I recently entered the Shoot the Chef! photography competition for Sydney Morning Herald's Crave International Food Festival and was selected as a finalist. I'm really thrilled with this, seeing as the elaborate photo shoot I had initially planned for it fell through and I ended up submitting something candid and extremely last minute - I shot this image of Mitch in his room at 1AM the morning of the deadline. Despite the technical shortcomings of the photograph, I'm pleased with the outcome and glad that the judges liked it too. Winner is announced in two weeks, fingers crossed.
.jpg)
"Wind Down", 2012
Mitchell "Krillin" Orr winds down in his room after a long night of work, lying in bed with his Dragonball Z namesake plush toy. Preferring to watch late night cartoons on television instead of going straight to sleep, he seems almost like an overgrown child. Unlike most kids though, the young chef has just finished a twelve-hour shift in the kitchen. Tonight was his seventh day in a row at work and he has eight more to go before he can enjoy a day off – a labour of love indeed.
At 25 years old, Mitch won the Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year in 2010. In more recent times, he has taken over the kitchen at Woollahra's Buzo Trattoria, where he has introduced a much-lauded 6-course pasta degustation. After hours of hand making pasta and orchestrating dinner rushes, any precious time off is spent relaxing before the next day begins once more.
EDIT/ Here it is in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living Section (on 25/09/12) with the Shoot the Chef editorial:
