Great Food Photos: Valentina Solfrini

The great thing about the internet/social media is the ability to bring your own voice to the world. I love going through works by photographers that don't live in places I've been to. I love to travel but honestly, I doubt I'll be able to make it to every corner of the world and to catch a glimpse of lets say Via Fratta in Italy is quite amazing. Valentina Solfrini's photos are very intimate and inviting and homey. Even though NYC is practically the opposite of where she lives, it makes me feel happy that I get to see moments of her life in Italy and a chance to imagine what life could be like if I move to the Italian countryside. This is definitely making me want to work extra hard to save up and travel.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. I try to capture moods, colors, textures and feelings that I feel are fine-tuned to my soul. Before I try to make the food look delicious, or even bother with composition, I always try to 'feel' the picture and see it in colors and lights that feel the closest to my heart. My aim is to take pictures as I was inviting you over for dinner, and be transported in a little corner of a different world where you could sit back and contemplate the light. I want to photograph a whole experience - not only food. I am always the happiest when people say 'Your pictures make me want to jump right into them!'

Q. Have you always been interested in photography? A. I have, kind of - I remember picking up my first camera when I was 11. It was an old Ricoh from the '70s, and I started playing around with film. Ever since then, I always made sure I had a camera to use. It was always seen as a waste of time by everyone around me, as my field of focus was illustration at first. My passion for photography only exploded less than two years ago, when I realized that it was a much better way for me to express my feelings and speak my mind.

Q. Has going from New York to Italy changed your point of view in photography and your creativity? A. I do not think so. If anything, every move I make helps me develop my creative process further. Seeing new things is one of the best ways to grow and, even though I much preferred the vibe in NYC, I do not want my surroundings to have anything to do with my photography. As long as I have a camera and some food to shoot, I can do my thing no matter where I am.

Q. What inspires your recipes? A. So many things! At first - just as I do for the photos, I visualize the colors I want to eat. I like variety in my recipes, and I always want to make sure that the food I make feels genuine. Most of the time, I develop based on color and textures in my head.

I love to look at old magazines, especially some my grandparents owned from some 20 years ago, and re-interpret the recipes and modernize them. That aside, Pinterest and magazines are a major source of inspiration.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. One of my first and most important sources of inspiration comes from the work made by a Swedish company called House of Radon on the blog 'Now you're Cooking'. I am always stunned by their work.

This aside, some of my favorite shoots come from photographers that focus on travel. Cole Rise is one of my favorites. My current photography hero is probably Hideaki Hamada. I love how he can freeze into film such simple, luminous moments of everyday life.

Q. Best meal you had in 2014 so far? A. Oh, this is such an unfair question. 2014 has been the year of the best meals of my life. The Asian burger I had in Vegas, or the Dim Sum at the Saveur event…nothing tasted as good as the hot, yet refreshing bowl of Korean Bibimbap that me and my travel buddies shared in a tiny restaurant in LA's Koreatown, after a long drive through the desert.

But the highlight of this year has been an home cooked meal by my mom, that I had the luck to share with a very special person. It was a seafood feast - seafood tagliolini, and two delicious, colorful salad. I saw the eyes of my friend light up, and as we sat there it felt like there was every possible good feeling in that bowl of pasta. These two food moments made my heart swell with joy like never before.

All photos courtesy from Valentina Solfrini of Hortus Cuisine.

Great Food Photos: Tom Smith

When I spotted Diner Porn a site by Tom Smith on Tumblr, I quickly became a fan. What is it about diners that make them so special? Some people say it's the nostalgia but I never grew up going to diners and yet I love them. Maybe it's the people that work there or the menu...oh the menu of everything that you want from a restaurant or maybe just the old-timey feel of it. Whatever the reason, I love diners. What I love most about what Tom is doing, is that he is spending time with the people in the diners. Getting to know them, know their stories, and the history of the diner. Each person is unique and so is each diner.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your photos? A. I try not to try at all. I like to become part of the scene and let the camera do the observing. Sometimes I'll separate myself from the camera for a few minutes while I have a conversation. People really relax once they see that you (the photographer) are not a stranger. I studied documentary film at Emerson College, and what I loved most about the medium was the authenticity and the character that filmmakers could capture when barriers are broken down between the observer and the observed. If I'm photographing a table of food, I might add or subtract a plate or a side dish but I try to keep things as authentic as possible.

I love talking to people I don't know. It's really inspiring to find out the the strangers around you are going through the same problems. We're all in this together. Corporate chain restaurants don't have this sense of community that diners have, where you can be friendly and talk across the room. My friends and I call it IBC: Inter-Booth Communication. It's an amazing thing.

Q. How did Diner Porn come about? A. I have a sentimental attachment to diners. I grew up in New Jersey where going to a diner is like being in the comfort of your own home. I knew the waiters, the owners, and the menu like the back of my hand, and I would go just to sit and have coffee every afternoon. When I started taking pictures of the decor and the food, I called it "diner porn," and one day I decided to make it a blog.

Q.Have you always been interested in photography and has it evolved ever since you started Diner Porn? A. My father taught me how to use a camera when I was very young, and I've always tried to apply my creative technical skills to meaningful community projects. I was photographing and publishing my family's monthly newsletter when I was 10, filming interviews for a documentary about my hometown on a VHS camera when I was 12, and publishing the town library's newsletter at 14. Photographing people in public places, or in their everyday lives, has always felt natural to me.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. I don't lend my inspiration to other photographers, really. I try not to obsess over photography—I'm more interested in people and stories. My heroes are my parents, my grandparents and my incredible girlfriend, all of who inspire me to keep creating in this modern world.

Q. Best meal so far in 2014? A. The breakfast tacos my girlfriend made this morning were definitely the best thing I've ever eaten: Monterey Jack shredded over salsa, over easy eggs, and corn tortillas.

Q. What's your favorite thing to order at any diner? A. Coffee.

All photos courtesy from Tom Smith of Diner Porn.

Great Food Photos: Marta Greber

Late last year, I happened to stumble upon the photo tour of Berlin by Marta Greber on Food & Wine. I was quickly drawn in by her lovely photos and how great it was to remind me of my own trip to Berlin back in 2008. Berlin is an awesome city and I don't know when I'll ever get back to it. So in the meantime, I'll just have to "visit" Berlin through Marta's photos. Though at the moment she's exploring Sydney and her photos are making me consider that it's about time for a trip to Australia.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. I am trying to show how great it is to have a nice meal. Everything counts when you have a meal - not only food, which of course it the most important element, but also a plate, a fork, a piece of linen on a table, nicely served good coffee , a vase with the flowers or a small bowls with extras. We eat first with our eyes, and then we taste the food. Preparing a nice looking meal in the morning can make your day awesome.

Q. What is photography to you? A. It’s my connection to the world. I share my experiences with people and I get a feedback from so many of them. I have made some amazing friendships thanks to my photography and I know that they wouldn’t be possible without it. I share a lot, but I get even more back

Q. How did you get started in photography and how has your relationship with photography evolved from then to now? A. I’ve started to be more aware of photography when I moved to Australia. I took a break from work and had more time for myself (I used to be a lawyer and I was working 24/7). I was wandering around the city and thinking a lot about how I should take a picture to show what I wanted people to see. In Sydney I also fell in love with food, so obviously I started photographing it. This is how it’s started. Since then I have read a lot about photography and have experimented a lot. I have literally been taking pictures every day. So sooner or later I had to get better.

Q. Has living in Berlin changed or shaped your idea/style of photography? I know you're from Poland and has lived in many places so do different places influence your photography at all? A. Berlin has influenced my way of seeing. Each country has something unique about it and I am always trying to find it. Living in different countries has built my curiosity, also I am always trying to discover as many of the new flavours as possible, so I can learn a lot about the place. Berlin has this unique vintage side. One day I went to a flea market and I bought a very old wooden table. After some time it became an integral part of my photography. The problem is that I can’t take it with me when I am traveling, so my style differs wherever in the world I am.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. There are so many photographers whose pictures I admire that it would take too long to write down their names. But there are two whose work I love and go back to it a lot - Sally Mann and Diane Arbus.

Q. Best meal you had in 2013? A. Cinnamon toast in San Francisco. I know that you didn’t expect something like it for an answer, but this little piece of toast was so good that I spent hours spying on the source of bread they were using. I found it, bought it and recreated it at home. Delicious things are hard to forget.

All photos courtesy of Marta Greber.

Great Food Photos: Beth Kirby

It's hard not to be drawn in by Beth Kirby's photos. Her command of the light and shadow is amazing. And also the feeling I get from her photos, the mood, the subject, the color...really inspires me. Making the mundane sacred, she writes below, is quite important especially nowadays. We live in a time when we're constantly plugged in and there are so many things going on in the world. Some times you really need to just do something mundane and put all your heart into it.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. A narrative. A slow, quiet story. An accessible, mundane romance. The opposite of eating in your car. What I mean by all of that is that I'm trying to capture the idea that we can all carve out a space in our lives for tea, baking from scratch, a trip to the market—all the things that don't just make for more delicious & healthful food but the things that replenish our psychological and spiritual reserves. While we can replenish those in pointedly meditative ways, I believe that by making the mundane sacred, we are constantly nurturing ourselves. That's what I try to capture when I take a photo be it of a meal or the table it will go on: the sacred in the mundane.

Q. What is photography to you? A. First and foremost, like all art, it's an abstraction. A once removed representation of another thing. Remembering that the photograph is not the thing, but that rather the photograph is an entirely new thing, is more helpful than it may sound. Secondly, it's light. Photons. Every photo I take considers light and shadow first and foremost. Then comes composition. Content is almost incidental. I think light and composition write the story of the photo, not the content. That's what photography is to me as a photographer. As a cook. photography is how I share my food with those I cannot feed. I don't just aim for "food porn"; it's not just the flavors and textures of the food I want to convey. I want to convey a moment, what it would be like to make it together, to sit down and share it. As a cook, the content becomes more of a factor. Those two sides, photographer and cook, meet in most of my work, always a balancing act between form and content.

Q. How did you get started in photography and how has your relationship with photography evolved from then to now? A. It was being a cook that led me to photography. I wanted a way to share my recipes, and I realized that a cursory click and all the writing in the world just wouldn't do it. I had to learn photography. But then something happened; it was like I discovered a new muscle. I took to it instantly, began to see light differently every where I went, and it evolved from there. At first it was just a means to an end, a means to share recipes. Now it is an art form all it's own, intertwined with yet independent from my cooking.

Q. Do you think places affect a photographer's style? Has Tennessee affected you in any way as a photographer? A. Yes. I think place affects everything. There's more to the south than meets the eye. There's a darkness, and there's a warmth. There's hospitality and hostility. It's a place defined by conflict and humidity. I love the south; I want to reinvent the south. Those two sentiments, both deeply held simultaneously, are what drive so much of my creative work, photography included. I aim to capture the rustic mess that is the south, probably because it's also how I define myself. I'm one part honeysuckle nectar and swamp water, one part spicy cornmeal breading and leathery collards. Where we are, just like when we are, is a lens we see through. And as such, how could it not affect the literal lens?

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. I'm very inspired by the work of Andrea Gentl, Ditte Isager, & Anna Williams. Also, from the beginning, Brian Ferry and the way he treats light were inspiring. I think his work along with the work of Uta Barth made me rethink my approach. For the blog, I still have a more commercial and content driven approach, but personally I'm more interested in light and lines. I also love the work of Tim Robison, Laura D'art, Michael Graydon, Marcus Nilsson, and Luisa Brimble. Before I ever picked up a camera, I was introduced to William Eggleston and Stephen Shore—they remain favorites and influences today.

Q. Best meal you had in 2013? A. I was introduced to Korean BBQ by a wrangler named Jeff when I was out filming Masterchef in L.A. this past winter. It was a revelation. Spicy large intestine grilled over charcoals changed my life. You don't find a lot of that here in Tennessee.

All photos courtesy from Beth Kirby of Local Milk