Martin Parr, Untitled (Turkey and Lamp), 1994, from the British Food series
Happy Thanksgiving! In our homework, we have considered how photographing food can be an art form. A recent article āFood instagrammers turn their accounts in professionsā in the Wall Street Journal highlights how some people have turned their obsession with photographing food into real-world perks, like free meals or cash! Using social media outlets, like Instagram, these foodie entrepreneurs have turned their love of eating out into a viable marketing tool for the hospitality industry. Read theĀ Wall Street JournalĀ article and compare these amateur photos to food photographs by an art photographer like Martin Parr, who is a member of the esteemed photography cooperative Magnum Photos. Parr created a series dedicated āBritish Foods,ā which includes the photograph of the turkey shown here. What do you think are some of the differences between food photography for marketing and food photography for art? Do you prefer one over the other?
Read the Wall Street Journal article here.
Look at Martin Parrās series here.
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR POSTS BY MONDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2015.Ā Same day Writing Assignment #2 is DUE (please make sure you choose one exhibition on the list, do not try to review the entire museum, rather pick one of the exhibitions to review)
I believe there is a huge difference between food photography for art purposes compared to marketing. The biggest difference is what the photo is trying to make you feel. With almost every food photo that is taken for marketing reasons they are trying to make you want that food or at least make you think that food looks well made. While food photography for art can be just like anything other photograph. It could be a photo of an apple but you want that apple to symbolize something else the intent of the photo is not to make you want to eat that specific food it is to make you think about something specific using that food as messenger. Now a days people have started to use instagram as both so the lines are starting to get blurred between someone posting a photo of something cool that happens to be food or someone posting food trying to make it look cool. I have personally done both one for myself on my personal account and then my family owns a catering company and i have posted photos on that one as well. When the photo was just for my friends to see i put way less care into the angle or the lighting I just wanted to show people what I had made. When I posted for the company I went through a lot of photos trying different angles and lights trying to get the perfect one to show off the food. I personally like food photography for art more but I fully understand why companies need to get professional photos done of there foods.