Teppanyaki Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

"Teppanyaki is a type of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word "teppanyaki" is derived from "teppan " which means "iron plate" and "yaki " which means "grilled." Typical ingredients used are beef, shrimps, scallops, lobster, chicken and assorted vegetables."

Of course we, westerners (heeuu… our American friends, mainly…), are never totally satisfied with whatever comes from those countries in the far East. Hence, we had to find a way to turn it into a show, hoping it would help with the digestion. "The “US made” teppanyaki differs from the traditional Japanese one in that the chef also performs a small show for the customers. The show can range from juggling utensils, flipping a shrimp into his shirt pocket, tossing an egg up in the air and splitting it with his knife to a flaming onion volcano.

I eventually ended this evening with a piece of duck meat on my front lens, hence the out of focus. But, it was well worth it, because the meal was delicious.

Bon appétit.

ps: text in italic copied from Wikipedia

Roly, Philippe, bnallama, falves, Michael_Gan, Elise_d, tcht has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

torben (3084) 2005-11-01 16:34

Oh god, I thought it was a lumber yard with cut of stumps of tree trunks.

It's certainly an intersting and daring experiment. Using the edges of the frame can be a very strong technique, and here it works to a certain degree. I still think that the sole piece of food almost in focus in the lower left corner should have been showed in full figure (full frontal vegetables).

It takes a moment to appreciate the very blurred figure of a man behind the smoke in the background. I really think that he is the one that saves the picture because he adds a necessary surprise to an image that otherwise balances on blandness.

Roly (1960) 2005-11-01 16:57

I love the story - I had been under the impression that the show was part of the Japanese tradition since I didn't see it in restaurants with other specific. The image doesn't quite do it for me, there simply isn't enough visual information in it. A bit more DOF, focusing on the guy in the back, or maybe on his hand...

eleparc (24059) 2005-11-01 17:17

the tilt and the blur are very interesting and give this shot a very graphic touch. Almost an abstract photo!well done gal
Eric

falves (1403) 2005-11-01 19:13

Hi Gal,
You naughty boy....
I'll not comment your photo. You know what I think of it.
I've been there this night, with my new toy. I'll fight back your photo, with one of mine.
BTW, it was delicious.
We all miss "Teppanyaki" with you.
Grande abração
Fred

Homerhomer (4005) 2005-11-01 20:39

Awesome shot Gal, Torben may have a point about whole slice in the frame, not sure, maybe. I think this is spectacular, at first I had no clue what's going on in this image, then I realized it's food, then I realized there is a person in the background (then I realized the person must be thinking "put this f...g camera away and let me have my meal in peace... then I realized it maybe another photographer sitting there..).
I love the fact that the experience grows on me as I explore, it all becames clearer but it needs time, to produce such an image at the restaurant table is simply amazing.
You know I am a big fan of your images and think your colour once are even better than your bw, absolutely top of the line.
Peter

cgrindahl (6109) 2005-11-02 2:40

Very creative offering here Gal. I'm more inclined to interpret the blur however as evidence of one too many glasses of saki and not a piece of duck meat... ;-)

You take full advantage of the Canon Digic II processor at ISO 1600 shooting in the low-light situation. I agree with Torben that the man at the opposite side of the table behind smoke either from the table or his own cigarette, with a glass of beer handy adds much to the composition. I like the brghter window behind him as well. One definitely has to work a bit to discern what is happening here, but the effort is well worth it in my opinion.

Now about this not so subtle dig at Americans... I note this fine establishment is in Portugal. Are you suggesting that an enterprising American has franchised Japanese restaurants in Portugal? If so I certainly hope this adventurous person is smart enough to demand payment in liquid form from Oporto... ;-) I'd trade all the teppanyaki in the world for a lifetime supply of fine tawny port; Graham's Old Tawnies is Over Forty Years Old and would do quite nicely.

Rinie_Hoff (9334) 2005-11-02 3:08

Tiltizm, and in a very nice way. I like the way the dmap is curling up from the heating plate, and you depth of field nicely hiding the man behind those two things. Can imagine that you has some duck on your lens, but it could have been worse, a piece of liver or something like tha ;-) brrrr. The man is very nice with both chopsticks pointing down.

Furachan (0) 2005-11-02 3:50

J'adhere a cent pourcent! Tu as penetre dans une zone de bokeh extreme et tu t'en sors comme un roi. Il y a un TILT genereux la-dedans qu'on repere bien entendu, et juste assez de pique pour ne pas sombrer dans l'abstrait total...qui menerait a Treklens...;o)
Bravo, Gal, bien vu, boien joue,
Francis

Philippe (11789) 2005-11-02 6:03

Bonjour, Gal. Tout d'abord, un très bon point pour la note qui est à la fois instructive et humoristique. La photo quant à elle est très originale avec ce flou artistique qui laisse deviner juste ce qu'il faut et le tilt qui est bien dans l'esprit de la photo. Bon, maintenant, je vais manger: quelque chose de tout à fait traditionnel, sans jet d'ustensiles de cuisine pendant la préparation.

bnallama (3755) 2005-11-02 9:28

Hi Gal..
Marvelous tilt and cool compo... I love how u have focused here... Very nice and complete compo.. Bala

dolin (15647) 2005-11-02 14:37

Salut Gal.
Quelle audace !!!!!!!!
Que dire de plus, c'est vraiment gonflé comme compo, mais tu t'en tires superbement bien.
Ce focus posé dans cet angle inférieur, cette ouverture qui donne une compo incroyable, ce coup de tilt, ce cadrage, la fumée, le flou qui nous laisse quand même voir la scène, ces teintes......pfffff c'est vraiment bien vu !
Chapeau pour cette originalité.
Fred

Au fait ca fait un moment que je regarde pour ce 50mm. Ca fait longtemps que tu l'as ? T'en es content ?

Michael_Gan (2772) 2005-11-02 16:30

Hmmm... Japanese food... tiltizm... Elements that make me think of Frances' work. It's nice to see that his work is also inspiring other people and see what can be achieved by tilt.
I think this result is quite good. I think that the background is the best. It took some time before I could figure out what we actually see in the background behind the smoke. And that something that I really can appreciate in a picture!

fixed (3831) 2005-11-04 11:02

hello Gal
beau cadrage et bôôôôô flouuuuu (à la Suisse ;) ) ... huit'e secondes par syllabes comme dirait Luko ... enfin bon, moi je dis çà mais je dis rien ;)
... peut-être trop flou ...
belles couleurs d'arrière plan
manque un peu de réussite je trouve ...
mais cool quand même, mais pas ma fav. de toi, mais ... ;)
A bientôt
Arnaud avec l'accent parigôôôô ;)

Elise_d (1943) 2005-11-05 7:41

J'adore cette compo audacieuse demande à ce qu'on lui donne un peu plus qu'un clin d'oeil pour se laisser découvrir. Le flou y est approprié, renforcé par la fumée et le tilt renforce la perspective. Bravo.

Luan (15935) 2005-11-07 4:28

Hello Gal,
quand il est question de nourriture je suis toujours la ;o), en plus presente sous cette forme assez artistique, je suis encore plus attire. Tes bokeh sont assez terrifiants, ici seul une courgette est dans le focus, juste assez pour rendre cette photo interessante, mais je pense qu'en photographiant ici, ton objo devait etre plein de buée ;o)
A+
Luan

jinju (14265) 2005-11-08 7:45

My heart is aching Gal...

I cant wait for my 20D to be able to do THIS kind of stuff. Abslutely top notch DOF, super colors. This is elevating food to art.

tcht (7298) 2006-02-07 16:23

Hello Gal,
Very interesting shot - I like the artistic approach you used in capturing this - especially the way it's out of focus. Makes me feel hungry now! tried teppanyaki few times only...and i wanted to try it again now!
Rgrds,
Cheukhin