I'm telling you film is not dead and it won't be for a very long time. I personally shoot both film and digital. I started off shooting digital but as time goes by, I came into contact with some AMAZING people shooting AMAZING stuff on film. It got me very curious and inspired me to shoot film. More recently, thanks to Twitter, I found the really talented Abby Powell Thompson. Every time I look at her blog it makes me drop what I was doing before, take my film camera out of its bag, walk around my neighborhood and just shoot. There's just nothing like shooting film and also the sound of the shutter going off. Abby isn't only good at shooting film she's also very crafty. If anyone is in the Portland area on 11/6 - 11/7 make sure to go check out Little Winter Market, created by Abby, where a lot of crafty people will be selling their goods. Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. When I take food photos I try to capture how the food makes me feel. I just take photos of what I'm actually eating and how I "see" it. For example, if I'm about to eat a sandwich that looks huge to me-I try to capture that feeling. I don't want the food looking perfect and polished.
Q. Do you approach a food photo differently than non-food photo? A. No, not really.
Q. Have you always been interested in photography? A. I've always been interested in documenting my experiences. I've always kept some sort of journal or scrapbook filled with words, photos, drawings, scraps of paper, ticket stubs, etc. I want to look at photos and say "oh yeah-that was that time I did this and it felt like that..." I am not interested in achieving perfection...I'm interested in making people recall emotions. I think that it took me awhile to realize photography could do that and now I'm hooked.
Q. How has moving from Portland to Austin changed or influenced your photography style. Or maybe it didn't change? A. Well the one huge thing that's changed is the light! I shoot my real life, using natural light and the sun is just crazy bright here. I adored the overcast Portland days-those are actually perfect for shooting in. Portland had all of the things I adored shooting; gardens, architecture, beautiful shops and great food. I'm not going to lie-it's been a challenge finding a new voice here in Austin. But I'm excited to learn and grow and try new things!
Q. When I had asked you if it was okay for me to feature you on my blog you told me that you think your food photos are your worst ones, why do you think that? A. My food photos don't always look "appetizing". I'm no stylist and I think at times they look rather strange.
Q. Are you only or mostly shooting on film? What is it about film that keeps you shooting analog? A. I do shoot almost exclusively film-only because that's what I have. I cannot afford a nice digital SLR, just not in my budget-so I use my broken Yashica slr I bought at a thrift store years ago. I do like the "look" of film-but I'll be honest, if I somehow was given a nice digital SLR I'd happily shoot away with it.
Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. I love the work of Con Poulos, Rinne Allen and Ditte Isager; but also some people who I would say aren't food photographers-Lena Corwin and Todd Selby. Those two capture bright and fresh food. I just love their food shots, they make me happy.
All photos courtesy of Abby Powell Thompson from Abby Try Again.
