A shrimp may seem like an unlikely editorial cover model, but for Edible Boston (a local magazine in the Edible Communities Publications group), creating refined covers with a range of food subjects is part of its brand. To accompany a cover story on the Sky8 Shrimp Farm in Stoughton, Massachusetts, photographer Adam DeTour was asked to photograph the crustaceans at the aquaculture farm.
DeTour is intimately familiar with Edible Boston‘s creative direction—he is a regular on their roster of photographers and has has a longstanding relationship with the creative director, Michael Piazza. “Over time, I’ve developed a very clean, almost scientific approach to the subjects I have shot for the magazine,” DeTour says. “This approach contrasts well with the rest of the photography [in Edible Boston], and Michael thought it would be the best approach for the shrimp feature.”
DeTour says they discussed the idea of photographing the shrimp on a white backdrop to isolate them “from what promised to be a fairly chaotic environment.” On site, DeTour set up a 4-foot piece of plexiglass, lit from below, and placed a fish tank he purchased on top.
“The shrimp were really terrible to photograph,” DeTour admits. “Every time we would get one lined up on my set, it would snap violently and shoot across to the other side of the tank, knocking the others out of the way.” He got a few usable shots, but says he wasn’t really satisfied.
DeTour tacked up one of the images in his studio to mull over, and later decided to photograph bubbles to add “a bit of noise and grit” to the scene. He composed several different versions and passed them along to Piazza. “I really enjoyed the shoot because of the way the final product came together,” DeTour says. “I had these fairly pedestrian shots on a white background, but taking some time to consider what to do with them inspired me to create a whole different product that ended up being very unique.” —Jacqui Palumbo
DeTour’s images of the Sky8 farm shrimp were recognized in the Magazine/Editorial category of the 2014 PDN Photo Annual. The 2015 Photo Annual is currently open for entries, with a first deadline of February 3. Visit www.pdnphotoannual.com to enter.
