If you are wondering what it would be like to photograph food professionally, this article will give you an insider’s look at what the day-to-day life of a food photographer in Rhode Island looks like. Read on to find out about the gear and equipment that professionals use, what it takes to get booked by restaurants, and what it is like to work in an environment that depends so much on your photos being perfect. If you enjoy food and photography, this job could be the ideal combination of your interests!
What I was shooting
I was shooting some seafood today for an established restaurant in Narragansett, Rhode Island. The light was good, and I got some great shots of the seafood dished. I also got some excellent photos of the chef preparing the food. It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to doing more restaurant photography. Seafood is my favorite cuisine, so this shoot was extra special.
The Venue – Beforehand
I am a restaurant photographer in Rhode Island. I have been shooting food and drink photos for about ten years, and I love it. Every day is different, and I never know what to expect. Sometimes I show up at a place that is ready to go; sometimes, they are not. Sometimes the chef/owner is so excited and passionate about their work that they want me to come back later, but sometimes there’s no time for that. It is always an adventure!
The Venue – Onsite
It is 8:00 am, and I am already at work. I am a restaurant photographer, and today my job is to take pictures of the food at a local seafood restaurant. I set up my equipment and waited for the chef to start cooking. The first few hours are always the calmest before the restaurant opens for the day. I try to get photos of as many dishes as possible as they come out of the kitchen. Around 11:30, things start to pick up and get hectic. The restaurant is opening soon, and we must wrap up before the customers come in.
Shooting Time
There is nothing quite like the hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant. As a photographer, I always look for those special moments that make dining out an experience. We sometimes start in the kitchen before it gets crazy in there. A few hours before the opening is always a great time to work with the chefs. We can get some set-up shots of them prepping for the day, and some dishes we want to focus on that look great in a photo.
Whether it is the way the light hits the chef’s knife as he preps for dinner service or the way waitstaff interact with customers, I strive to capture these moments and more. My favorite part of this job is capturing time itself: observing how people spend their days and what they do.
Editing Process
As a restaurant photographer, I spend days photographing food and drinks for various restaurants around Rhode Island and Massachusetts. My job is to make the food and beverages look as delicious as possible so potential customers will be tempted to visit the restaurant. The images always need a bit of post-production work to bring out the nuances of the picture. The dark areas of a dish or the image’s highlights as well. It can take hours to perfect a single photo, but it is worth it when people tell me how much they want to go out to eat after seeing one of my photos!
