This Friday it's a food feast, friends.
Images from a food class. Get your bib on...
Food is a marvelous subject. Here are some favorites from a legacy assignment.
Food photography is an art form of the highest order, a playground for creativity, and a full-course meal for the eyes. It's more than just snapping a picture of your avocado toast in the morning, or that ever-present breakfast taco. It's storytelling, it's passion, it's your grandmother's secret recipe captured in a single, luscious frame.
Imagine you're at a restaurant, and a dish is placed in front of you. You don’t just dive in with your fork, you whip out your phone, and you aren’t calling anyone to describe the dish. you are going to make a photograph of it.
You align the dish, adjust the lighting using a napkin as a bounce fill, and your partner’s flashlight app for a bit of sparkle, and angle it just right. And voila! You've just captured the essence of a chef's work. Forever. Well, until you accidentally drop it from your gloved hand while going 65 MPH on I70 west of Glenwood Springs. Just sayin’.
Some may scoff, "Why photograph food when you can eat it?"
Clockwise from top left: Sheila Joy, James Kern, Rose Smith, Julie L’Heureux
I try to restrain myself from retorting back with the middle finger solute of ‘go away, moron’. But that is just me.
Look, when you photograph food, you're not just preserving the image of a delectable dish. You're capturing a moment, a feeling, a memory. That's the real secret ingredient. Although that Habanero sauce recipe you got from the little restaurant in New Mexico is still pretty secret.
The true joy of food photography is like waiting for bread to rise in the oven. It's an exercise in patience, in precision.
You're a culinary Cartier-Bresson, waiting for that decisive moment when the light kisses the glaze of a doughnut just right. The moment when all of the elements present themselves and you click that shutter.
Clockwise from top left: Virginia Long, Lily Dale, Iryna Ischchenko, Julie L’Heureux
Food is color. It's texture. It's architecture.
The red of a ripe tomato, the glistening surface of a juicy steak, the tower of an artfully constructed burger dripping with cheese, and secret Habanero sauce surrounded by all the fixins, as my mom would say.
Each element contributes to a visual feast. Photographing food is like painting with nature's palette, one delightful dish at a time.
And here's the kicker.
The real joy of food photography?
It's a celebration of life.
It's a moment of gratitude before the first bite.
An homage to the journey of a meal, from the farm to the table.
Clockwise from top left: Virginia Long, Carol Rioux, Julie L’Heureux, Gloria McDonald
The next time you're tempted to roll your eyes at your buddy so painstakingly photographing their café latte, handmade eclair, or Habanero flavored taco, remember this,.
They're not just taking a picture. They're creating a story, a memory, a work of pure and tasty art.
In food photography, the possibilities are as endless as a well-designed charcuterie plate at Sunday brunch.
All you need is a window and a white cardboard bounce card to fill.
See you next time.
These images are drawn from my student work over the years. I will be continuing to feature not only their work but also some of the ways the images were created.
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