Shoot the Chef winner Julian Kingma splices Igni chef Aaron Turner for top prize
Photographer Julian Kingma had just shot a fistful of polaroids of chef Aaron Turner when he did something that would make most photographers yelp. He sat down at a table in Turner's Geelong restaurant, Igni, and began to carve the photos up with a pair of scissors.
"I sat for an hour and puzzled out the image before getting some tape and sticking it all together," Kingma said.
While scissors and sticky-tape are unconventional tools for contemporary photography, Kingma's photo collage has been awarded first prize in Shoot the Chef, Fairfax's annual competition that combines Australia's passion for food and photography.
Kingma first met Turner several years ago while taking his portrait at his acclaimed restaurant Loam. In early 2016, the two began collaborating on an analogue photography project, documenting Turner's new venture, Igni. (Turner was recently awarded the Citi Chef of the Year honour in the Good Food Guide awards, for his achievements at the restaurant.)
Kingma's winning portrait of the chef was taken as part of the project, using an old Pentax 6x7 with a Polaroid back.
Under a cloudy Victorian sky, Kingma took a punt on a few boxes of out-of-date film with the hope of creating an authentic portrait with a "rough, scruffy edge".
"Aaron is very intuitive. He works instinctively, from the heart, he's very sensory and emotional. His food is not only brilliantly executed, he brings art to the table," Kingma said.
"I wanted to represent him as a person rather than as a chef. I chose this approach to show the many personalities of this guy. He is so complex, in the best way. I also wanted to show the trauma of being a chef, because it is traumatic!"
Kingma, a freelance photographer who works across advertising and editorial, cut his teeth at The Sunday Age in the 1980s, where he worked for 10 years as a features photographer. Now a frequent name in Australian magazines, he has work in the National Portrait Gallery collection.
Shoot the Chef, which is part of Good Food Month, was judged by chef Mark Best, Sydney Morning Herald photo editor Mags King, Good Food online editor Nedahl Stelio and Good Food writer Lee Tran Lam.
"Julian Kingma has given us a lovely subversion of the traditional portrait with his low-res David Hockney, seasoned with a little Francis Bacon. His image within an image is simple yet complex and tells a compelling story of the struggles of a young creative chef," Best said.
"Overall there were some lovely images and nice stories told. As always it comes down to craft and sensitivity. There was some lively debate to choose a winner from the handful that made this criteria."
Selected finalists will be exhibited at Tramsheds Harold Park in Sydney, October 7-16, and at Crown Melbourne, November 11-20, as part of Good Food Month. Kingma receives $5000 cash, a Nikon equipment package (valued at $7500), a photography mentorship with a Fairfax photographer and a two-week artist residency with Parramatta Artist Studios and Raffles College of Design & Commerce.
To vote on the Nikon People's Choice Award for Shoot the Chef, visit smh.com.au/clique or theage.com.au/clique. Voting closes on Monday, October 17. The winner will be announced on the Clique Photos Facebook page and will receive a $500 Nikon Store voucher.
Clique Photo Club, presented by Nikon, is run by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age photography departments. It aims to inspire and teach better photography through monthly competitions, as well as workshops and events. To join, go to smh.com.au/clique.
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