Week Three
This week, after being inspired by Keith Arnatt’s pictures of rubbish, I decided to focus on food. Mostly I looked at discarded, chopped or eaten food. Like Arnatt, I wanted to photograph the food in a way that isn’t usually deemed attractive or appetising. I wanted to continue with this sense of the normal and everyday, rather than making the food look attractive or particularly appealing like a food photographer or an Instagram post might.
Whilst I’ve been focusing on very neutral colours for the most part so far, this shoot is a little more colourful. It’s very easy to make a food shoot colourful of course, and I wanted to try a bit more colour, as this is something about Arnatt’s work I find appealing. However, I still took a few in my usual style, focusing on light and muted colours. I particularly like the atmosphere created by the lighting in the pasta plate and the egg shell photo.
I think food was an interesting subject to focus on because it’s very much a part of our everyday that sometimes gets overlooked. We’re so busy eating it on the go, or photographing it for our Insta feeds, that we neglect to notice how visually interesting it can really be if we’re not focused on showing off our fancy salads etc.
Food also features a lot in Stephen Shore and William Eggleston’s work. In fact, in the video I watched of Stephen Shore, he talks a little about his fascination with food as a recurring theme of the everyday. I tried to photograph my food in a similar way to these photographers – that is, I didn’t particularly concentrate on framing the images in any particular way. Instead I just sort of pointed and shot the image. I wanted them to look spontaneous, almost accidental, normal – just as Shore and Eggleston do.
I’m pleased with this shoot, I would definitely like to include some food photos in my final submission. It was also quite fun to try a slightly different style. I think I would like to keep experimenting with different styles and techniques…
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