Fall 2012 Tu/Th History of Photography

In my opinion food photography is one of the best things out there. I’m a fan when it comes to snapping a photo before i eat and post up a photo of my food on instagram to share with people.  Whats so great about food photography? Everything! with the high technology we have on our mobile device we can easily go onto yelp, foursquare and other app to search up restaurant around us and decide if we want to dine there or not due to the customer that were previously there who took a photograph of their food. An food photography can make a big difference on your decision whether you want to dine there or not. Usually when I see food photography i actually get hungry by looking at the photograph that my friends have posted up on instagram a big variety from breakfast, lunch,dinner, dessert even snacks.I can even say my instagram is  98% full of food photographs , I personally enjoy taking photograph of my food and sharing it with people. I consider food photography is art because there is many ways to present your food in a photograph by the angle, closeness and color and its all up to you.

I agree that photographing food is an art form. I think the reason people photograph food so much besides the fact that cameras are now available on our phones wherever we go, we find the need to capture an art form that is only available for few moments of time. The plate right in front of us may be set up in a beautiful display that we want to photograph in order to have that display forever, because sooner or later we eat what is on our plate and the art of how the food was set up, is forever gone.

Food photography is an interesting concentration of photography in general. I think that the fact that food is manipulated in  such horrific ways in order to make it look the way it should is typical of photography in general; just as people argue that a photo of a man being shot could have been staged, people can too argue that the color of the gravy on a particular photograph is not the real color of gravy b/c the photographer used something inedible in order to make it look that way. I would say that in the case of Food Photography, it is deceiving to manipulate photos in the way that food photographers do. If a photo of an ice cream with chocolate syrup is completely staged with powdered sugar mixed with shortening to make the “ice cream” and mashed potatoes on top with motor oil to make the “chocolate syrup” then it is not ice cream with chocolate syrup; it is powdered sugar, shortening, mashed potatoes, and yuck motor oil…

It’s been several weeks since the devastating and excruciating hurricane hit New York City and New Jersey, where millions of innocent people were “surprised” by the effects of mother nature (Hurricane Sandy).  Where people lost their houses by Sandy, in which the best option was to flee and fear for their lives.  Millions of New Yorkers suffered the hideous impact of Sandy that left millions of people without power, food, transportation and with no house to stay.

I’m really thankful that nothing happened to me and my family. Luckily, we weren’t affected at all by Sandy.  I was able to follow everything that was happening, while Sandy hit the city.  And because of that I was constantly checking all the news and social platforms regarding Sandy’s impact. One of the many things that called my attention was, when I first saw photoshopped images of different places of NYC being “affected” by Sandy. The first image I saw was about this shark swimming on the street and then the Statute of Liberty being engulf by water.  At first, I didn’t know if these images were real or not because of all uproar that Sandy was causing and then after awhile, news were denying the authenticity of these images.

The purpose of creating faked images was totally an act of cowardice and heartless towards the people affected by the hurricane and its citizens.  Aside from calling people’s attention, I think it was a disrespectful way of showing respect and love towards those in need of help.  Hurricane Sandy was a serious matter in which we should’ve been together as a one, instead of disrupting the social media and making people believe something was not real.

Hurricane Sandy proved us how vulnerable this city can be, and how things can get out of hand easily when mother nature attacks.

When I first saw this photograph (“Falling Soldier”), it never crossed my mind that this photograph could’ve been staged, because during that time staged photographs weren’t common or popular.  After reading Richard Whelan’s article about Capa’s photograph authenticity, I have no doubt that this photograph indeed was never staged nor modified by any means to become famous or to get money out of it.  Whelan’s article clearly states with witnesses and documented papers the validity and originality that the “Falling Soldier” was never staged nor manipulated by any means, but to show the actual moment of the war, where soldiers were being shot to death by their enemies during the Spanish War.

I think that most of the controversy surrounding this photograph’s trustworthiness is mainly caused by those who would have loved be famous as Mr. Capas.  I believe that Philip Knightley and O.D. Gallagher  wanted to be famous by “proving” that the “Falling Soldier” was staged.  However, thanks to Whelan’s article the integrity of Mr. Caplas will continue to be as clear as the water.  Moreover, I do think that authenticity matters, because what would be the meaning of having photographs that are staged and represent something that was never meant to be? When it comes to photographs about something important that can be subject to study, authenticity is extremely valuable to analysis and researches that would lead to further explanations or conclusions.

“Food Photography” is becoming more and more popular among food lovers and photograph addicts. With today’s technology, now it’s  much easier to photograph a certain type of food or a dish.  One of the advantages that we have now over years past, is the ability and accessibility to take picture of the food just when it’s being served or in the process of its preparation and uploaded to any social platform.  Apps, such as: instagram, pixlromatic and aviary are major factors to the contribution of “food photography”.  These apps are so impressive that  make dull or pale images look as if it were taken by professional photographers.  Aside from changing the actual color of the photographs, these apps add  special effects or backgrounds to the photographs within seconds, while creating a professional color balance, saturation or contrast to the desire photograph.

In my opinion I think that one of the toughest things about photography is actually taking photographs of food.  It sounds really easy to take a photograph, but it is not.  The actual process of choosing the right angle, the food, and the amount of light can be quite complicated for all the adversities that food presents.  However, NPR’s article, Robert Mann Gallery’s and Irving Penn’s portraits show that shooting food can be just as beautiful and exciting as their photographs. Each photographer shows different views of food from different angles each with its own characteristics.  The way these photographs are portrayed depends on the artists’ imagination or creativity. To conclude, “food photography” is becoming part of our lives in one way or another food is always present. Therefore, there is always a chance that tomorrow’s meal might be seen by our friends on our social platforms.