Between the Camera and the Kitchen

Ted Thomas, Food and Lifestyle Photographer

You’ve heard plenty from me over the years, but today, you’re getting the other side of the story. In today’s Side Dish, photographer Ted Thomas, my longtime creative partner-in-chaos, is sharing what really happens behind the scenes of a food shoot, from melting cheese emergencies to last-second prop debates. -Elena

Being a food photographer is an unusual job. It’s certainly not nine-to-five, and no two days are ever quite the same. And the bonus? I’ve always felt there’s a certain “cool factor” in telling people what I do for a living. Always, that is, until I started working with Elena.

“I heard you use glue instead of milk, is that true?” “How do you get chicken to look so golden?” “What’s the secret to those delicious-looking treats?”

Those are always the first questions when someone asks what I do, and they rarely lead to a conversation about photography. Ha, so much for cool! Therefore, in a not-so-veiled attempt to shift the focus back to me, I’ll try to answer the age-old question:

What exactly does a food stylist do?

BUILDING A SHARED LANGUAGE

First, I should say that I’ve been working with Elena for more years than either of us care to admit, and over time we’ve developed a shared language. There’s a directness to our conversations, where “the love is always implied,” and neither of us feels the need to soften edges or apologize. That said…sorry, Elena, for spilling a few of your secrets.

ELENA’S ROLE BEYOND THE FOOD

The first secret of Elena’s food-styling magic is to tell you she’s not a food stylist, or at least, not only a food stylist. She’s involved in every aspect of the shoot, from set design to workflow and shot count, from prop sourcing to model wrangling, and there isn’t a minute of a shoot day she hasn’t already mapped out in her head. Which raises the obvious question: with all of that going on, and the fact that we’re often shooting on multiple sets at once, how does she even have time for the food?

So yes, it’s true that food stylists have used tricks like glue instead of milk (real milk can photograph too gray), Crisco in place of ice cream, and so on. But these days, the trend is toward shooting real food, which is often far more demanding. But this is where Elena’s multitasking superpowers take over, and where communication is key.

FOOD WAITS FOR NO ONE

Knowing what food can sit, and what needs to be shot RIGHT NOW!! is discussed before anything goes on set, not only with me, but with Patricia, who is in command of the kitchen-to-studio flow and is so much more than an assistant.

So whether they’re whipping up a good head on a beer (adding a pinch of salt to create foam), melting cheese on a juicy burger with the aid of a garment steamer before the lettuce wilts or the bun gets too soggy, or hand-modeling the perfect syrup pour on a stack of strawberry pancakes—food waits for no one. And don’t even ask me how she did those fizzy drinks that changed color for the Rick and Morty Cookbook!

THE SPLIT-SECOND TIMING OF A GREAT SHOT

Which brings me to another secret: food styling isn’t exactly about making food look delicious. It’s about making it look delicious at exactly the right moment. It’s often said that the best food styling is invisible. The perfect turn of parsley, the char on a steak, the just-picked freshness of a salad. When it’s done well, you don’t notice it. You feel it. Which brings me to the next topic: when we argue.

WHEN THE CAMERA AND THE KITCHEN DISAGREE

Listen, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. There are plenty of times when photographers, food stylists, and art directors have differing visions. And trust me, it never fails, just as I’ve framed up the perfect, sexiest shot of pasta you’ve ever seen, or a sumptuous pie slice, or fine-tuned the light just right on a blended drink, that’s just the time when Elena says something like: “You know we have to put a giant Thor’s Hammer in there as a prop, right?” What? Can’t you see the beauty I have framed up??!! I can’t change that! Don’t you know light is fleeting, and we could lose it any second? What if we just turned this plate this way, and angled this that way, and sure, you can tell that’s Thor’s Hammer, right? No? How about…

Let’s just say there is always a give and take in the studio. (If you have a minute, ask Elena about the barricade of 4’x4’ cards I use for reflecting light, and how they inevitably block her access to the set.)

At the end of the day, people never see the work behind it all: the 5 a.m. baking at home, the prepping of multiples of the same dish, the resetting between takes, the timing of each item, or the little tricks that I know nothing about. “How did you make a wax seal with candy melts for Harry Potter: Feast and Festivites book?” But even that’s not true, because food styling isn’t about “tricks.” It’s about preparedness, knowledge and experience.

THE MYSTERIES THAT STILL REMAIN

I hope this sheds a little light on what goes on behind the scenes, at least from a photographer’s point of view. Though, to be honest, it’s a job that can never be fully explained, and even after all these years, I still have questions. What exactly is a “shaker cookie”? What are “statement cakes,” and how do they get installed? And how did my studio somehow turn into the “Room of Requirement,” where any prop can be conjured at a moment’s notice and a secret stash of show-stopping baked goods appears for the cover shot?

Maybe Elena can answer that next time we’re in the studio, and I’ve framed up the perfect shot, and the light is fading.

Ted Thomas is a food and lifestyle photographer who has collaborated with Elena on cookbooks, campaigns, and countless studio shoots over the years. You can find more of his work at https://www.zerocoolstudio.com