BlogHer Food '10 : Agenda

Photographing food in your home kitchen or restaurants can be challenging, but it's not impossible to capture great shots. With a few simple photography principles, tips on lighting and efficient techniques on making the most of your surroundings, you can create mouth watering photographs in your kitchen or restaurant environment. Diane Cu and Todd Porter, the writers and photographers behind White on Rice Couple, are back to help you make the most of a restaurant setting or turn your home kitchen into a "mini-studio", using simple photographic guidelines to capture your best shot, to tell your food story (and still have a warm meal).

Even without an MFA in hand you can author an evocative food blog, where the writing is as tasty as the food you're writing about. Honor your passion for food by serving great writing as its accompaniment. Consider this session part one of a two-part series on writing for food blogs. Join award-winning blogger-author-journalists...Hunter Angler Gardener Cook Hank Shaw, Cheryl Sternman Rule, the blogger behind 5 Second Rule and S.j Sebellin-Ross, who writes at Forme of Cury...for a session that’s about the basics we too often forget: Good clean writing and editing, brainstorming and storyboarding, proper attribution, and much more.

You've gotten to a certain level with your photography. You're good at it; you know it, and increasingly other people do too. They are interested in your work or encouraging you to pursue photography more professionally.This session is led by Jen Yu from Use Real Butter and Helene Dujardin of Tartelette, who were both in different fields before transitioning into full-time photographers, and who will delve into the nitty-gritty of what this profession is really like. According to them the photography itself is probably only 20% of the job of being a professional photographer. As with any consultant or small business owner, the devil is in lots of details. Learn how to plan your workflow, build your portfolio, make business contacts, represent yourself as a professional photographer, attach value to your work, and essentially become a sales & marketing representative of your own work.

Once you've had your refresher course on all the basics of good, quality writing, it's time to bring out your unique voice. Some bloggers excel at telling compelling stories around food that put readers in a specific time and place, preferably with an emotional hook. Whether using words alone, or enhanced by images, telling a story is more than just an exercise in creativity, and it's not just for fiction writing. For food bloggers, it’s a smart strategy to draw new readers in and build ongoing reader loyalty. Learn how to convey the passion you feel and find your authentic persona in this session, from bloggers and storytellers Rebecca Crump of EzraPoundCake.com and Michael Procopio, with writing coach Dianne Jacob at the helm.

You love to try new ingredients while creating in the kitchen…but have you considered adding new ingredients to your blog? As your audience expands, engage them with more than compelling copy and great recipes: add engaging social networking, entertaining podcasts, breathtaking photography and exclusive video. In this session, Jaden Hair from The Steamy Kitchen, Nadia G. from Bitchin’ Kitchen and Dani Spies will speak about the evolution of their blogs and share tips to help you become a multimedia maven.

Your blog is the center of your online universe, but in this age of multiple social networking tools, it's got a lot of planets orbiting it. How do Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other tools help extend your voice and your personal brand, while being more than a glorified RSS feed -- or worse, coming off as spammy or self-serving? Join Sean Timberlake and Ree Drummond and Aida Mollenkamp to talk about how you can leverage various social networking tools in a way that adds value and authenticity to your community.

An instinctive eye can certainly help you create beautiful food images, but consistent and beautiful food styling also requires understanding the specific intricacies when food is your subject, not to mention strong creative thinking skills. In this session, Delores Custer, Adam Pearson and Tami Hardeman share the techniques of their trade and discuss successful styling tips, such as the use of light, composition and props, plus plating, assembling for the camera, considering camera angle and color combinations. Together, this trio will help you create visually-appealing and mouthwatering images.

As food bloggers, we can be profoundly inspired and renewed by the foods that make us each so different...foods we grew up with; foods that speak to our locality; foods that represent who we are as much as what we eat. These dishes represent our cultures, geography, ancestors, adopted philosophies and ethnic diversity. We write in ways that reflect our desire to preserve and share personal food memories and recipes. To pass them on, to our own families but also to introduce the foods we love to our readers who may not be familiar with them. Do you consider yourself a cuisine ambassador? Elaine Wu of Virgo Blue and BlogHer.com moderates this conversation with Donna Pierce from BlackAmericaCooks.com, Laura Beck from Vegansaurus.com and Srivalli Jetti, from Cooking 4AllSeasons, about how you can inspire others to enjoy a more diverse diet.

The food we photograph is presumably for human consumption, but how many of us share that human element in our food photography? Food photography can extend beyond the plate to share emotional connections and cultural stories. From open-air markets to foods straight off the cart, Penny De Los Santos will introduce you to thinking about food beyond the plate – combining photography, people, food and geography -- to help tell a richer food story.

No blog is an island; some level of community exists in every corner of the Internet, on every niche blog. But if that community isn’t continually nurtured and maintained, can it thrive? Let’s talk about supporting and giving voice to your community, and how it’s beneficial to you as the community organizer and to the overall food blogging community. Elise Bauer, already running her leading food blog, created the Food Blog Alliance. Considered an expert at growing by giving back, Elise moderates a discussion with Kristen Doyle, from Dine and Dish, who also launched the Adopt a Blogger program and the group food photography site, Culinary Snapshot, Ree Drummond from The Pioneer Woman who started her own online community, Tasty Kitchen and Alaina Browne, founder and General Manager of group blog Serious Eats. They'll discuss the hows and whys of building your community. You may feel like your blog keeps you plenty busy on its own, but there's no denying the power and value of giving your community a bigger voice.