Chef Justin Paul

The Chef and the Octopus

by David Hartung

It’s not every day that I have the opportunity to photograph a chef with a large 7 kg (15 pound) octopus on their head.

This situation arose while working with Chef Justin Paul in his signature restaurant, Justindia, located in Macau, China. Justin had asked if I could help him to photograph dishes for his new menu which was quite extensive. The shoot lasted three days and as we completed the final shot, which included octopus, his manager suggested I do a portrait of Chef Paul with the octopus. He jokingly said it would be interesting to put it on his head. I paused, thought about it, and then asked Justin if he would be willing to do such a thing. Being somewhat shy and humble he smiled and said “sure”. I then said that I think to make the shot really work he should take off his shirt. Everyone laughed, Justin smiled nervously, and I said, “I’m not joking.”

For some unknown reason he trusted me. In fact I get a lot of people to agreeing to my requests that sometimes put subjects in an uncomfortable position. What I always tell them is that if the image doesn’t work, or they feel too uncomfortable, then we try something else. I let them know that I don’t want to make them look silly.

When Justin prepared himself for the shoot and took off his shirt I saw something that I didn’t expect. I knew that Justin was a devout Catholic but wasn’t even thinking that he would have rosary beads and cross on under his shirt. Seeing that really made me happy I suggested he take of the shirt. Not only did the beads mimic the suction cups of the octopus but also connect something very personal about Justin. Seeing the beads and the cross informs the viewer something more about the chef.

The shoot had several challenges. The first being that we were shooting in his restaurant which is quite small. We barely had enough room to set up the backdrop and the lights. Once we were all in position no would could move. Even Justin, actually especially Justin, could only make micro-moves as he would come off the background if he leaned one way or the other.

The biggest challenge was getting the octopus to stay on Justin’s head. Our first attempt, as you can see in the video below was impossible.

As we struggled it occurred to me that we needed to lay the octopus in a kind of inside-out position. Once we flipped it over it actually became easier to find a balance point on Justin’s head.

We then began to shoot. As I mentioned earlier Justin could only make minor adjustments. So we did the usual stuff where the subject looks into the lens, away from the lens, serious, happy, etc. In the end my favorite exposure was a more serious version of Justin.