Donny Tsang

Once upon a time, when I started Eat To Blog with Howard, our idea was that I’ll take the photos and Howard was going to provide the text. Well now we both write and take photos. Anyways, so when I happened to see Spoon Fork Bacon, a collaboration between food stylist Jenny Park and photographer Teri Lyn Fisher, that sort of reminded me of our initial idea for Eat To Blog.

Scrolling through the blog, it’s difficult to not to jump at the screen. Like I just want to munch on these Baby Chimichangas or these Baked Egg Boats now! Besides the delicious looking photos, the whole site is so well designed. The colors of the titles match the colors of the foods/images and who said animated gifs are out?

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos?
A. I like to capture a mood and feeling. To create a space where someone would want to be in while eating that food.

Q. Do you approach a food photo differently than non-food photo?
A. Totally. Food doesn’t talk back, like people do. Its easier to interact with the food for me because its just totally visual, about pairing colors, and finding an angle that best fits the dish. For interior shoots its more about the big picture, so I try to take the same sensibilities I use in food, and use them in that area as well. Regardless of the subject, for me its still about creating a space and feeling I want to be in myself.

Q. What inspires you?
A. Literally anything. Colors in nature, patterns in clothing, shapes in plants, and of course, food magazines. Graphic design is also a big influence, I try to draw compositionally from that. Also, movies. That is a big one. For instance, the color temperature in the movie A Single Man, or the Kings Speech. The Kings Speech also has some amazing nuggets of composition genius.

Q. Do you still shoot with Polaroids? What is it about Polaroids or instant photos that attracts you to them?
A. I don’t so much anymore. I used to a lot when it was more accessible. I have not tried the new film from The Impossible Project. I think I fell in love with Polaroids when I got my Sx-70. If you are unfamiliar with that camera, it fold down nice and neat, and is metal and leather. So it feels really heavy and nice in your hands. I probably like Polaroid for the same reasons everyone else does. The instant satisfaction of an image. You get something you see, locked in your memory, into something tangible. Its small, and cute, and has a frame already. So that’s pretty cool.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes?
A. Oh yes. I might go on and on right now. Non food – Irving Penn. He will always be amazing. Diane Arbus, Rineke Dijkstra, David Hilliard and Sally Mann. Andrea Gentl of the awesome photography duo Gentl and Hyers just posted this series of photos: which reminds me a lot of Sally Mann. So so so pretty its almost spooky.

For super creative manipulated photography that makes my brain shake, I go look at my Gregory Crewdson books, or a Kahn and Selesnick, Teun Hocks, or Parke Harrison.

Food Photography, I think everyone can agree Con Poulos, he is so good it makes me want to vomit. As I mentioned above, Gentl and Hyers, the textures and colors they capture are so beautiful. I am also in love with Ditte Isager.

Q. Best meal you had in 2011?
A. I think its a tie between these two restaurants in Los Angeles. One was Son of a Gun, followed by a magnolia cupcake. OR this pasta tasting menu I had at Mozza. Unreal.

Q. Name something you want to achieve in 2012 with your photography.
A. I hope to have some kind of massive creative breakthrough that changes everything for me. That would be exciting.

All photos courtesy of Teri Lyn Fisher from Spoon Fork Bacon.

One of my favorite question to ask photographers is “Any food photography heroes?” It’s a great way to see where some of their influences come from and also it gives me the chance to find more talented photographers. So thanks to Tara O’Brady for pointing me towards the great works of Dax Henry and Anais Wade aka Young & Hungry. When I first looked at their photos, I was hit in the face with the freshness of their photos. They’re so simply done and natural, it’s very refreshing to look at. Check out their photos and the interview and find out what they have to say about working together as a team.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos?
A. We want to turn people on! By looking at the photograph they should be able to taste the food. We like for the food to look natural, fresh and not too contrived. The idea is to tell an honest story.

Q. How long have you guys worked as a team? How has that relationship changed since then and has it affected the way you guys capture photos?
A. We have been working together for 1 year. The relationship has been constantly growing ever since. We learn a lot from each other, whether it is creatively or technically. It’s nice to have a partner to bounce off ideas with. We feel lucky to be working together. We can definitely see the photos evolve and improve thanks to our combined skills and hard work.

Q. What inspires you?
A. Inspired people; The ones who follow their dream and passion without hesitation! They’re the ones we like to photograph. And fresh ingredients, subtle flavors, no chichi’s!

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes?
A. The NOMA book with Ditte Isager’s photos is definitely our favorite reference. Natural light, delicate food, and a closeness to nature. We also like Christopher Hirsheimer; she’s a lot in Saveur, and has done photos for great cook books such as “A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes” by David Tanis (former chef of Chez Panisse).

Before we started shooting food, we both came from different photo backgrounds. One (Dax) was in the fashion and editorial world, while the other (Anais) was in the fine art business and eventually editorial. For that reason we have a broad spectrum of photo references. Here are some of our favorites: Bruce Davidson, Richard Avedon, Sally Mann, Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh, Rinko Kawauchi, Daido Moriyama, etc.

Q. Best meal you had in 2011?
A. Frenchie in Paris. Gregory Marchand has cooked in New York and London, and opened this restaurant in Paris almost 2 years ago, and it was an instant success. Fixed menu, based on local and fresh ingredients, and an extraordinary sense of imagination. Each plate was a slice of heaven for our palate. From the foie gras with drunken cherries to the smoked mackerel with spring asparagus, everything was amazing. Just talking about it makes us want to hop on a flight to Paris for dinner!

All photos courtesy of Dax Henry and Anais Wade from Young & Hungry

Happy New Year…Happy 2012 to everybody. I am super excited to bring you my first 2012 feature. Stuart Ovenden of Appledrane is the Deputy Art Editor at BBC Good Food and a fantastic food photographer. It’s quite wonderful to meet someone that deals with another aspect of this exciting world of food photography and get his take on it.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos?
A. It’s a well-worn answer, but creating a sense of place that engages the viewer is one of the primary concerns for any food photographer. Often I’m in a stripped back, plain white studio building a mock environment – it’s all about the little details. The fold of a napkin, careful choice of props, subtle lighting tricks; many of these things are often only acknowledged on a subconscious level when flicking through a magazine, but if you spend a bit of extra time getting them right, a big part of the job is done. It goes without saying that an equal partner in the success of a shot is the quality of the recipe, ingredients and the way that they are styled.

Q. What does photography mean to you?
A. I worked primarily in design and illustration before I got heavily into photography; I don’t really see them as wildly differing creative processes. For me, strength of an idea always has to come first; I’m happy for them to overlap or be drawn from unusual sources. I’m a child of the digital age; if I’ve shot a picture of a box of apples and I want it to look like it’s been torn from an old sketchbook, I’ll just scan in a few bits of worn brown paper and bring the image together in Photoshop. I’m equally passionate about spontaneity and a capturing a beautiful moment through the lens; but using photography as a tool – it’s often just as exciting.

Q. From a Deputy Art Editor perspective, how has food photography changed over the years?
A. I’ve been at BBC Good Food for 5 years now; during that time the way in which we shoot and compose features has changed greatly. There was barely an overhead shot in the mag when I started, these days roughly about 50% of our photography is taken from above. I also think that the way food is styled has loosened up in recent years; it now looks far more relaxed and natural.

Q. Sometimes do you find your Deputy Art Editor self disagreeing or agreeing with your freelance photographer self?
A. I find that it’s less about a conflict between the two different roles, more a case of how understanding both sides can help develop both. As an art editor I have style guidelines and paginations that need adhering to; knowing how certain colours and foods photograph really helps when briefing stylists and sketching out features. On the flip-side, if I’m behind the camera I’ll take a shot, but then pull back/change the crop/drop background focus so that a designer has the option to run copy over the picture if needed. You learn pretty quickly that the success of a feature not all about the photographs, it’s the balance of many different elements arranged on a page as a whole.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes?
A. One of my favourite photographers is Jason Evans. He’s not a food photographer, but I love the way he uses colour, texture and repetition in his work. These are certainly aspects that I’m keen to explore in my own photography – sometimes a more conceptual, graphic approach makes a nice change from creating kitchen-esque sets in the studio.

Q. Name one thing you want to achieve in 2012 with your food photography.
A. I just want to push myself creatively and hopefully keep taking photographs that people enjoy. I’m working on a book based on my Appledrane blog; I’ve three years’ worth of recipes, written pieces and photographs to gather together but it’s starting to take shape.

Q. Best meal in 2011?
A. I was fortunate to be asked to photograph a wild mushroom foray in a remote part of Scotland a couple of months ago. the chef made a mushroom curry one night – without using a single spice. Each of the seven mushrooms used had a slightly different natural flavour; one peppery, one with a subtle curry flavour, another with a hint of coconut and so on – they were gently sauted together in a little butter and served with a mini naan – it tasted amazing.

All photos courtesy of Stuart Ovenden from Appledrane.

Another great connection was made thanks to Twitter. Tara O’Brady of Seven Spoons is doing something I love about the internet (and blogs) which is telling and showing a slice of her life in southern Ontario. It’s also great to read the stories that accompany the recipes. I think that, in a way, gives more life to a recipe.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos?
A. For me the photos on my site, my aim is really straightforward – I hope to capture a sense of the food as it was, in the setting it was in on the day I made it, or the day we ate it. I don’t mind that you can tell if it was cloudy and stormy, or the difference between summer light and winter light – if that’s how things looked, then so be it. I appreciate the context of that. The highest compliment I can receive is someone saying they look at the photos and feel they’re at my table.

Q. Have you always been interested in photography? If not, when and why did you start?
A. I have always been interested in photographs, but I wasn’t always the photographer in my family. My brother came to it first, I think. My work in the past dealt with photography peripherally, but it was only when I started writing about food that I really started taking photographs.

Q. What is photography to you?
A. It sounds super-pretentious, and I don’t mean it to be, but when I was in school and studied Matisse and Delacroix, their assertion that “exactitude wasn’t [their] truth” always stuck with me. It may be a convenient excuse for the limits of my abilities, but I’m not always trying to represent a schematic of a recipe. If, say, it’s the texture of the pastry that makes a pie exceptional, than I’m happy to concentrate on a corner where the crust shattered. There will be a shot of the whole pie, but it’s that crumbly bit that I hope you’ll remember.

Q. In your bio, you said you’re currently living in southern Ontario. I’m not familiar with southern Ontario besides knowing that Toronto is there. What is the food scene like and does living where you are affect your work?
A. I live outside Toronto, close enough to feel its influence but far away enough to be a considered a bit small town. This way, we get the best of both worlds. We’re surrounded by fields, living smack in the middle of farmland and vineyards. It’s hard not to be greedily enthusiastic about this place when the fruit and vegetable stands pop up in spring and the farmer’s market is bustling. We are lucky to have local chefs and producers doing amazing things with all that bounty – you don’t have to venture far to find inspiration … and a yummy snack.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes?
A. Gosh, so many. Many of which have been mentioned here. Ditte Isager is brilliant with shadows and texture; her images are tactile and have striking depth. Christopher Hirsheimer’s does rustic beauty so well, with an elegant, easy looseness. He’s a pal, but nonetheless I must mention Michael Graydon. I won’t say much, because it’ll sound slanted, but check him out and you’ll understand. I really like Jeff Lipsky’s food photography, and I was recently introduced to Anais Wade and Dax Henry’s work – they do stunning stuff.

Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duiguid’s cookbooks, from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet on especially, are sort of my dream books. Along with the in-studio photographs by Richard Jung, those books convey an immediacy I can’t explain. They evoke such a specific sense of place and circumstance, and the food looks downright amazing.

Q. Best meal so far in 2011?
A. Darn, it’s the end of the year, so it’s especially difficult to choose just one. Hmm. In October my husband and I ate at Proof on Main in Lousiville, Kentucky. Tucked in a corner seat of the bustling room, the night was a treat from start to finish. I may have clapped my hands when I read that they had roasted marrow bones – a childhood favourite that I associate with my mother – and theirs did not disappoint. The meal bounced along from there; Chef Michael Paley’s food is awfully clever, yet flavour never takes a backseat to wit.

It was the last night of our trip and a fitting goodbye to the south.

All photos courtesy of Tara O’Brady from Seven Spoons.