"Think of the food you are about to serve as a still life. The plate being the canvas and the food on it the picture that is being painted."

This quote from Holly Garrison, 20th-century American writer, sums up how I feel about food photography, and explains why I love it so much. It is an art form, visual art. I recognized this as a child, leafing through pages of my mother's magazines (Vogue, Gourmet) and cookbooks. The legendary Irving Penn broke out onto the scene in the 1950's, adding food photography for Vogue in the tradition of still life painting. He introduced the simplicity of each culinary element in a photograph in an innovative style like the overhead shot...he invented it, not Marcus Nilsson. (sorry)  Penn's images were often elegant and insightful, but could also be raw and gritty.  Hence, he made artistic statements and conversation starters. His photographs were always ART.

from Still Life  Irving Penn, 1947

from Still Life Irving Penn, 1993

Now that the overhead shot has become too much the norm (aren't you a little weary of it?) photographers are looking to refresh food imagery by shooting from the side, for example, as in this shot from Manny Rodriguez, one of my favorite 'now' food photographers.

from Manny Rodriguez's blog

And digital cameras and Photoshop has, of course, changed editorial pictures in every way, notably contrasty, grainy images. That's the 'look' often chosen by art editors these days, as it  seems to mirror a societal shift away from slick to accessible.

From the blog of Manny Rodriguez

Art directors also love close up and macro food photography and SO DO I! Nothing like a loaf of bread that acts as an abstract painting in the dining room. We're talking 51"x51". The notion of getting close, noticing, being more fully aware of the senses, of textures and tastes, is an appealing one; while society programs us to hurry, hurry, hurry, close up photography offers an invitation to slow down.

Image copyright Kristin Halgedahl Photography 2013

In contrast to studio lighting, where much of advertising work is done, shooting in natural light is becoming more and more desirable. I use it almost exclusively if I can. There's just nothing like the giant soft box of a cloud cover that eliminates harsh shadows, or the filter effect created by just-picked tomatoes steaming under cellophane in open shade that produces a calm photograph. There are plenty of people who strive to recreate these conditions artificially in a studio, but why? When you can just go outside? (well, o.k., hardly in a buzzing metropolis--that's for fashion photography) 

Image copyright Kristin Halgedahl Photography 2013

And who are the coming wunderkinds of artistic food photography? Who do we think Irving Penn would've smiled at?

Keiko Oikawa is meteoric right now. As is her Asian Minimal style.

Ditte Isager is a Danish force.

Her photography for the cookbook NOMA

made my heart stop. This image

from her Agency's (Edge) Website. 

Marcus Nilsson is becoming iconic. This example is 

from his website.

And then there's me.

 Miss natural light, often macro, most often Miss Farmers' Market, color riche, food storyteller. In the beginning, middle and end, the story's at the heart of a photograph.That's the real art of it. Whatever means a photographer employs to reach that goal is an individual choice dictated by each process's journey and years and years of experience. And I feel privileged to be shooting at this point in history, where the art of eating is enhanced by those devoted to honoring its beauty with new and different perspectives. Yes, I'm proud to count myself in their company.

Ciao!

Image copyright Kristin Halgedahl Photography 2013