“The garlic shrimp will be done in 10 seconds – are you ready in there!?” Chef Xavier bellowed from the kitchen to me in the next room in the makeshift photography studio I had set up inside his restaurant.

“Ready!” I shouted loud enough for him to hear me above the kitchen din.

He swept into our temporary studio carrying a terra-cotta casserole dish brimming with steaming garlic shrimp. We worked quickly arranging the dish and soon I had set to work capturing this rustic tour de force of classic Iberian gastronomy (see below):

Chef Xavier quickly disappeared back into his kitchen to prepare the next dish.

Good communication between photographer and client is critical for any successful shoot. All the more so when the client is a chef preparing time-sensitive dishes on the spot that must be photographed quickly and efficiently yet with finesse and a high level of creativity.

And that's how I rolled during my recent food shoot for my dear friend Xavier Laurentino, chef-owner of the popular Spanish restaurant Barcelona Tapas in New Orleans (www.barcelonanola.com). Both passionate alpha perfectionists in our respective trades, we worked together seamlessly -- virtually hand-in-glove -- after sitting down to first hammer out Xavier's vision for the shoot: Namely, unfettered tight shots with sufficient detail that allows viewers to “taste the food with their eyes.” No fancy, over-arching styling motifs cluttered with table napkins, silverware and wine glasses, he said. Just simple, organic images lighted in such a way as to enhance the inherent sensuality of the Barcelona native’s earthy, richly flavorful recipes, many of which Chef Xavier learned from his father while growing up in Spain.

We were also in agreement that the century-old slate I employed to infuse the image-making process with a textural and moody Old World feeling was a good call indeed.

Following is the lighting setup I used, powered by my menagerie of off-camera Nikon Speedlights, which were triggered with Yongnuo radio frequency remote receivers/trigger:

-- 24x24-inch softbox (right);

-- 22-inch beauty dish with honeycomb grid and diffusion sock (overhead);

-- snoot with 20-degree grid (at 10 o’clock position).

-- white foam core (far left) for reflector.

Here’s what everything looked like for the series we did of the fideua (a Catalan version of paella using angel-hair pasta in lieu of traditional rice), shot in stages starting with the setup and proceeding through alternative lighting and cropping configurations:

Other dishes Chef Xavier prepared for our session included chorizo (cooked in Spanish sherry), ceviche à la Xavier, and lamb chop served with frittes (see below):

Working with chefs like Xavier Laurentino, especially in a Food Nation like New Orleans, is always a professional pleasure and personal joy. And, no, it didn't make the day any worse that afterwards he and I sat down to a fine lunch of gastronomic pleasures courtesy of Spain. Olé!