El Gordito

I took this portrait of my friend, Maor, some time ago. It was a little spontaneous, we had been talking about doing a couple of shots for a little while, when one day I told him, yallah, let's do it. He agreed and we went outside the office building. At that time we worked in the Fiverr building in Tel Aviv, but have since moved.

The building has a kind of overhang, well, not exactly an overhang, but a kind of space under the building before the entrance, which is a little in. His creates some shadow, which allowed me to have Maor placed in light, with the background being in shadows.

That day wasn't particularly bright, so the play between light and shadow wasn't especially clear. However, I knew it was there and what to go for. I had been considering the shot for some time, Maor standing out of the darkness, having the black and white present his features. I could have used some rim light I think, in order to define the borders, but as stated previously, it was a little spontaneous. A shit which will be redone at some point most likely.

Maor is from Venezuela, but have been living in Israel for quite some years now. He's a gordito, a food lover. You can find him on Instagram, where he presents you for his food experiences, you should take a look.

I often have a feeling that his is more an adventure of food, than merely an attempt of creating food pics. His thoughts of what he ha in front of him, his sharing of the impressions, it is as if he is on a journey, not just preparing for the next meal, but seeing where he will go.

Ad to this that Maor is religious, and therefore keeps kosher - the Jewish dietary rules for what is permitted and forbidden to eat. This makes his journey even more interesting and impressive, the hunt for the perfect experience and sensation of a dish well prepared and served just the right way.

I love the photo of him. Considering that it was spontaneous, I feel that the result is pretty great. However, unfortunately it doesn't capture his story, it is "just" Maor. We need to see El Gordito. This is what will be my project for the next portrait of Maor. But how to do it?