Food!

I love food. I love eating it, I love watching it being prepared, and love, love photographing it.
food is one of those things that makes me smile. When I was a kid, my grandmather used to make me watch her cook, perhaps because she tought I would learn a thing or two about cooking. It was then that I develop a passion for it. Recently....I started to do a few jobs where I had to shoot food, I had never done it before, and although the logistic are different than shooting people... its not that different than say shooting objects, such jewelry or shoes. Photographing food is all about capturing the imagination and senses of the person looking at the photo. Since it is our vision that is being stimulated only, our other senses take a back seat, therefore, we have to create an atmosphere where you can stimulate the senses.

The lighting for this shot was relatively easy...I used an existing window camera right and my SB-24 with a grid camera left.



For this shot...I used and umbrella camera right, a gridded SB-24 camera left, and a Vivitar hv285 far right in the back.





As I said...I love food.

Ciao



The nostagia of the camera....

Photography is one of those professions that at one point held such a glamorous, elite, and exclusive status. I dare say…at one point, if you were a photographer, you were looked at as if though you were part of the Hollywood scene, or even a celebrity, maybe even a doctor. I always saw photography as such a prestigious “club” to get into.

Long gone are the days when people looked at you with admiration…and why not…envy when you told them you were a professional photographer. They looked at you perhaps as a super hero (ok maybe not that part)

This industry has morph quite drastically into what I like to call “the 3 kinds of photographers”

1. The Shutter bug: A person that just aims and shoot (among gun enthusiasts this is called the "spray and pray" effect) in which such individual will take 500 shots and maybe get that one descent photo worth bragging about (99% of all Facebook users fall into this category). This individual has no concept of art, composition, or correctly exposing a subject.
2. The amateur photographer: This guy is the one that has somewhat of an understanding about photography, the way a regular Joe will try to fix his car during the weekend by looking at the manufacturer book, and has a bunch of tools he has collected a long the way.
3. The Pro: This is the guy that has taken the time to develop proper technique, it has found a niche and has build a business around it. Has learned to adapt to any economy cycle, and is always learning new ways to reach people.

I make the above description only because, it has never been this easy to be a photographer. Why do I say this things? Well…with the advancement in camera tech, Internet etc. The monopoly that was once held by a few, now has become this new revolution of innovation. Just look at photobucket and Flickr as an example. Innovation and competition is good.

Many Photographers I know...have complained about how there are so many wanna be photographers that are killing the market, by charging $50 per headshot session. I laugh every time. This is a prime time to evolve the market and make money.

Ciao!