Durban - Cape Town photographer Marguerite Oelofse this week scooped two major awards in the prestigious Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year competition.
Thousands of entries were submitted from more than 60 countries, and the winners were announced online last week.
Oelofse won the Claire Aho award for Women Photographers with her striking image At The Table, and Food Photographer of the Year (African Territories) for her image Flower Girl with a Packet of Simba Chippies.
The overall winner was Debdatta Chakraborty for an image titled Kebabiyana, of a street food vendor working at a smoke-covered oven in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir.
“In today’s world, more than ever, we feel the need for comfort, for love,” said awards founder and director Caroline Kenyon. “There is so much to reassure us here – the beautifully captured billowing embrace of the smoke, the golden light, the subject’s expression as he prepares the food for sharing. Sparks fly from the skewers, whose roasting we can almost smell. We imagine the warm, delicious aroma.”
Oelofse, while having a long history in fashion photography, is relatively new to food photography.
Originally from Johannesburg, she started shooting children and editorial fashion work, with stints in Berlin and Paris for Marie Claire before returning to Cape Town. It was SA’s Michelin star chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen who started her journey into food.
“When he started his journal in 2018, he asked me to do the cover. I shot food and still life (pictures) and portraits for him in the process. It made sense that food is something I want to focus on. It suits my photographic style which is very painterly with bold colours, textures, form and lighting. The correct lighting has emotional value.”
Currently lecturing photography and design at Vega School, Cape Town, Oelofse is busy with post grad degree in branding and when not studying or behind the lens, makes time for her Yorkshire terrier Mila.
From her editorial fashion background, Oelofse came up with concepts for the shoot and pitched an international children’s magazine with ideas. “The inspiration for At The Table was from post impressionist artists. Alwyn Burger was the creative director and did the floral styling. It was a mix of artists coming together. I did the photo direction and lighting and directed the model – Michaela from Pulse Kids – and we shot eight images each with different styling attributes, each telling a different story,” she says.
Her citation to Pink Lady reads: “Celebrating African heritage, fused with a touch of inspiration from French Post-Impressionist artist, Henri Matisse. The painter-like aesthetic in my photography creates a three-dimensional feeling by using bold colours, form and textures. These elements are native to our diverse South African culture. At the Table is a celebration of the fruits of our freedom.”
Flower Girl with a bag of Simba Chippies was for a 2019 shoot for Hooligans magazine. “The magazine asked me to shoot something of the heritage of my country. I thought of the Cape Malay flower girls and the opulence of how they dress. Sourcing the fabrics was interesting. I put out an appeal on social media for flower girl dresses and the yellow dress was offered by a mom from Durbanville. We went to Bo Kaap in the hard, strong, African light and shot outside the Rose corner café. It was shot in about two hours and then I said why don’t we go and get a packet of Simba chips and the result was absolutely fantastic.”
When it comes to her equipment, Oelofse says “I’m a simple artist”. The pictures were shot with a 5D Canon SR and a 50mm Canon fixed lens. “It’s a really good portrait lens,” she says.
“I like simplicity. The picture may be about emotion and feeling and otherworldly and create that by the other elements. It’s so simple but can be deep and dramatic.”
Looking forward, apart from a trip to Finland and having her work exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society gallery in Bristol, all part of her win, she would like to shoot food for brands “that inspire me”.
“As South Africans it's high time that we move towards our people and heritage and our stories – not like in the past where we would aspire to what the Europeans and Americans did. Let’s be authentic, truthful and bold with our own stories,” she says.
To view the full photogallery visit the website, www.pinkladyfoodphotograheroftheyear.com.
“I hope you enjoy browsing through the stunning and thought-provoking collection,” says Oelofse.
The Independent on Saturday