Apogee Photo Magazine

The Photo Contest: Food

Food is one of the most difficult subjects to photograph successfully. Attention must be paid to lighting, composition and styling. If the end product is an advertisement or menu, the food must also look appetizing. Having spent years photographing food for menus, I know how hard it is to get a good food photograph.

For this contest we received many excellent entries. And, because of the prizes involved, more than any contest in recent memory.

The winner of the Nikon CoolPix 995 Digital Camera was Paul Biddle of the U.K. He sent us three images and it was hard to decide which one to pick. We chose "Hanging Cabbage" for several reasons. In my opinion, if you are going to use color, especially in a food shot, use it boldly. It should not just be a side element of the photo, a coincidence of using color film; it should be part of the very composition itself. The colors in this photo are breathtaking and are essential to the composition. 

Next, there was the use of lighting. Paul used a very classic lighting for this shot, one that reminds us of the painters of two or three centuries ago. And finally, there was the composition. The green cabbage hangs within the red field. Its shape, color and texture are in direct contrast to the red wall. Besides the cabbage, there are the other fruits and vegetables in the image, whose textures are made even more apparent by the lighting. We can also feel the old wood because of its color and appearance. On the right, the composition is balanced by a rough-hewn shelf from which peer another red fruit and green vegetable. And what has been laid on the top shelf? It is a mystery - as well as what other things may be hidden in the darkness of the other shelves.

David Whikehart's, "Big Peppers, Little Tomatoes", won second place. David used a lighting very similar to the one mentioned above. This kind of lighting brings out texture and form very well. We also like the composition with its balance of positive and negative space. The negative space and its separation from the peppers was deliberate. Notice how the background gradually shifts in brightness as you go from left to right. This is the opposite of the shift in light on the peppers which gets darker as you go right to left. This is essential for bringing out the shape of the peppers on the left, unlit side. Again, as above, his colors were chosen to create impact.

We chose Nancy Warner's triptych of squash as second runner up. This was one of only four black and white images we received. We liked this, particularly, for its sensuous quality. Like Weston's pepper, Warner's squashes remind us of carefully posed nudes. In this photo it is the shape and placement of the squash that become so important that color is made irrelevant. Nancy toned the print sepia which further plays on the mind to associate the shapes as parts of the body.

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