photographer robert harrison and chef robbie postma met while working at the same advertising agency. united by a shared appreciation for great food and the culinary experience, the pair set about creating a series of photographs that could encompass the dynamism, vitality and raw energy that could be found on something as mundane as the common dinner plate. entitled ‘MENU’, the collaboration saw the duo get up close and personal with some of their kitchen’s finest ingredients, resulting in a series of painstaking portraits that are gripping, surreal and frankly a bit scary.

 

 

 

 

robert harrison and robbie postma worked worked meticulously — sometimes over nine hours — to set up the different scenes of culinary expression that make up MENU. created entirely without the use of photoshop, each grain of rice, every tiny coffee bean was attached by hand. ‘the energy and the time and the dedication that we put into creating these faces, sticking everything manually to the face, that’s the power of the project I think’, says postma. 

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seafood’s ingredients includes octopus ink, lobster, mussels, mackerel skin, sea urchin & razor clams
all images courtesy of robert harrison

 

 

the various deconstructive photographs represent the different sections in a menu: veggies, seafood, wine, meat, spices, starch, sweets and coffee. cinematically realized on postma’s own face, each stage is interpreted in a surreal and often discomfiting way. using the human head as a canvas, each meal is given a defined personality, most of them staring defiantly down the lens of the camera. 

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spices include vanilla, rock salt, star anise, coriander seeds, nutmeg, mace, white pepper, & red peppers

 

 

the final images were created through a long and trying process of trial and error, with many of the action shots requiring multiple takes and meticulous resets. all in all, the collection took an entire year to complete. ‘the project was so rewarding in so many ways’, says harrison. ‘it wasn’t just the photographs themselves, it was also being in the studio, experimenting, trying to achieve those results and finding new ways. to me, this was the most important thing about the project.’

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the vegetable version consists of shaved carrots, radishes and courgette

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the meat course was made using charcoal, smoke and aged prime rib

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the wine photograph took multiple takes, as bits of glass kept falling from postma’s face

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each bean, pea, and grain of rice was applied, by hand, piece by piece

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the entire series took over a year to complete

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each shot was achieved after hours of experimentation 

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