Great Food Photos: Molly Yeh

Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? Images that are informative about the food, the process, the location, and the season in an appealing, inviting way. I like to bring people into my kitchen and make them feel like they’re at home there and welcome to a slice of cake. I want them to feel like they can put their elbows on the table and be the first to dig in and not feel like they’re interrupting anything too mysterious.

So I've known you since...2009. And you were taking pictures of food for your blog. I think you were trying to eat at a different restaurant each night for a month kind of thing? How has photography changed/evolved for you from then to now? Can you believe we’ve been friends for seven years?! Oyoyoy. Remember one of our first lunch hangs when we went to a fried chicken place (go figure) by Shake Shack… Hill Country Chicken! I think that was it. It was on a corner and it was so orange. I had just gotten my little Canon Rebel and I was snap snap snapping away like I had never seen a fried chicken before and you stopped me in line and said, “Molly, think about the picture before you take it.” And right then and there you shaped my approach, even though it took a good few years before it started showing through. Did you know that that still echoes in the back of my brain nearly every time I take a photo? And it’s gotten more extreme recently, like, I’ve been trying to challenge myself to get *the* shot with less and less attempts, a real “measure twice, cut once” mentality. You’d think I was shooting with film. It’s gotten me to pay more attention to the styling, lighting, and set up, all of the things that go into the photo before it’s actually taken.

I think I’ve also just gotten more selective about my lighting over the years. I’m so spoiled by the dark moody cloudy light of the upper Midwest, I likely would not lug my big ass camera to an orange fried chicken place these days.

Do you think there are similarities between playing music and photography? Yes, there’s the whole, “lock yourself in a room and do it over and over and over until you get better at it” thing that applies to both music and photography. But the similarity that I’ve been thinking about most these days is the importance of negative space. In photography, the difference between boring composition and exciting composition is so often the negative space, not necessarily the subject. And in music, if you don’t play the rests as carefully as you play the notes, you kinda ruin it. You really ruin it, actually.

Do you think Grand Forks has influenced/changed your photography style? Or anything about photography? Yeah, so, because Grand Forks is in the middle of the flattest land in the world there’s not a whole lot that obstructs your view. You see the land to the horizon and maybe a few tractors tooling about, but really not much else. And I love that minimalism! You can focus on one object and one line and it’s simple but energizing. I try to bring those same lines into my work and I think that not being surrounded by a million zillion things and buildings and people all the time gives me the patience or push or whatever to be minimal in my composition.

What inspires you for your recipe and photography? I love learning about my new town through their cuisine, which is very Scandinavian and vintage Church cookbooky, and I also love keeping my heritage alive in a place that otherwise wouldn’t really see Jewish or Middle Eastern food. Wherever I go, I love cooking with ingredients that I can’t find in my town. I was just in California and could not stop with the stone fruit and fresh herbs. And I’m on my way to Tel Aviv right now where I’m going to bath in a pool of tahini and make it rain za’atar. I like making recipes that are inspired by my travels and meaningful to the cultures that I identify with, and hopefully, through them, others can learn about those places and cultures too.

Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? YOU, Donny!!! You’ve taught me so much and you are my greatest photography mentor and since I met you I’ve wanted to be on this site and now that I have I feel like I can sort of give up and move on and take up basket weaving or crayon drawing or something.

Toby Glanville is another hero. He shot the Rose Bakery cookbook, Breakfast, Lunch, and Tea, which contains the first food photography that I ever fell in love with. Look at it, it’s nothing too styled or precious, just understated beautiful food shown at its best, in its natural territory. It’s as if he just walked into the bakery, took a few stunning photos when no one was looking, and was off on his way. I love that so much. I tracked him down one summer in London right after college and basically begged to just be in his presence for a moment. We went and got lentil soup together on Portobello road and when we were served I got out my camera and took a few pictures. I could kind of tell he disapproved of this. When we finished there were our bowls left on the table with the remains of the soup that our spoons couldn’t scrape up and baguette crumbs scattered all over. He looked at the bowls and then looked at me and said, well, now, there’s your interesting shot. And that changed everything. Since that moment I’ve really valued the idea of keeping those human/imperfect/rustic elements that I might have otherwise freaked out about.

I’ve also recently gotten so into Summer Min’s photos, she is a queen of lighting and realness and I wish she’d blog more, and Renée Kemps, whose photos are so honest and bright.

Best meal you had in 2016 so far? Ron and Leetal from NY Shuk had me over to their house in Brooklyn last month and taught me how to make couscous from scratch. I had never had real couscous before, just the boxed stuff, and this just blew my mind. It was like a cloud of wheat. And there was some meatball wizardry that Leetal whipped up with the kind of spice and flavor that will ruin you for every other meatball. Even though the dishes on the table were new-to-me foods, they were instantly familiar and comforting. I want them to cook for me every day. Oh! And it ended with their homemade marzipan DUSTED WITH GOLD. I cried.

Why do you like cake so much? Cake is the ultimate symbol of celebration and happiness and making cake is like building an edible sculpture. So fun. The most fun.

*Please be sure to pre-order Molly's book, Molly on the Range, coming out in October.

All photos courtesy of Molly Yeh

Great Food Photos: Nik Sharma

Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos?I want to convey emotion when I photograph my subject/s. With food, it always comes down to textures, colors and flavors and since I can’t have people eat what I shoot, I do my best to (hopefully) share those emotions that are running through my mind when I taste something for the first time and when I’m cooking.

How did you get started in photography and how has your relationship with photography evolved from then to now? My dad’s a professional photographer and though I got to watch him shoot in and out of studios, I honestly never fell in love with photography till I became an adult. My food blog, A Brown Table, was what made me realize how much I love to photograph. In many ways, it’s also become a platform for me to practice and learn and a medium for me to express what is going on inside my head when I see a subject be it food, people or places. My sense of food styling has also evolved over time, I initially started out photographing ingredients and the final dish but over time, I realized that I missed an essential component of what I wanted to convey in my work, emotion! And as a cook, I knew I felt several different emotions when I prepared food in the kitchen. From excitement, to anxiety, to joy, to frustration, I go through a series of emotions when I’m cooking a dish, so why not share how I feel through my photographs. My work today is a much more mature expression of the food I love and in a way representative of me, as an individual.

I love your style. I love the use of empty space and shadows in your photos. How did you come about photographing food in this style? Thanks, Donny! I’m fascinated with light and shadows, they constantly play with each other and depending on the combination, the two can create visually interesting textures and perspectives. When I first started to shoot food, I followed the general norm of using white backgrounds and bright light but I’ll be honest, my heart was never in it and I could feel that vibe stare at me in my work. It lacked what I wanted to convey as a photographer and what I wanted to do. After some serious thinking, I decided to follow my heart that I need to style and shoot the way I wanted to, it’s not that I have anything against white backgrounds and bright light (I still shoot with those mediums) but I think low lit or brightly lit, I need to create and share an interesting perspective or story to the people that view my photographs.

Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes?Beth Kirby, Steve McCurry, Lyndon Wade, and Diane Arbus.

Best meal you had in 2015 so far? By far the best meal I’ve tried this year was the one I ate at Al’s Place in San Francisco. Every plate is a visual delight but there is careful thought put into the pairing of flavors and ingredients in each dish that’s brought to the table. They have a knack of making their fresh vegetables stand out without giving that overstepping the dish appear affected.

All photos courtesy from Nik Sharma of A Brown Table

Great Food Photos: Elizabeth Cecil

Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos?I strive to capture both authenticity and beauty.

Have you always been interested in photography? Yes, for as long as I can remember. My dad photographs trains so I chased trains with him when I was little. It was really fun and exciting and that always stayed with me. My brother-in-law, Livio, also loved photography and gave me my first camera when I was seven. He just recently gave it to back to me. How he kept it all these years, I have no idea. It is in mint condition and I am just shooting my first roll of 110 film since 1984.

When and what made you decide to become a full-time photographer? I studied photography for my undergraduate degree and then floated around a bit after college, working and traveling. I decided to go to a photo workshop in Maine to get some creative inspiration. I attended a lecture by Cig Harvey who is an amazing photographer and incredible speaker. She really motivated me to go back to school and pursue photography full-time.

I like to know how has your idea of photography, your relationship with the camera changed from studying it in college to having it as your career now. My idea of and relationship with photography is always evolving as I learn and grow with every experience and every job. Coming from more of a fine art track and transitioning to photography for work was a little challenging at first. Bringing artistic intention to the work is something that I am always striving for and the thing that keeps me going. Pushing myself to create personal projects while working to maintain a career can be demanding but also very rewarding. Overall, I feel lucky that I am able to do what I love for a living and that this interest and creative outlet has been with me for most of my life.

Favorite subject to photograph? Food and the landscape.

Any food and/or photography heroes?Sally Mann has been a photography hero to me since I was very young. I have seen her speak many times and her passion and dedication to her craft always inspires me. I also love the work of Uta Barth, Ditte Isager, Wijnanda Deroo and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Best meal you had so far in 2015? I recently got married and all of our best friends who are amazing chefs and home cooks made food for the wedding. We had a taco bar with pork, salsa, cabbage slaw and all the fixings. Everyone put their own special touch into each dish. The food was incredible and the love that was put into it made it even better.

All photos courtesy of Elizabeth Cecil

Great Food Photos: Yossy Arefi

Yes! It's always awesome to find a photographer that still photographs with film. There's no room or time to fuss around with the subject when you're shooting analog because you only get certain number of frames you can shoot with. You really need to know what works before clicking the shutter. And Yossy Arefi of Apt. 2B Baking Co. does it amazingly. Check out my interview with photographer Yossy Arefi about shooting film and find out who are her photography heroes.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. I want to show tangible and real moments; moments that aren’t quite perfect. I want the food I am shooting to look delicious and edible, like someone could just grab it off of the page. I much prefer a photo of a freshly baked pie, bubbling away on a sheet pan to a perfectly styled and propped whatever. For my blog, I also like to show a bit of real life food prep and a bit of real mess. I think those types of shots really inspire people to roll up their sleeves and cook, which is what a good food blog should do.

Q. Have you always been interested in photography? A. Yes! I remember discovering my parent’s point and shoot camera when I was a kid and bringing it to school so I could take pictures of my friends. They gave me my first SLR when I was a senior in high school and I took classes at a local studio, then took a couple more classes in college. I loved the magic of processing my own film and developing photos in the darkroom. I have so many memories of my first semester at college; away from home, holed up in the darkroom, watching photos come alive in the developer and listening to Pearl Jam and Sleater Kinney while it rained outside. Does that sentence make it glaringly obvious that I went to school in the Pacific Northwest? Haha!

When I moved to New York I stumbled upon a Pentax K1000 in a thrift shop and it reinvigorated my love for taking photos. I just love the heavy click of the shutter and the textures that camera and lens captures. Around that same time I started photographing food for my blog and eventually transitioned out of the kitchen job I was working at the time to freelance food photography, food writing and food styling.

Q. Moving from Seattle to NY, did it change the way you create recipes and in your photography? A. Yes, absolutely. I had always been a hobbyist photographer when I lived on the west coast, but I really dove into photography seriously around the time I moved to New York and started my blog. There are tons of photographers living and working in New York, and I have been lucky to meet and work with some really talented people here that have helped me develop both my technical skills and artistic vision.

I have lived in New York long enough to have some roots forming here, but I still am a Northwesterner at heart. It is just so lush and beautiful there all year long. I try to spend a good chunk of time in Seattle every summer to pick wild blackberries, visit the ocean and mountains and recharge and get reinspired. I know people think Seattle is a dark and rainy place, but the summers there can’t be beat and let us not forget that all the overcast mornings make perfectly diffused natural light.

Q. What is it about film that keeps you shooting with it? A. I love the natural texture, color and luster of film photographs. There is something about the way that film captures color and light that I find so appealing. It feels tangible and gritty and sometimes imperfect. I also really like that shooting film forces me to slow down a little and really consider everything in the frame. I have to manually focus each shot and I usually only shoot about 10 exposures for a blog post so there isn’t much room for error. When I get my scans back from the lab there is no re-touching. I mean, if you are processing your own film and developing your own prints, there are plenty of adjustments you can make, but when I get my scans back from the lab I usually just do a little cropping and maybe a contrast adjustment and that’s it. When I am processing and retouching my digital photos, I find that I get caught up in that editing process and can keep making slight adjustments forever…That said, I shoot most of my professional work digitally for ease and flexibility.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. Oh man, too many. Like just about everyone you’ve interviewed for this series, I am a huge fan of Gentl and Hyers. I also am so inspired by Ditte Isager’s soothing images and Marcus Nilsson’s striking ones. I love Jonathan Lovekin’s moody photography in Nigel Slater’s books and the photography in Donna Hay Magazine by Chris Court is so simple and lovely. In the non-food world, I love Sally Mann’s evocative and intimate portraits and Vivian Maier’s street photography is truly incredible.

Q. Best meal you had in 2014 so far? A. That’s a tough one! I took a quick trip to Philly for work a couple of weeks ago and ate a delicious meal of brightly flavored small plates at Zahav that I just loved. It was full of warm bread, fresh hummus and lots of crazy-good vegetable dishes. I also discovered that Alameda, which is luckily just up the road from my house, has the most delicious cheeseburger in the hood and a great late night happy hour. I always love a good burger.

All photos courtesy of Yossy Arefi from Apt. 2B Baking Co.