Last time Adorama had a Food Photography workshop, I found out too late to let you all know. This time, I’m on it… although there isn’t much time to get signed up. The next talk, given by Lou Manna, author of Digital Food Photography, will be held November 18th. The cost of the class is $250, and it will be held in Lou Manna’s studio in New York. For more information, see the Adorama Workshop site.

Even more exciting, I think, is Sun, Surf and Style, a three-day live tabletop and food styling workshop in San Diego, California from February 8-10, 2008 by food stylist Lisa Golden Schroeder and photo stylist Susan Linnet Cox. This three-day interactive workshop features a “jump start” day focused on getting started in the business of food styling and propping, plus two great days filled with styling demos and test assignments with a professional shooter, New York food photographer Gregory Bertolini. The class will be held in a professional photography studio, fully equipped with a commercial kitchen. There are only 13 slots open for this class which is $900. More info and registration can be found here.

If you are looking for some instruction but can’t travel, you might check out Food Styling 101, a 4 week online class on Photo Styling Workshops. The next round starts on Nov 13th. Also check out Self-Promotion and Marketing for Food Stylists.

Also, if you haven’t stopped by Michael Ray’s

If you missed the Boston University International Food Styling & Photography conference back in June, you missed a great talk by the food stylists and photographers from Gourmet Magazine. Luckily, you have another chance to catch at least some of this team in action, at the 5th Annual Gourmet Institute in October. Your $1,394 buys you 4 cooking demonstrations or talks on both Saturday and Sunday, and a few meals and galas along the way. Talks and demos will be by some of the big names in food… Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, Ed Levine, Thomas Keller, and Ruth Reichl to name just a few. Seminars and tasting are starting to sell out, so if you are going, best to book right away.

On the last minute note, if you happen to live in Manilla, there is a rumor that there is a food lighting workshop going on tomorrow, July 21st, at Cafe Ysabel in Greenhills by Ricky Ladia.

Adorama is now offering photography workshops. Unfortunately, the food photography workshop with Lou Manna was back in March. But, keep your eye out on their website for new classes if you are in the New York area.

Focal Point Visual Learning Center in Vancouver, BC is currently holding an ongoing class on food styling and photography on Thursdays from 2 to 5pm. The workshop started on July 12th, but continues on through August 23rd, so it may not be too late to join. See the Focal Point website for

Leaving Boston on Monday evening, I felt like I had just spent 4 days pouring over my favorite foodie magazines… I was awe-struck, overly full of ideas, and antsy to start getting back into the kitchen and putting even just a little of what I had learned to use. My head still feels a bit like an over-stuffed sausage, but it seems time to start to give you a taste of what went on at the conference.

My personal adventure started a bit earlier than the conference because I am a spaz, and apparently can’t read a schedule. The conference started on Friday, and I knew that I really was not capable of sitting through an afternoon of talks after taking a red-eye flight, so I booked myself on the Wednesday night redeye instead, expecting to have the Thursday to recover before the workshops began. Silly me… the only thing happening on Friday was registration, something that I could have done half asleep. Thankfully, Bea and P were incredibly kind with my extra imposition, and I got to hang with Bea as she whipped up some of her famous tarts. All I can say is that as great as they look on her blog, they even taste better. Bea and I also got to go do some prop shopping, starting at a fabric store, where we both picked out several new and fabulous textures and colors

If you are interested in improving your off-camera flash lighting skills, Strobist is kicking off a new round of lighting assignments geared toward teaching people the basics. Lighting 102 kicks off on June 4th, and I’m thinking about playing along this time. Most of what I do is natural and continuous light, and my flash skills are sorely lacking. First step is the gear… and Midwest Photo has put together several great low-cost options of the Strobist lighting kits. If you are thinking about going through Lighting 102 (or looking back at the Lighting 101 archive), you might check out the kits soon, before they start to run out.

It’s been a while since I did much searching for these, but there are several classes coming up in the next 6 months that you might be interested in checking out:

Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan are hosting several upcoming classes in the LA area: May 12 -13th is the next Master Food Styling class, a hands-on, coached weekend in the kitchen. If you can’t make that, look for the Food Styling Workshop, a 3-day intensive class, October 26-28th. For more information, plus what looks like some upcoming International classes, see the Culinary Entrepreneurship Program website.

If you are in the Kansas City area, you might be interested in the Styling Workshop at David Morris Photography. This 2-3 day workshop (April 26-28, 2007) is focused on jumpstarting novice stylists and boosting experienced stylists’ value in the workplace. For more details, send see the Foodesigns website.

And, if you were interested in the upcoming food styling and photography conference at Boston University, there is more information up on their site now. Looks to be an exceptionally valuable few days, June 1st - 4th.

If you don’t have time for travel, there are online food styling courses at PhotoStylingWorkshops.com. The next round of Lisa Golden Schroeder’s online class, Food Styling 101, starts on April 17th.

The French Culinary Institute in New York is offering a 2 session course in Plating and Styling in late July/early August. It’s quite pricey at $695, but looks like it offers