From almost an year since this blog was started, many of you have been coming here regularly to read about how to become a better food photographer. Some of you probably got inspired after looking at the work of some outstanding food photographers. In this post, I am going to share a secret with you.
By the end of this post, you will learn some inside secrets of a food photographers life that no one talks about. While most food photographers may look happy from outside, there is a dark side that no one talks about. In this short post, I share 4 reasons why you should not become a food photographer.
4 Reasons You Should Not Become a Food Photographer
1. Family and extended may stop inviting you to dinners – Most food photographers suffer with "Don’t-touch-the-food-before-I-take-a-photo" syndrome. This syndrome becomes more acute as the time passes and photographer take more and more photos. The photographer is often unaware of the side effects of this syndrome and how it affects their family. The immediate family and extended family support the photographer for first few months. As the photographer transforms into a perfectionist, the entire family’s capacity of holding the breath and drooling over the food until the photo is taken starts to reduce and one fine day, the photographer is not invited to family dinners.
2. You will start liking your dentist, no matter how hard s/he pulled your last tooth – You food photographer? Photographing Desserts? No matter what toothpaste you use, it ain’t tough enough, to fight cavities in a photographer’s mouth. Dentist will become your good friend. With the kind of photographs you would take, everything will become mouth-watering. And if you like shooting desserts, think more than twice.
3. Your weight loss goal will never be accomplished – If you prefer natural food styling in your photography and edible food presentation techniques, forget about losing weight. The better your photos are, the more you will be hungry – by definition of a good food photo. And if you successfully hypnotized yourself, by looking at your photos you took a little while ago, you will be feeding your stomach till the end of time.
4. You may start revolving around the food …to find the best angle to eat the food. As a photographer, the pursuit for the best camera angle for photography never stops. Is it the 45 degree? Or 90 degree? perhaps 0 degree? You would move around the table at a restaurant, stand up, sit down, tilt your head… to find the best camera angle.
So, there it is. Out of my chest and in the open. I feel much better now. You know about 4 major reasons and risks why you should not become a food photographer. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
Do you have any other reason people should be warned? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo Courtesy: Leo Reynolds
Here’s another reason: Because there are always new recipes to try and then photograph, you no longer have time to bake family favorites. This can cause a surprising amount of whining and reminiscing about the days before you took up food photography.
Paula, Haha.. thats a great reason
To stop people from whining….
I am very familiar with #1!
I dare not take too much time with food photos when dining with family and friends…lest people get really upset with the waiting. I try to shoot food when I am alone.
Mei,
I get kicked all the time, for taking a lot of time to make a photo… I too have resorted to shooting when I am alone.
LOL.. A lot of it is happening to me
Great post!
This is a good one, Neel.
Here are a few more that come to my mind.
An extension of #1. Your family and friends refuse to go out with you if you’re carrying your camera because you keep embarassing them in public by insisting on taking pictures at the most inopportune moments!
Your family is always asking for “simple/ normal” food because you’re suddenly cooking dishes with unpronouncable names and ingredients no one likes, just because it looks good through your camera.
Your spouse, especially your children, suddenly remember other places they need to be when you announce you’re photographing food and need some assistance.
You realise that you need to move to a new home to house your burgeoning prop collection!
ROFL Spot on!! Thanks for a belly shaking laugh….too too true and almost all of it has happened to me, including developing warm, fuzzy feelings for my dentist
Just one thing though – cooking and photographing up to 100 shots per post, has really dulled my appetite for food and I am beginning to lose weight…just in time for Christmas 
I would haveto disagree! I mean why didnt you say the ups of becoming one? I mean I know there are more ups than downs. Make a blog about the up side of it. People like me want to become one! Tell us how to! there are not many article out there on how to become one! Say the ups say them!! You know you wanna!