Owens baking & pastry class whips up tiered cakes

Baking & pastry III class working hard on three tiered cakes.

  
   The smell of fondant and gum paste filled the room in Heritage Hall as the baking and pastry III class was in full swing. 
   The seven week class is one of three baking and pastry classes offered to Owens students working to receive their baking and pastry certificate.  Students must take the first two classes before taking the last and final class.  Baking and pastry I is learning the techniques and basics for cakes.  The second class builds on what they had learned the previous seven weeks.  Baking and pastry III is the cream of the crop.  It builds on previous baking techniques and gives the students more advanced techniques in cake decoration, chocolates, truffles, sculptures, blown sugar and pastillage.


A Pastillage sculpture stands in the window
located in Founders Hall in the baking kitchen.

   Assistant Chef Amy Morford said, "Pastillage are the big show pieces that you see that is technically edible."  Pastillage is made from powdered sugar and gelatin.  They usually take two days to make their pastillage sculptures.
   Chef Kelly Wolf teaches the baking and pastry classes. "This is the first class that has had more than 4 students in it so we needed an assistant chef.  We are happy about that"
   "I did not know that Owens even had this program and I thought that was perfect.  I was kind of self taught and I have never done sculpting because it was one of those things that you should learn before you dip your hand in it." Student Beth Tolles said.
   Students were working on assembling three tiered cakes in
teams of two.  They brainstormed what they wanted their cake to look like and drew a sketch of their ideas.  After they agreed on the sketch it was onto making the decorations out of gum paste and fondant.  They used Styrofoam dummy cakes because they are faster and they had learned the baking process in the baking and pastry classes prior.  They covered each tier with fondant and then stacked the cakes.  Decorating the tiers was the final touch.  They were graded on level of difficulty, challenge and other components.  
   Meghan Slates, a student in the class said, "the reason why I went into baking as a specialty, is because I do not think that I can handle the stress in a kitchen.  I have had a pretty decent career in retail and I want to open my own bakery that way I can have that control with making my own product because I know how retail works."
   Chef Wolf said, "savory chefs are always asked their specialty, but pastry chef are expected to know everything."  Pastry is a very broad term and sometimes people think that pastry chefs know how to do everything when it comes to baking.  Most pastry chefs have a certain expertise that they stick with.  Some only work on cakes while others only make chocolates.
   Students can receive there baking and pastry certificate in only three semester. 

Fondant leaves being painted by multiple colors to make them look like fall.

Chef Kelly Wolfe (right) helping her student Mary Sankovich roll fondant onto a dummy cake.

Jeff Davidson works on fondant leaves for his cake.  After cutting out the leaves Jeff adds color.

Tina Osment (left) and her partner Mary Sankovich works on assembling their three tiered cake.

Alicia Chamberlain was works on her Halloween cake by herself do to her partner being out sick.

Apricot glaze is used as a glue to keep the fondant in place on the cakes.

Learning compositional elements for better photos

The bird flying to the feeder is an example of stopped action and a shallow 
depth of  field. I also tilted my camera to give  the viewer a different look.

   Putting a camera up to your eye to take a picture is not always easy.  There are a lot of compositional elements most people adhere to so that their picture is pleasing for their audience.    

   Photographs for photojournalists are divided into four categories; informational, graphically appealing, emotional and intimate.       

 A Silver maple tree at Sidecut Metropark looks bigger then it does in person due to 
 the angle and perception of the picture.

   Informational photos are pictures that basically have the facts right in them and have the who, what, when, where, why and how.

   Graphically appealing pictures are pictures that would be boring but are changed to make them look more interesting.  Photojournalists are limited to what they can take pictures of due to what they are assigned.  They have to think of different ways to make their picture standout more.  They can use different angles, perception, et cetera. 

   Emotional photos are used to make the reader feel something for the person that is in the picture.  Photojournalists want there readers to be able to relate to  what the subject is feeling at that time.  Catching someone crying, laughing, yelling or other emotions make a good photo.

   Intimate pictures are the hardest pictures to take because they are more private.  Photojournalists have to get very close to the person and make their reader feel like they are standing right next to the person even if the picture was taken in someone's house. 

 The waterfall at Sidecut Metropark from this angle gives the illusion of leading 
  lines from the water to the green ground.

   Along with the four basic categories that pictures get put into, there are different compositional elements that not just photojournalists follow, but other professionals do as well.

   Rule of thirds, depth of field, action (stopped, blurred or panned), leading lines, shapes, framing a perspective just to name a few.  Photographers try to keep these simple elements in mind every time they take a picture.      

   Images need to be cropped more tightly for a newspaper than if a person was just taking a casual picture of a loved one.  The pictures get cropped tightly because they want to eliminate distracting elements and have a nice up close shot. 

   A photojournalist is only as good as their equipment.  If their camera is poor quality, it might be harder for them to take good pictures. 

   Photojournalists take pictures in multiple different places, so they need to have the right settings on their cameras.  Having a broad aperture and shutter speed setting is crucial.  In one day, most photojournalist take pictures indoors in low light settings as well as outdoors where the sun is shining.

   A variety of lenses are beneficial to photojournalist.  Having different lenses on multiple cameras is easier than trying to switch your lenses and end up missing the shot.

   Each time I take a picture, I try to keep all of these elements in my head.  I learn something new from every picture that I take.  Even when I get a job in my field, I know that each day will be a learning experience.          

   

The advent and evolution of cell phone photography



Thursday the Food and Wine class at Owens Community College was preparing for their final exam.

   It is amazing how far technology has come in the past 10 years.  With new innovation and higher resolution, cell phones have become more advanced.  Now everyone has a decent camera built into there cell phones and can take creative pictures.
   People can add filters and edit them through either the phone itself or by using applications like Instagram. 
   Cell phone cameras have encourage millions of people to become more interested in photography. There are many people that have turned into professionals just by using there cell phone camera to take pictures.  Many believe that applications like Instagram should only be used for cell phone photos and not for pictures taken with SLR cameras.          
   Photojournalist use cell phone cameras  every day.  Sometimes it is easier to grab your phone really quick and snap the picture instead of hauling out your big SLR.

   Taking a picture with a cell phone is a lot different than taking one with a digital SLR camera.  Cell phone cameras are more like point and shoot cameras.  There are no fancy buttons that you need to set before taking the picture.

Owens students taking the Food and Wine class have to set a table properly for their exam on Thursday.

   Here are a few tips to keep in mind using your cell phone as a camera:  
   Make sure you look for the light source.  The light source is the first thing to observe.  

   Determine how close you are to the object.  Most cell phone cameras have the capability to be able to zoom in but in using the zoom feature quality of the photo will show more grain.  To ensure you have the highest quality possible, try to move so that you are closer to the object.     Be creative.  You can make something look totally different that what it is in real life. 

   Take for instance the pictures I published in this blog post.  Both were taken with my IPhone very close and at a lower angle to the object.  The second image makes the food and wine glass look very big even though they are small.   
  I love using my digital SLR but my camera is not always attached to me like my phone is.  With cell phone cameras being more advanced over the years, now I never miss a shot.