I’m on record as a lover of food photography, as are many of my fellow muses. As much as I love to photograph food that I make and eat at my kitchen table, I also love to capture food culture — the preparation and enjoyment of food — including by taking pictures in restaurants.
I know I’m not alone in this. Sometimes the mood strikes and we’re just inspired to take out our phones and capture the moment and the meal.
By Meghan
By Kirstin
However, there seems to be a bit of a controversy brewing about photography in restaurants, as described in this New York Times article.
When it comes to people taking photographs of their meals, the chef David Bouley has seen it all. There are the foreign tourists who, despite their big cameras, tend to be very discreet. There are those who use a flash and annoy everyone around them. There are those who come equipped with gorillapods – those small, flexible tripods to use on their tables.
There are even those who stand on their chairs to shoot their plates from above.
According to the article, some chefs have gone so far as to ban photography — even with mobile phones — from their restaurants, including celebrated chef David Chang.
Some argue that photography in restaurants can be distracting to other diners. For my part, if you’re in a casual restaurant with lots of movement, it is difficult to imagine another diner being so distracted by photography that it would affect their enjoyment of the meal. Similarly, phone photography can be discreet enough so as to not disturb anyone, even in a fine dining establishment.
I understand that some chefs forbid photography of their dishes to prevent others from copying their dishes and plating style. While I take the point here, I expect that most diners are photographing the dishes in an homage to the chef or to mark the moment, not as a culinary study aid (though the food industry can be cut-throat so it’s not totally out of the question).
The article also speaks to the irritation that folks in the photographer’s own dining party can feel as they are instructed to leave their plates untouched until they are properly captured. I’ll admit that this point hit just a little close to home. I’m sure that my friends would have liked to just dive into this charcuterie board but they were kind enough to indulge me as I instructed them on where to place their hands so that I could get the shot I wanted.
Really though, can you blame me?
I admit to giving into the urge to photograph restaurant food. In fact, I admit to taking some really bad photographs in restaurants. You’ve been there, right? The waiter sets down a beautiful dish of food or the barista hands over a latte with some mind-blowing foam art and you feel that pull to photograph it and show this beauty to the world. I’ve had this urge. I’ve taken out my phone and been ready to shoot… But the unfortunate reality is that often the best lighting for dining is the absolute worst lighting for photography. After having taken a few of these terrible-looking shots of beautiful food — shots that I knew I would never share — I reminded myself that I am a photographer. My photographer’s desire to make a beautiful picture sets me apart from the person at the next table using the flash on her phone to take a grainy photo of her sushi to share with her Instagram followers.
So when it comes down to it, I vote Yea for photography in restaurants, but for me that means being disciplined in choosing to shoot only when I can make photographs that honour both myself and the food that has been prepared for me.
Looking for inspiration for mobile photography in restaurants? Bonnie Tsang, Nicole Franzen and Jen Causey do it consistently well.
What about you? Do you shoot in restaurants? What’s your shooting style? Are you a stealth-shooting, phone-holding ninja or an art-directing, stand-on-the-chair type?
Debra ~ Manifeisty
Oh, I completely agree with you, and I must admit that I recognize myself in several of the photographer types you mention (although I have never been standing on a chair in a restaurant!!). I often feel awkward shooting in public places, but sometimes the motive is just too good to not doing it 🙂
I bring the camera with me whenever we go out to eat… it’s important to me to capture even the “small” details of our life experiences and to document our meals through “photojournalism” … plus we’re giving the restaurants free publicity by sharing the photos and food reviews with our loved ones and on my blog!
i actually appreciate what photography has done to help me enjoy my meals MORE. i enjoy and appreciate the presentation, and instead of diving right in, i take a moment to admire it, then i eat slower and savor in between a photo or two. as my man says, some people say grace, i say “cheese!”
I am not against it, for all the reasons mentioned above, but I have a couple of thoughts worth taking into consideration.
One is that most professional photographers do not like to give away digital files. In addition to financial considerations, they are worried that if a client edits and/or prints a photo of theirs, it will not be shown at its best and will reflect badly on them. As a photographer. I can easily sympathize with this line of thinking. It seems to me the chefs are asking the same thing. They may be worried that unskilled photographers will not be showing their food off to its best advantage. I personally feel the pros of allowing people to photograph food outweigh these cons, but I can respect a chef who would like to maintain more control.
The second thought is that it is frustrating to me as a non-owning, camera-carrier that my camera is often not allowed in places while phones are. Today’s phone images are often as high quality as lower-quality dslrs. I haven’t been asked to put my camera away in a restaurant, but I’ve been asked to do so at concerts and in galleries, while people have been snapping away with their phones. I would like to some more fairness there (preferably on the side of allowing all photographs, not just phone photographs).
I very much agree with you about the people who allow phones but not cameras. I’ve been especially annoyed by it at concerts; the people with phones are likely recording as well, which I would think they dislike much more than taking some photos, but of course they can’t ban phones, so they settle for banning what they can, namely cameras. I certainly hope we’ll get to the point where *both* phones and cameras are allowed!
(oh, I meant to say non-PHONE-owning, but you clearly got my meaning)
agreeeeeed!~
Well, you already know i’m on a quest to capture the culture of drinking and sometimes eating already, so I vote YES!
Funny story though, i used to shoot my friend and I when we’d go out shopping in Milan. I can’t tell you how many times I was told it was forbidden to shoot around the shoes. Nope, not allowed and they were militant about it!
omg Debra, thanks for this post. I feel the need of photographing in cafes, the mood, pretty coffee, baristas and so on and so on. yet, i rarely do it, i feel so embarassed taking out the camera, even if it’s just a phone … i am fighting with it though as i have this project in my head … oh well. couple weeks ago i was in a cafe that was on my mind for a long time, played with a camera while chatting to a friend (she’s much into photography too fortunately), took some portraits, candids, even the chalk wall i dreamed to shoot, and then – silly me – i took out the polaroid and flashed it straight into a barista and a customer in red coat. the polaroid sound, flash, all eyes on me, i felt so embarassed that i wanted to jump and hide under the table. gah.
it feels so tempting though, to shoot the cafe life … hope i will find my way to it 🙂
Oh I empathise Ewa! I would prefer to take more shots like the image at the top of the post than of just the food. I would really like to capture the *life* and the style of cafes and restaurants more often but so far I only do it occasionally and at that it’s always stealthily and with my phone.
I’m totally in stealth mode in restaurants, meaning that I end up with tons of less-than-successful food photographs. I post the least bad on them on Instagram anyway, since they do document that little part of my day.
Debra, I’m totally up for photography in restaurants. We once went to Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant (The Fat Duck) and they were kind enough to let me photograph all the courses. We were the last to leave the restaurant and were shown the kitchen too; I am sure part of that was due to the interest we showed them with the photography! And maybe the iPhone 4 too which had only come out that day and which I was brandishing during the meal. The key is never to use flash!
Debra, glad to see you start this conversation here. While I personally don’t photograph my food that much, it never bothers me when I see people doing it in restaurants. I say go for it everyone!