Great Food Photos: Ditte Isager

Once I saw an interview of a musician that made up his mind about not listening to other music. He said to truly keep his music 100% his style and pure, he didn't want any other music to influence his. Many photographers strive to create their own style, their own voice. Though I doubt it will be possible to totally block all images/photos from your eyes to keep your style 100% yours and be unaffected by external influences. Everywhere you go, especially cities like NYC, you're pretty much overwhelmed by images. I first saw Ditte Isager's photos when I was randomly flipping through Gordon Ramsay's cookbook "Cooking for Friends." Like many people, I quickly fell in love with her photos and her style. Simple but there is also something magical about it. Ditte Isager is someone that has totally found her own style and I admire her for that.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. A beautiful picture, to enjoy and inspire.

Q. What inspires you? A. People I work with, old master and daylight.

Q. I read in an interview you did on Nordic Design that you described your style as Nordic. What is Nordic style? A. Nordic style is in my eyes simplicity, the use of daylight and clear colors. Simple but beautiful.

Q. Have your style changed since you moved to NYC? A. No, I think it is very important to stay true to your style. New York is an amazing place, with so much drive, so much power. You need to stay true to your believes and instinct living and working in this city....

Q. Do you approach food photos differently than non-food photos? A. No, its all about the composition, tones, shadow and light.

Q. Have you always been interested in photography? A. Always, starting up with my dad and his old Pentax in the basement, moving on to photographer school in Copenhagen Denmark.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. Sally Mann and the great Irving Penn.

Q. Best meal so far in 2011? A. I always enjoyed eating at Noma, of course. But every year my family have a feast around midsummer where we BBQ a whole lamb. It's the best meal, it's summer, all family together everybody are happy. I love it.

All photos courtesy of Ditte Isager

Great Food Photos: Jenna Park

2011 has been one amazing year. I've met so many wonderful people that are doing what they love, even when they have to juggle ten thousand things all at once. Jenna Park is a photographer, mom, wife, business owner, blogger, website designer, art director and HELLO! fellow ITP alumni. Jenna founded Whimsy & Spice with her husband, Mark Sopchak, back in 2008. They make amazing sweets like marshmallows, cookies, brownies and many other delicious things. Looking through their site, it's hard not just run out and buy all their goodies. Thank you Jenna for letting me feature you! Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. I call my style "lazy stylist". But in all seriousness, just like my design work, the food photos that I take for our business is pretty stripped down and minimal. I'm less attracted to overly stylized food shots with lots of props - I would rather capture the scene or the food as is and let that tell the story.

Q. I read your blog entry about your renewed interest in taking photos because of Whimsy & Spice. How has your view on photography changed and how has photography changed the way you see the world now? A. I studied photography in high school and also in art school as part of 1st and 2nd year requirements. Since this was a million years ago, we were developing and printing our own prints in a dark room. Most of the class, however, consisted of long critiques. When I left art school, I didn't pick up a camera again for quite a number of years. I surprised myself a few years later when I wanted to take a color photography class for a quarter when I transferred schools to be a music major, but the art that I created was less about taking photos and more about creating collages with images that I developed in the darkroom.

I didn't really start taking photos again until we started the business. It was a simple matter of economics - we couldn't afford a photographer to do our product shots so I just did them myself. I have to cringe at those early product shots but they really served us well and I think was a huge reason why we took off so quickly with very little PR effort from our part. Since then I've become personally interested in more documentary style photography

Q. What inspires you as a photographer? A. The fact that you can freeze time. I love that you can capture moments that are so fleeting, you wouldn't be able to see them otherwise without a camera.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. I don't really have any food photography heroes per se, but I was always very enamored by Nan Goldin going all the way back to my art school days. I also love the NY street photography of Vivian Maier and I enjoy the work of my "baby" cousin Dorothy Hong. She's an incredibly gifted young photographer who has already had much success in her career.

Q. Best meal so far in 2011? A. I think the most memorable meal that I've had this year was my birthday picnic back in April (http://www.sweetfineday.com/2011/04/a-birthday/). Mark and the girls surprised me on our outing to Old Westbuy Gardens with a spread that included cheese, pate, bread and raw oysters that Mark shucked himself right there. He also baked this insane 7 layer chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting that has since been dubbed the "god cake" by our kitchenmates, Liddabit Sweets.

All photos courtesy of Jenna Park of Whimsy & Spice and Sweet Fine Day. Also be sure to check out Jenna's new photo project, The Mixed Race, where she photographs multiracial families.

Apple Cider Ice Cream In Cream Soda

Yesterday at the New Amsterdam Market was their Hard Cider Revival with many vendors selling foods with apple cider in them. I stopped by the P&H Soda Co. stall to say HI to Anton and also to try the apple cider ice cream soda float. Anton recommended the cream soda and it was freakin fantastic. I never had apple cider ice cream before but this version, made by Anton's friend, was sooooo good. Just the first bite I was able to taste the apple cider. What a perfect summer treat even though its Fall.

Andy & Mary Anne

It's been a while since I took photos at a wedding, actually I haven't been to a wedding in a long time. I stopped taking wedding photos because I'm afraid I will mess up everything. It's somebody's special day and it's impossible to do it again. But Andy's a friend and I was honored when he asked me to shoot his wedding. It was a super fun weekend and the wedding was awesome. It rained the entire Saturday but it wasn't too bad and was able to get some photos outside.

Congrads again to Andy and Mary Anne!