Summing up: So, You Want to be a Food Photographer?

The very notion of having photography as a vocation, especially in this day and age, is more commonly associated to specific areas – e.g. for print news or magazines, or weddings. With the don of the Internet era in the 90s, we have since diluted the “sacredness” (if you will) of photography. The number of people who actually do not own cameras of their own are a minority today. This also results in the dimming down of values and effort that goes toward the beauty of capturing “a moment”. Everybody has a device, and hopes for their sudden chance at coming across something amazing. So not very much thought is ever put into taking a picture.(Especially now, when all cameras come with an “auto” setting.) So when reading an article like “So, You Want to be a Food Photographer?”, it was hard not to approach the subject without feeling a tinge of indifference.

I was sorely mistaken. People still do have a high regard for photography, let alone food photography. It is literally other-worldly. Almost a science. The amount of effort put behind-the-scenes for food to actually look good through the lens, surpasses anything a typical photographer would need to do to achieve good results. I was amused when the featured food photographer, Iris Richardson said, “It was educating my clients.” She goes on to explain that most of them arrive with lots of food hoping to be done with 20 photographs at a go. They do not quite realize that setups for each dish can take up to 3 or 4 hours each.

I believe it is important to note that a food photographer needs to work with a good food stylist (or be one themselves). In the article, food stylist, Katrina Tekavec, also discusses about the tools of her trade. She arrives to a typical photo-shoot with her car filled with boxes carrying her much needed tools, props, sprays, coloring and etcetera. These were definite eye openers for me, especially when the list included, blowtorches, soldering irons and a meat glue called, “Zap-a-Gap”.

It is not a glamorous climb to the top for food photographers, unfortunately. It took Richardson 5 years to get established as one. It is a lot of apprenticing, shadowing, observing, and working as low-paid assistants to food photography experts to understand what is required of you in the field. The goal is to make food appetizing, and the methods used are not apparent and may even seem counterintuitive. For example, perfectly angled and spaced grill marks on a piece of chicken are applied at measured intervals with a skewer that was heated up with a blowtorch and then, painted over with browning sauce. Another unusual example would be in creating steam (to make food more inviting) by soaking a tampon in water, microwaving it until hot and then positioned with tongs. It does not make food sound as tantalizing, reading what makes or breaks a great food-photograph – however, it is amazing how the little details and “formulas” makes a huge impact in every shot. A note-worthy mention, is the fact that we would need three stylists for a typical burger-chain shoot; one for the bun, one for the lettuce and tomato and one for the burger.

Why would anyone want to delve in something so painstaking? Richardson admits that one would need to be a little crazy to do something crazy. Nevertheless, she is mostly motivated by the challenge and knowing she would be able to see her pictures on magazines and packaging. Great incentives for a great art.