It’ll be quieter than usual on the blogs for the rest of the week. I’m in Dublin on an intensive business referral training course, followed by a two-day business referral conference. 

Why? Because a good slice of my business comes through word-of-mouth referrals and I want to get a whole lot better at generating and encouraging those referrals. I also want to get a whole lot better at providing referrals for others – after all, giving creates a desire in the receiver to return the favour. Ultimately, you end up in a self-perpetuating spiral of giving and receiving – and the way I see it, that’s a good thing. (Listen, I was born in the 60s, so something’s gonna rub off).

Marcel Mauss wrote a book called The Gift about how the exchange of gifts builds bonds between humans – a form of social glue, if you will – and it’s a principle that works well in business.

Anyway, that’s what I’m up to for the rest of the week and into the weekend. 

In the meantime, here are two photographs from a food shoot that I did earlier today for one of Cork’s shiny new prestige hotels. The lighting was very simple and a good example of the less-is-more adage. 

In both instances, the plate is being lit on the right by a large window in the hotel’s restaurant. The light is very diffuse and soft because the window is frosted glass. On the other side of the plate, I put up a large silver reflector to bounce light back. And that’s it. The dappled background in one of the pictures was provided by a crushed-velvet curtain about two metres behind the table. 

Keeping with the theme of the post, it’s only fair to point out that the assignment came to me through a referral from a printer buddy who is currently working with the hotel and recommended me for the job.

(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008