Director of Photography
Each project I shoot is unique. It might be the creative approach, the team, or the visuals in front of the camera. Food cinematography has a special place in my heart (and stomach) because I love eating delicious food, and lighting food is exciting for me as a director of photography. Finding the best camera angle and the perfect position for each light is key to delivering mouth-watering food cinematography. I’ve shot everything from Kraft recipe videos to VFX-heavy Instagram ads for Nestlé.
Colavita wanted to highlight their premium Italian extra virgin olive oil in a short web advertising video. Every project I shoot begins well before shoot day in pre-production, and each director has a different approach in their planning process. This project was the first time I collaborated with director John Baumgartner. It turns out we both love the planning stage of pre-production, so it was a perfect match. He had storyboards and a rough animatic, which began our collaboration as we talked about the food cinematography. We discussed each dish and the mood we wanted to create in the scene. Through this process, I built a mood for the food cinematography with some scenes warmer, cooler, or mixed in the color.
On the location scout, I shot storyboard stills, so we knew the exact angle for every shot. The extensive planning process paid off on the shoot day. We knew exactly what we needed and how to achieve each mood through the camera and lighting placement to produce excellent food cinematography. The planning helped food stylist Nicky Morse schedule out the food prep so each dish was camera ready when the lighting was set up. Food cinematography has so many moving parts, but when each element is planned properly the whole shoot comes together like a delicious recipe.