Karon Grieve

Author, food photographer, presenter

Karon Grieve

Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas

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Kirsties handmade ChristmasIn 2017 I was surprised, thrilled and honoured to be a finalist in the TV show Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas on Channel 4. I say supervised because I hadn’t actually entered. I was in the Hamper Class and the idea was to create a Christmas hamper on a theme with five foodie items inside. This was in September and I was just back from Crete and heading off for a couple of days in France. I had to come up with a theme and ideas for contents pretty damn quick as they wanted to come and film at my house as soon as I returned from France.

I chose the theme The Auld Alliance, the bond between Scotland and France that dates back to the days of Bonnie Prince Charlie and a bit of ganging up against the English. The idea being to have two Scottish items, two French and one that was a combo of both countries.

To this end I came up with Bordeaux Jelly (red wine jelly) (recipe on my Larder Love blog here), homemade goat’s cheese balls with herbs de Provence and pimente d’espilette (similar recipe for Labneh with herbs in oil here). Well that was France taken care of, now for Scotland. I just had to make my Scottish minty macaroons (recipe here) and it wouldn’t be a decent hamper without some hooch, so I came up with my own version of Drambuie and spent bloody ages making labels for the bottle to look like their iconic labels and called mine Scotch Mist (here’s the recipe). For the fusion piece I made oat and almond crumble crackers which were basically oatcakes but with almonds (recipe here).

Anyway when they were filming at my house (instant clean up involved here and decorate kitchen for Christmas) I had to make the goat’s cheese in the herbs de Provence about eleventy billion times (okay a few times) till it looked right on camera.

Anyway I then jet off back to Crete and come back a few weeks later in October for the final filming down at Kirstie’s place in Devon. Everything was ready. My hamper all ready to be decorated, the hooch, sweets, cheese and jelly all done and ready to go. I just had to make the crackers on the day. Well I flew back from Crete on the Friday, spent the day at dentists panicking over broken veneer and then tried that recipe again and again over the weekend. I’d made these things loads of times before but for some reason they just didn’t want to work for me and I threw out dozens of the damn things.

Come the Monday I flew down with my case packed with festive goodies and had a great time with the other ladies in my class and the gang who were also filming on the same day making Christmas stockings. The location was marvelous, we all got on really well and Kirstie was always friendly and chatty. Alas my sodding crackers let me down yet again. I called them crumble crackers and the word crumble was the operative one. The damn things just broke apart when they came out of the oven.Karon Grieve Kirsties Handmade Christmas

The girl who won (Tiffany) was lovely and had made a foraged hamper with hand carved knives and spoons and labels all in wood. The other entrants had a child friendly hamper for kids to make their own goodies and even a tiny bottle of gin for the knackered mother, and an Anglo Indian fusion basket in a giant wicker tea cup. We really had a diverse group of hampers.

It was party time after the shoot back at the hotel with the Christmas stocking gang and I’m afraid what was left in my hamper got scoffed that night. At least I came back with luggage a lot lighter than when I set out a few days before.

A few days later (22ndOctober) I flew back to Crete and found myself the only person on the plane and caused a media frenzy.

My part of Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas was on TV on 18th December so I just made it back to Scotland in time to see the show and relive the horror of those crackers all over again!

 

 

The Girl On The Plane

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Karon Grieve flightOn 22nd October on my 19th flight of the year I found myself the only person the the flight to Heraklion from Glasgow. It was the last flight of the season so I knew there would only be a few people on the outbound flight as it was basically going out there to bring back the last of the holiday makers so would be full. I was a tad surprised to be the only one on the plane and it was terrific fun, my own private jet.

Anyway that wasn’t the best, or indeed the end of the adventure, it was merely the beginning. When I was on the beach the next day I send a quick email to a journalist in Glasgow and he phoned me right back asking for a photo of me on the beach and saying it was a fun story and they might get it into the paper at the weekend. Well it was obviously a slow week as they put it into the paper the very next day as a full page spread and a LOT of other newspapers immediately picked up on it.

Suddenly I was in the middle of a media maelstrom and was being interviewed for newspapers, doing radio interviews and even TV interviews via iphone for TV channels all over the world.

The story went viral and I even ended up trending at number two in the world, only beaten by Robbie Williams who wasn’t well at the time. I had impressed Teenager at long last, especially when I popped up as a question on Have I got News For You that week.

They’d all said I was a novelist in the articles etc and I was indeed in Crete trying to rewrite one novel and start another. This was my grown-up gap year, me escaping the nest before my beloved Teenager left for university. My thinking as if I left first it wouldn’t hurt so much when she did. Anyway I was backwards and forwards to Crete all summer, even flying home to appear on Kirstie Allsopp’s TV show Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas.

But back to the writing, I was struggling with the book and just couldn’t get to grips with it, nothing was working and all this media attention gave me the idea to write a funny diary of my year in Crete. My grown-up gap year in Crete. I poured over my diary and all my Facebook posts and pulled them together and did a whole load more writing to produce a 300 page book.

Coming back to the UK the week before Christmas I started sending it out to agents. It wasn’t picked up and I am so grateful for that. What I didn’t get a book deal and I was grateful? Yes, because I know now that it was all a learning curve last year and the beginning of this year. I’d faced some of my worst fears and I survived, I had an amazing adventure that actually brought my daughter (always referred to as Teenager) and I closer. I realised that I didn’t want to share this as it was, but it was all there, all the memories, all the ups and downs and fabulous amazing times. It will be great fodder for a novel, ramped up and made funnier. I was glad that the outside world wouldn’t get to read it as me, it was just too personal.

So that’s why The Girl On The Plane (My Failed Grown-Up Gap Year In Crete) has ended up being research. I learned so much last year about myself more than anything else and that sort of research is worth it’s weight in gold.

Talks & Demos

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Karon Grieve talks and demosI got lucky in the talks and demos department. It all started back in 2006 when I started doing the Country Living magazine fairs in Glasgow. At that time I had a herb crafting business called Dream Acres where I made and sold all sorts of herbal goodies from air fresheners and herb blends to sleep sacks and pot pourri. I would take a stand at these big fairs and so envy the people who did the talks and demos in the lifestyle theatre, crafting classes and most especially the food theatre. I dreamed of doing that type of thing.

Roll on a few years and its 2009 and I managed to wangle my first talk in the lifestyle theatre talking about how to make herbal home fragrance for Christmas. In 2010 I had my first book published, So Easy Herbal and was asked to do cooking demos in the food theatre, wow I had hit the big time as far as I was concerned. I also started to teach craft classes at the Country Living Fairs as well. From then on I did all three areas of the show every year.

I also approached other organisations that held big events, Like Scottish Homes & Interiors. Then people started to approach me and I found myself a regular at the big Gardening Scotland show in the spring, Edinburgh Foodies festivals, Scottish Food & Drink Show and also smaller foodie festivals.

Right back in 2010 I offered myself up on the WRI (Woman’s Rural Institute) circuit to do talks and demos for them andd sold my books at these events as well. Over the years I have done these all over Scotland and even on the beautiful island of Bute as well. To me to event is too big or too small and I’ve done gardening clubs and groups all over the place.

Show and tell is very much my thing and when it comes to cooking demos I love to show people that if I can make any of my recipes on a stage in front of say 100 people they can easily do this at home in the comfort of their own kitchen. My whole ethos with cooking is making things easy and fun and I hope I put this across in my talks and demos.

I’d certainly say that doing talks and demos is the best way to get your books out there to people face to face. You are there to show how to do things and answer questions to. It makes you far more real to people and gives them the confidence to actually have a go at making your recipes too.

Food Photography

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food photographyBlogging and photography go hand in hand, rather like peas and carrots as Forrest Gump would say. I’ve been into photography since I was a teenager and did it at college in my twenties. My blog www.larderlove.com started just as a chatty blog back in 2008. A place where I just jotted down everyday events and put a photo up there just to record an event or nothing much at all really. It wasn’t till 2019 that I started putting up recipes regularly and photographing food.

LEARNING

I love photography and I love photographing food. It is an art form all of its own. I was well and truly bitten by the bug and bought all the books I could on the subject and did online courses. I also went on a food blogging course which covered photography and writing in Ireland with Plate To Page. That was amazing and really improved my images a hundred fold and a I made some great friend too. I’d highly recommend going on a course where you can learn hands-on with expert tuition.

Having said that you will constantly be learning. Every time you take another photo you’ll learn something else. Follow the big food bloggers whose images you admire and learn from them. Take notes and ask people questions.

CAMERA & KIT

Nowadays I use a Nikon D7000 camera but started off my food blogging with my trusty old Canon Rebel that I’d been using for years while photographing model horses. A DSLR is the best for photographing food and as for lens choice I use a 50mm prime lens most of the time and a macro lens sometimes too.

A tripod is essential for keeping things stable and avoiding the dreaded blur of camera shake. Using a tripod also means that you can set up the food, set up the camera on it’s tripod and then nip back to the food to tweak things and know the camera is all set up and ready for action.

GO MANUAL

Forget shooting in AUTO mode, switch to MANUAL and learn how to get the most out of your camera. Play with the settings, get used to it, make friends with it and take lots and lots of photographs to learn what you actually want to achieve.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

No, I don’t mean Kirstie Allsopp and the TV programme of that name. I’m talking about your location for taking food photos, or more importantly the location of the LIGHT.

Light to photography is what paint is to an artist. It is the catalyst, the tool, the all-important ingredient that makes things work.

For my photos I like to have light coming from what I call high side. That means if you imagine a clock face and the food you are photographing is in the centre I like to have my light coming from either 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock. You don’t want the light coming from in front of the food (6 o’clock) as this is way too harsh and if it comes directly from behind at 12 o’clock it will be great for some things (like soup in a bowl or low flat objects) as it gives a shine and highlights but you will lose that depth and shadows.

Use something in place of the food you are going to photograph to get an idea of where the light is goiung to hit it and see where the shadows fall. This way you can move things around till you get it right before you actually place the food in the shot.

Bright sunlight is too harsh and blows out your images, soft light is always best and go for natural light and never flash for food if you can possibly avoid it.

TIMING

Take your time to set things up beforehand, get your lighting sorted out as to where you are shooting and have all your props etc in place. This is especially important if you are shooting something that is going to loose its looks quickly (like a souffle) or something like hot coffee where you want to see steam coming off that cup.

PROPS

I scour flea markets, charity shops and the like for old bits and pieces for food photography. When I was writing my Scottish baking book I amassed loads of old tea cups and pretty plates to show off the baked goodies. For my Scottish party food book I was buying up tiny glasses, little dishes, party forks and the like. Keep your eyes open all the time for things that could possibly be useful in photos.

Plates are best if they aren’t heavily patterned, remember the food is the star of the photograph, you are not advertising the plate.

Backgrounds are important too, what you actually have the food on. Go for a variety of table tops and cloths etc so your images aren’t always the same. You can actually take photographs of interesting old doors and pieces of wood and have these blown up to poster size and use these to set your food and props on. It is all about illusion.

Old things with patina add character to photographs whereas bright white dishes give a bright clear simple look. It all depends what you are photographing and the sort of look you want to go for. Bright, modern, sunny or a bit moody and dark.

EDITING

I use Lightroom to import my photos into my computer and do initial editing then Photoshop Elements to tweak anything afterwords. There are lots of different photography software packages available but I’d definitely recommend Lightroom first and foremost.

Even though you can do a lot with software do try to do as much as possible with the camera itself. Take the very best shot you can, and lots of them at different settings and then you can pick the best when you upload them into your computer. Again it is all a matter of trial and err

When you are happy with your photos you are all set to use them for your blog or if using for print publication make sure you have them saved at 300dpi.

Enjoy getting snap happy!

 

 

 

 

 

Writing A Cookbook

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Karon Grieve cookbooksWriting a cookbook is fun and fattening!  I say this from experience. My Scottish baking book (Simply Scottish Cakes & Bakes) found me putting on 10lb in weight over the months it took to bake and test all the recipes. Bear this in mind if you are planning a cookbook, especially one full of sweet stuff!

Other slightly more serious things to take into account are time and money.

MONEY MATTERS

Ingredients cost money so budget for this in advance if you can and always keep your receipts. You will need these for your accountant as once you start selling books you’ll be self employed. If you are thinking ahead and planning your recipe ingredients beforehand (always a good plan) then budget for more than you think you will need. It will invariably take more trial and error than you imagine to get your recipes right.

TIMING

Timing is everything and not just in the time spent actually cooking in the kitchen. If you are doing your own photography as I do and using natural light you’ll have to plan your cooking  accordingly.

For the baking book this wasn’t really an issue as baked goods tend to look pretty good for photography for a day or two. However for A Wee Taste Of Scotland when I was making party food a lot of it had to be photographed straight away while it looked fresh, hot and at it’s best. I had to make things and know there was enough good light to photograph them as soon as they were ready.

Shooting in spring and summer means more available light time. In winter here in Scotland it gets dark so early you really are limited on time, whereas in summer we have light well into the evenings so you can get a lot more work done in a day.

For my baking book I was working with a lot of traditional recipes and putting my own spin on things but when you are working on a lot of recipes from scratch you’ll require a lot more time for trial and error, so factor that in to your schedule.

Set yourself deadlines and try to stick to them. Leaving anything till the last minute and piling in a load of work all in one day is not a good idea, especially if you have family commitments as well. This all just adds up to stress, stress, stress and that’ll take the fun out of anything.

LAYOUT

Think of the layout of the book all the time. Where are the recipes going to be placed in the book? With a single recipe on one page and photo on opposite page, or with photo on same page? If you are working with a publisher you will probably be given a page count estimation for their style of printing. It’s up to you to make sure you’ll get everything you need into that framework.

I used to use pen and paper and draw out double boxes to represent two pages together and set this out on a large sheet of paper so I could just fill in the blanks putting ‘photo’ (and actually an tiny print out of actual photo after I’d done it) on one side and writing the word ‘recipe’ on the facing page. This way I could see how the book would eventually look. Nowadays I use Serif Page Plus for cookbooks and this does all the layout work for me then creates a nice PDF of the whole thing. What bliss!

SHOW & TELL

Even if you already have a publisher you will be expected to promote your book.

Set up social media and push, push, push. Blog about your new cookbook and do some sample recipes on your blog. Build up excitement well before the book is due to come out. Once it is actually out then try to get yourself some media interest from magazines and newspapers and on local radio. Remember the glossy mags work about three months in advance so you’ll have to get them a sample copy and information before the book actually comes out if you want to be included.

Get speaking gigs so you can sign books there. I’m lucky as I do a lot of talks and demos at big foodie events so can make sure I work on recipes to match the book I’m promoting and do book signings at the same time.

PUBLISHERS

A wee word of warning here. I worked directly with publishers which was fine with the first two books but was commissioned to write the Scottish cookbooks. I didn’t have an agent and ended up getting nothing for my photography and a pretty poor deal all in all. If you haven’t got an agent then I’d suggest you get a lawyer who is well versed in the book business to go through your contract with a fine toothed comb and thus get you the best deal. I really wish I’d done this.

D.I.Y. PUBLISHING

For my smaller books (or bookettes as I called them) like Gourmet Gifts For Christmas and Naughty and Nice Foodie Edible Gifts For Christmas I self published specifically to sell them at the talks and demos I was doing at the time. I had to get them printed myself and make sure that after all costs I still made a profit. This only really works if you are selling the books yourself as trying to get them into shops and make a profit is just not going to happen.

Turn anything you can into an Ebook or Kindle or use Amazon Crete Space for print on demand and get your book out there in as many formats as possible. I’m still working on this for some of mine as everything takes time.

Karon Grieve cookbooksWHEN IT’S OUT THERE

If you have gone through a publisher and your book is finally out in the real world you will get a real kick when you see it in shops for the first time. Hell, I still get a kick seeing my cookbooks in stores. The best was seeing my Scottish baking book in Waterstone’s window in Glasgow when I was in town one day. Felt like jumping up and down saying ‘I wrote that’ to anyone who’d listen. Instead I took a photo on my phone, it was a great moment.

So there you are, writing a cookbook is fun but hard work, hope this helps if you are toying with the idea. Go on, give it a go.