In an effort to expand my revenue opportunities, I just spent the last few hours sorting through my archives digging up food photos. I always find it healthy to go through the old stuff I’ve shot — in this case, the last three years of newspaper work — more so to see how I’ve grown as a photographer rather than reminisce about all the crappy photos I’ve taken along the way!
My fellow photographers at the Tampa Tribune and I used to gripe a lot about our assignments. If there’s one thing journalists like to do, it’s complain. They’d always come up with creative names for food assignments, like “food aerials” or “plate mugs.” But secretly, I actually loved shooting food, or at least I did when I started to figure out how to do it!
I always appreciated the challenge of trying to make a dish look appetizing. Granted, the chefs at some of the fancier places made that real easy for me, but once I started bringing in lights and reflectors and stuff — you can tell the chefs hadn’t ever taken any food photos like that before — my appreciation for food photography really started to grow.
So, without further ado, here are some of the shots I dug out of the archive:
3.19.08 - TAMPA - Chocolate Torte at 725 South | a bistro.
3.19.08 - TAMPA - Key Lime Cheesecake encrusted in Oreos at 725 South | a bistro.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’ve got a huge sweet tooth. Seriously, don’t interrupt me when I’m digging into a triple chocolate mousse at my favorite tapas restaurant in Tampa. I will cut you! 
But we can’t forget the main course. So here it is, a filet mignon topped with a lobster tail. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
5.19.08 - TAMPA - The Filet with Lobster Oscar at Grille One Sixteen.
As a full-time freelancer now, I’m always on the look out for additional photography opportunities. In fact, I just dropped some dough on a new 100mm Macro to really get serious about my food photography. I come from a family of chefs, from the restaurant-owning uncle, to my grandpa the cook, and my mad-scientist chef of a dad, so this just seems natural to me!
If anyone knows any restaurant owners/chefs in the Boston area who are in need of any food photography, send them my way!
