My Food Photography Journey

Let's start at the beginning. My first venture into the food blogging world came during my divorce, back in 2010, when I decided to cook 100 Southern Living recipes within 12 months as a diversion. 

I started off as such a novice, taking photos with my BlackBerry. Here is the first photo that appeared on my blog, SL Recipe Challenge:

Texas Toast Breakfast Bread Pudding

Two months into the challenge, my mother called me and said, "No one is ever going to take you seriously if you keep taking photos with your phone. Use your camera. I am begging you."

So, this was the inaugural camera shot:

Spinach-Black Bean Lasagna

When the challenge was over, I wondered about a new adventure. It was 2011, and I discovered Pinterest that year. I took my huge binder of recipes I had torn out from magazines, found them online, and pinned them. 

I also did the same with all of the recipes I had bookmarked on my computer...so they would be all in one place and hopefully I would actually cook all of these great ideas.

That led to this blog's beginning. I thought, how about I cook what I pin and tell others how the recipes turned out?

Here is the first photo from this blog (I had definitely improved over time):

Pot Roast Sliders

I took a lot of time off this year after a death, but slowly started to cook again. Here is the most recent recipe photo from this blog:

Spinach-Artichoke Dip Stuffed Mushrooms

Early on in my food blogging journey, I became Twitter friends with Stephanie Parker, aka Plain Chicken. We started following each other's blogs...she made some of my recipes; I made some (okay, a ton) of hers (she cooks just like I do). 

Even though we live in the same city, we only recently had the opportunity to meet in person, when she did a cooking demo at a local appliance store.

I had the chance to speak with her and expressed interest in how she managed to get all of her photos, even casseroles, to look so good. I admitted that I frequently took photos of my food cold the next morning to get a decent shot. The lighting at my house was also so dim (for quality photography) that I dealt with a lack of sharpness (read: so many photos were ditched because they were too blurry).

She sent me a message a few weeks later that she was going to host a photography session at her house, and I was thrilled. She sent over the list of supplies I would need to construct a proper light box, and a group of lovely ladies met for dinner, laughter, and learning.

So...want to see the difference having the right equipment and a good teacher makes?

First, we took a few "naked" shots, like this one:

Then, she suggested adding a spoon:

Finally, she suggested snapping a spoonful. Stephanie actually took this photo, and when I saw it, I kind of gasped. She said, "Right??!!! That's the money shot." 

So, now I'm all set up to take great pictures of great food. Stephanie made me promise I would get back in the cooking game and regular posts to this blog. 

Thanks, Steph...and stay tuned!

P.S. Special thanks to my BFF Jenny for her extreme patience over the past few years while I repeatedly made her wait to eat until I got the right shot!