On Food Photography

I have never learned how to cook great food, yet over the years of managing our restaurants and tagging along countless times to lunches and dinners, I have learned to appreciate and distinguish what is good and what is not for one's taste.

Now I have been thrust into the new field of food photography, much to my dreaded expectations way way back. Honestly like fashion photography, I'm not really a big fan of it. With the controlled environment it requires, its easy to say I'm not going to appreciate it more than I appreciate the freedom just to shoot just about anything else in the street. Maybe I was just born to eat good food.lol




But here I am, in the limelight with all the light strobes and the complete jargon of technicalities, I'm beginning to think I have not learned a lot on photography after two years. As they say, whenever and wherever you are able to shoot great food that can make anybody want to eat it, then you can shoot just about anything else.



Yes my friend, I am as dumb as Mr. Bean on this one yet I'm learning.Slowly. I might have hated it, which more than on several occasion have left me tired and spent but it money for business and above all I get to get new stuff like a full frame camera I have never dreamed of holding in my hands.Weeeee!




I have much to learn, I know its just the tip of an iceberg but I'm excited that once more I see an endless corridor full of doors waiting to be open.

Keep on Shooting!

Photoburst Photo of the Day-9/1/2009

For the third time in a two month period, I won Photoburst Photo of the Day! Hurray! Photoburst is a online travel photography contest among the different travel photographers around the globe. For many of us photographers, it is one of the most difficult to qualify noting that only a handful of Filipinos have made it so far in the gallery, me of course one of the lucky few. The great thing is that among kababayans that have made it so far, two of them are my friends my from Cebu, both top notch photographers in their fields, Jacob Maenz whose travel and Sinulog images have always been a two thumbs up for me and Allan Restauro, a good friend who opened the doors to this passion two years ago and has been winning the Sinulog competition year after year after year. Another great thing is that among all the Filipinos in the hall of fame, I'm the one with as many photos that landed in its front pages.Yepee!



I didn't expect to be chosen again as most of my selected photos, only a handful of them was uploaded way back months ago. This gives me renewed vigor that travel photography, since I love love to travel, is a field I should concentrate making just like my other new undertaking in documentary and humanist photography. Its doubly expensive to travel just to shoot but hey, we live to follow our dreams so I'll just swallow the pill and get over the money spent. But a least it should be worth it. Something my family would really enjoy. Without them tagging behind me would not be worth the trip. But were planning to add another baby so things might get derailed for a little while, not very long though, hopefully...crossing my finger.:)

Pose,Ready, Shoot.

Assisted in a advertising shoot a couple of Saturdays ago. I could only say it turned out to be the way I expected it, although a little bit longer than it should. Putting up the whole set up is always the hardest part while the actual shoot can always be fun. We used three bodies with a three lenses, a couple of pocket wizards and several accessories. I'm not really a big fan for advertising or its closest sister, fashion preferring fields in travel, documentary and concepts but had no choice but to do it. The results would be used for our website(www.yykredit.com). Even how fun it is to be in this kind of field (just ask any photographer), it just doesn't give me the kick. Its a field too that is too saturated. Too many aspiring photographers for too little projects. Money is there but its not for everyone. There are only a couple of guys I know who is good at it. The rest are all crap. Obviously I belong to the latter (hehehe).Yeah I could shoot, i could also edit well enough to believe that my images would stand out but in the end it just doesn't satisfy me at all. I've have always pursued things as a passion and if it doesn't fulfill my need, its going to die down naturally. There are too many photographers nowadays, which has quadrupled in the couple of years. Its hard for you to distinguish now the good from the bad ones looking only at their great equipments. Ninety percent of them would eventually create images that only ten percent would like. Disturbing, yet we are free to dream. As soon as they own a camera, they start calling themselves photographers. Bad for the real ones as they would eventually charge their photos for free. Am I complaining? Yes, because it would kill the industry which is a source of living for the real ones. I pity them. Like the saying I heard from a good photographer friend Estan Cabigas (www.estancabigas.com) "Buying a camera does not make you a photographer, it makes you a camera owner".