Last week I was invited to attend a food photography workshop for food bloggers and journalists, hosted by Pando Restaurantes and Gourmedia. It had been awhile since I’d been to the Pando central location in calle San Eloy and I was impressed by the changes to the premises, which were modern without being modernist, and comprising an indoor “terrace” at the front, a large bar area, an interior patio, and a dining room. The photography workshop was held in the bar area, and our tutor for the evening was professional food photographer, and my old friend, Manolo Manosalbas.
Manolo Manosalbas in action
During the course of a fun and informative evening we got to practice our photographic skills on (and later eat) five dishes from Pando’s new menu created by chef Manolo Mediavilla, selected to present a variety of challenges to the budding photographer. Manolo gave us some tips and hints on how to add a variety of perspectives and points of view to our photos, to maintain awareness of lighting and background and give greater depth to photographs, and kept watch over our efforts.
At the end a copy of the book Macuro Tapas, with fabulous food photography by Manolo, was given away as the prize in a raffle, for the further encouragement and education of the lucky winner (who happened to be my pal Peter from @SVQconcierge).
You can see the results of the participants’ photographic endeavours on Twitter and Instagram by using the hashtag #gastrofotopando. Here are my best shots from the evening…
Ensaladilla de gambas con mayonesa de manzanilla
Mejillones con coco y curry
Sopa de cigales con lomo de salmonete
Presa Ibérica de Bellota, soufflé de calabaza, crema de boletus
Biscocho de remolacha con crema de payoyo
It’s that time of year again – 
