Francesco Bellesia e Nicoletta Innocentitwo names that are summed up in one: Blueberry Studio. We are talking about one of the Food Photography most attractive in Milan, where art, communication and creativity are the ingredients for some truly appetising 'dishes', or rather shots.
Born in 1996, Blueberry Studio makes food the leitmotif of a photographic quest that becomes a distinctive style. Knowledge of techniques and experimentation are the characteristics of an approach to photographic work that is the fruit of continuous exploration, of a constant putting oneself to the test.
Francesco Bellesia has always been involved in food photography (packaging and advertising campaigns) for companies in the food world with digressions into still life. Nicoletta Innocenti is active in the production of single-topic books and profiles of important chefs published by Bibliotheca Culinaria, Gribaudo, Feltrinelli and Touring Club Italiano. Two "different inspirations" that soon met in the realisation of the Gallo Guide that led them to travel around Italy photographing risottos in important restaurants, completing the services with portraits of the various chefs and with shots of the environments.
Since then, their skills have come together to offer a full range of proposals related to the world of food and catering, while continuing to cultivate their personal vision on the subject separately, with their participation in exhibitions and competitions that have given them important recognition. Francesco Bellesia is known for his way of dealing with the image, which cannot disregard a visual synthesis where an often ironic message can clearly emerge, which also deals with issues related to the society that surrounds us.
"My background as a graphic designer and my long militancy in advertising photography," he says, "have conveyed to me a certain cleanliness of the image without indulging in unnecessary frills. I shy away from complications and when I have an image in mind I have to realise it immediately and in a short time, otherwise I would risk confusing the message I want to convey. I love white or black backgrounds to give maximum emphasis to the subject, which is why I adopt a particular technique that brings photography closer to graphics.
Using this technique, Francesco has taken part in several solo and group exhibitions and competitions, with great success. Nicoletta Innocenti has always been attracted by analogue photography and in particular by the 'Transfer Polaroid' technique in its various declinations. "A very tactile technique that produces images that are always different," says Nicoletta, "thus escaping the logic of endlessly multiplying the photographic negative.
The result of her work is a soft and charming image that breaks away from the rigid photographic representation, to place itself close to the sensations that pictorial art can give, particularly that of watercolour. A technique that enabled her to take part in a major photography competition, the "Les Lauriers Beaujolais de la Photo" in Lyon, where she won first prize in the Press category, presented by Gabriel Axel, director of the film "Babette's Lunch".
What does the photography of Francesco Bellesia tell us?
"It mainly tells about myself, my experiences and my education. I went to art school and then worked for several years with my father in his advertising studio in Milan. I later became interested in photography, which from that moment on became my profession as well as my passion. The image for me represents not only the analytical description of a dish, a recipe or a product of nature, albeit photographed with sensitivity and skill and without slipping into a virtual world of special effects for their own sake, but a dimension in which the product sheds its skin to become a concept that goes beyond the object itself. Nature's products are rich in everything: colour, textures of variegated shapes that are often surprising, lending themselves to games of the imagination to express precise meanings that are often more defined than words themselves. In short, the power of the image'.
In what sense can food be art to be revived and reproposed?
"Nature has given us in foodstuffs an abundance of shapes and colours, perhaps to be attractive and desirable, which has allowed the creation of a parallel sector that uses products to express art forms. How can we not remember Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who already in the 1500s played and ironised with food using fruit and vegetables, fish, birds. A bizarre Italian painter who played on visual illusion, creating a kind of allegory that is remarkably anomalous if contextualised in the historical period in which he worked. Today, many photographers are engaged on this front, and we are the first, conveying this type of photography through exhibitions and competitions dedicated to the specific theme. This has created a market known as 'Fine Art' in which the photographer, traditionally constrained by the lay-out provided by the agency, can freely express his creativity by making his works available to all those people fascinated by this type of artistic expression".
What does it mean to be involved in food photography today?
"Today, more than ever, everything related to food has become a segment. Important, as well as very fashionable. One only has to look at the many proposals for catering, including ethnic food, and at the prominence given to the protagonists of the sector through the media. For photographers, it has been a rapidly developing segment that has engaged them on several fronts. Companies in the food industry have to deal with a rapidly developing competition and have to sharpen their weapons in order to always propose new ideas to the consumer. Thanks to the Internet, food photography has developed strongly over time on social networks, which have allowed for great visibility not only to insiders but to all food enthusiasts, even if they are not professional photographers. However, the fact remains that companies need photography to enhance and highlight their products, to counter increasingly fierce competition. The food photographer does not necessarily have to be a cook, which is why he or she is supported by a professional figure, the home economist or food stylist, who is in charge of making the most of the product to be photographed. It would be like hair and make-up on a fashion set. It will always be the photographer who manages the set, taking all the responsibility for it, working with light and composition to achieve the set objective'.
A project you are working on at the moment?
"The projects are many. We continue to implement our archive of food photography in cooperation with the Stockfood agency, a world-leading company that conveys our images to all parts of the world. We have just finished a series of photographs for the packaging of a company specialising in vacuum-packed products and in the confectionery and charcuterie sector. At the moment we are developing a new area: photographs of dishes for restaurant menus in collaboration with an establishment.
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