniers said.
The weather was so hot during shooting for ``Death by Chocolate'' that one photo required more than 12 dishes.
Jazz CDs played softly as Grand and his assistants, Paul Whicheloe and Tori Shearer, wove in and out of the seven tripods holding camera lights and backdrops. Everything in the room seemed to point to the milk-crate table that held the dessert.
Photo crewmen work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They've scheduled two weeks to shoot about 60 recipes.
But there are rewards to the long hours.
``Here Tori, you do the honors,'' Grand said.
Within minutes, the crewmen were licking chocolate off their fingers. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ROBIE RAY
Photographer Michael Grand sets up a shot for ``Desserts to Die
For,'' a book collaboration with Trellis chef Marcel Desaulniers.
by CNB