Historical and
Contemporary Food Photographers
Beth Galton is the perfect example of a contemporary photographer;
she takes food photography to an unusual level that is inspiring and
eye-catching to the viewer and/or photographer. I think her project “cut-food” is what intrigued me to look further
into her work in food photography as
a whole, taking in more projects and experiments she has worked with, although
my mind always went back to the cut-food
series. I have decided to try using this style of photography as an experiment
in the future. Galtons photographs from this project have all been taken a studio to allow complete focus on the subjects.
Melissa Skorpil is a commercial food photographer based in Austin, Texas. She
photographs food imagery for restaurants, catering companies, and ad agencies. Something I’ve noticed whilst looking at
Skorpil’s work is that every one of her shoots is completely different with the
idea of; composition, locations, colour or food genre. I find her work to be
quite interesting as she takes everyday foods and gives them depth using
shadows and props, although I have noticed that her background are always
minimalistic I think that this is to ensure the viewer’s focus stays on the
subject. Skorpil's photographs vary between studio and location food photography, although I find both successful. In location photographs what ever scene or props that are used have some connection with the main subject, making the overall image compliment itself.
Gareth Morgans is a highly experienced food photographer. His work is mostly used
commercially through promotional posters (Costa), in food magazines or
catalogues. I think that Morgans can definitely be described as a diverse food
photographer who has many styles of work, using many different techniques, most
in which I find successful. I find his work quite inspiring as being new to
food photography I found his work very relatable, and would love to use some of
the techniques I have seen in future projects. The types of photography based on location change vastly with Morgans images. For the commercial images the subject is often taken in a studio. Although in many of his magazine shoots they are based on location, which I think is successful for the message and techniques he is trying to put across.
David Daniels is a portrait photographer, although over the last few
years has started to branch out into landscape and food photography. I find Daniels photographs
William Henry Fox Talbot is a historical photographer and one of the first to
actually photograph food without knowing in the future it would become how we
know it today. Talbot created imagery through exposing photographic paper
through baths like we have in a darkroom. Talbot often used photograms with his
photography. I would love to use darkroom methods to experiment with foods.
Irving Penn is
a well-known fashion and portraiture photographer although along with these
genres of photography he also worked with food photography, in the same
unconventional way he does in his other images. The composition of Penn’s food
photography is extremely inspirational due to its unusual nature, especially
for its time. I’m sure that Penn has influenced many contemporary photographers
today.
Edward Weston was
a well-known landscape photographer that has also worked briefly with food
photography. Weston’s photographs, being black and white, are very dramatic.
His images are often in the centre of his frame I think this is to add intensity
and depth to a simple subject.
With food photographers I
find contemporary photographers to be more inspirational as to compete in food
photography today you must create something unconventional and interesting;
with new techniques, environments and audiences. Although I find historical
photographers had little to use yet still produced a dramatic image using shadows
and compositions and most of all darkroom methods, in which I would like to
experiment with using food in the future.
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