Holy Meatloaf!

One of the biggest challenges of Food Styling is taking the fugly out of food.  I'm willing to bet that never in the history of modern American cooking has anyone ever uttered the phrase:

"Oh my!  What a BEAUTIFUL meatloaf!"

Just doesn't sound right, does it?  The name of the item itself hints at it's inherent homely nature.  A loaf.  Made out of meat.  Today's challenge is just that.  A fugly loaf of meat that must look tantalizing, juicy, inviting and even SEXY.

So as a sylist how do I get from HERE:

to HERE:

 Now mind you, this is just a happy snap I took with my iphone.  It doesn't do the final lighting justice AT ALL.  The talented Miss Renee used her impressive lighting skills to bring out the best in this bad boy, but I can't show you that right now...  On the styling end of things, I have precious few options when working with THIS particular arrangement of protein.  Whenever I'm dealing with a brown, shoe box shaped object made of pressed flesh I always try for the cascade effect.  Break that baby up into less offensive pieces and lay them down in a docile, non-confrontational pose.  The last thing you want is an angry wall of meat staring you down like the bouncer at a mud-wrestiling joint.  Then, if the recipe allows, drizzle SOMETHING colorful over it.  And always, ALWAYS add a fresh green leaf.  You gotta get some life and light into that meat brick shot.

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