Showdown at foodphotofestival (eng)

The highlight of the Foodphotofestival was definitely Day 3.  The final screening was awesome! At the last conference, the DOQ Priorat tasting I was mentally preparing for the final screening. Somewhat tense but relaxed at the same time. I hadn’t even had time to go through the process with Günter. How the hell were we going to present the finalists? What was I to do? How, when, who what? None of these yet had an answer. At around 9pm all would be answered in a space of about 20 minutes! Poor Georgia had to edit the final screening from the previous screenings, within a limited space of time with the help of Final Cut. The problem was that there wasn’t enough time to have these films rendered as a hard copy. All films would be shown in the final screening via Final Cut. Günter came with Georgia Wyss and Mick her husband (the Boss), and we swiftly drove to Camp de Mart where we had everything set up. Günter explained the plan: 10 nominees would be screened, I would announce them, then these would be reduced to 3. First for Foodphotofeature 2010 and then for DOQ Priorat Foodphoto 2010 and I would present the prize. I think Günter had a lot on his plate and wasn’t “fit” to present the prize and besides, why should he appear now when he hadn’t during any of the screenings?  The decision was made, it would be me for the first prize and then Joaquím Sabater for the DOQ Priorat Foodphoto 2010. When it finally came to it, me, dressed in my black suit which was a little large for me, I went out on stage with my friend Mr. Spotlight and I felt twice as grand. Not because of what I was wearing, but because I had made the stage my friend, this was my new home. Although I was improvising or rehearsing 10 minutes before appearing, I felt very confident. Preparation, although only mental , is the key to good execution on stage. I was extremely satisfied with my level of execution and improvisation, although sometimes I must admit my humour was sometimes at the limit of being deemed acceptable. One example was when Joris Luyten, member of the panel of judges came to stage. He is Belgian and because we had conversed before, I joked about Belgians having an identity crisis and that I bet he didn’t know the national anthem. This came to mind, seemed good and I used it. Most of the audience took it humorously, others were a bit shocked. One of the more memorable moments, or maybe not so, was when the winner of the Foodphotofeature 2010, Manuela Rüther wasn’t present although Günter was pretty sure she would be. What do you do when you are announcing a prize winner, waiting for that person to appear and it never happens? You can do only one thing: improvise, use good judgment and humour to overcome the situation, and that’s exactly what I did, I kept the prize. The other memorable moment was the announcement and appearance of Amélie Lombard, winner of DOQ Priorat Foodphoto 2010. The prize was handed over by a member of the Regulatory Council of the the appellation, J. Sabater. Amélie took her time to make it down to the stage and I was afraid she wasn’t around either to receive her well deserved prize. Thank heaven that she did appear in the end. She came barefoot to the stage with her high heel shoes in her hand, emotional and happy to receive her prize. “Amélie unplugged” I said over the mike. Joaquim handed her her prize, she took the mike and asked if the other finalists could come on to the stage as well to the “share” the prize with her. I said of course and while the finalists came to stage, I went to get her shoes. I said over the mike “that I hope they didn’t smell” and when I had them in my hand I confirmed that they didn’t! This was all light humour necessary to break some ice in this very serious event. There was a nice applause which was then followed by me presenting Günter to close the event. Two sentences closed the event and on we went to the Party in CLUB NAUTICO. These were three very intensive days for me. I am so grateful for Manon Straver and Günter Beer for giving me this wonderful opportunity of being selected to be MC for the Foodphotofestival.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, have met some wonderful people who I hope to stay in touch with and meet again in the near future.  To date I still don’t know whether I am wanted for 2011. Many people congratulated me on my “performance”, for my skills in keeping up interest and also in creating the “show” effect. I was overwhelmed with the response which started coming from day 1. Considering that a lot of my effort was based on improvisation, I was grateful to receive this feedback. Of course some of my performance could have been much better, but then I would have needed more preparation, more involvement and time to do this. I was only approached about 3 to 4 weeks before the event and I didn’t know half of the ingredients to this recipe. I left the Foodphotofestival with many telling me that my contribution made the festival worth coming for. I am flattered at these comments and would just like to say that I was given an opportunity to give an extra buzz to the festival, I had nothing to do with the organization. I took what was already there and gave it some spice,  maximizing Manon´s and Günter’s excellent organization as a base to work on, and that was it. They gave me the freedom to improvise and do things my way. If they hadn’t done this, things could have turned out a lot differently.  The result resides in the satisfaction of the participants who attended and their feedback.  I would love to be able to host Foodphotofestival 2011, but it doesn't depend on me.  Nevertheless I would like to say a big thankyou to all you participants , all you lovely people who made the festival into a really enjoyable event. THANKYOU!