Foodies Do you take pictures of your meals?

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
While surfing PetaPixel (photography is one of my hobbies) I came across an article about restaurants who are now imposing no photography policies. The PetaPixel linked to the source article at the New York Times.

Restaurants Turn Camera Shy (Published 2013)

I can understand why some restaurants impose the policy, especially smaller locations where somebody snapping away with a flash can be quite irritating.

What caught my attention though was this part....
There are even those who stand on their chairs to shoot their plates from above.
Are there really idiots who stand up on their chairs in the middle of restaurant to photograph their meals?! :eek:

If that wasn't bad enough, apparently somebody actually thinks taking a picture with an iPhone is too hard and is now teaching lessons on how to do it.

Even Valery Rizzo, who teaches a class in iPhone food photography, thinks the trend has crossed a line. Tired of seeing uncentered, flash-marred photos of indistinguishable glop, Ms. Rizzo taught a course last fall at 3rd Ward in Bushwick, Brooklyn, to try to raise the bar. Ms. Rizzo briefs her students not only on the apps available, like Instagram, Foodie SnapPak and Camera+, but also tries to teach them lessons on composition and lighting. “No. 1 rule is no flash,” she said. “A lot of food photos are hideous because of the flash.”
 
A group of girls/women in my circle snap their meals with their phones and share them around as a conversation opener. Since they all cook from scratch and are making their home country specials it seems fairly reasonable.

Next we'll be having people going to restaurants with Go-Pro's mounted on headbands to capture the 'experience'...........
 
A group of girls/women in my circle snap their meals with their phones and share them around as a conversation opener. Since they all cook from scratch and are making their home country specials it seems fairly reasonable.
A quick cell phone pic amongst foodies I can understand, but standing on a chair to get a better angle is pushing it a bit far.

Next we'll be having people going to restaurants with Go-Pro's mounted on headbands to capture the 'experience'...........
:ROFL:


Oh, wait, I could totally see that happening at some point!
:eek:
 
I see piles of people facebooking their meals. I get it if it's a unique occasion, for example, an interesting dish in an exotic location, that comes as part of a holiday album, but I see people taking photos of their daily breakfast.
 
Oh yeah, when I was at apprenticenship at border guard helicopters' base, deep inside my country, we were having meal in one of local restaraunt.
Well, compared to mostly restaraunt in my city, it was just dining room, but compare to sizes of that city, it was restaraunt.
And my mate was taking pictures of every meal he was eating there.
I asked him: "Are you going to put them into our report for the institute?"
He told, that it's just fun, to take pictures of meal you going to eat.
Personaly, I find it....strange :)
 
Yes I do... a lot as Kevin knows lol :p

I would do it in a restaurant, but I wouldn't take my big camera unless I had pre-arranged it with the management. I certainly wouldn't stand on chairs or spend too long on it though! lol

Mostly I use my phone when out and about.
 
I asked him: "Are you going to put them into our report for the institute?" He told, that it's just fun, to take pictures of meal you going to eat. Personaly, I find it....strange :)
Did he end up posting them to Facebook or somewhere else or he just kept them on his phone?
 
Yes I do... a lot as Kevin knows lol :p
And the pics always seem to look quite better than what I'm having for dinner on any given night! 🙈

I would do it in a restaurant, but I wouldn't take my big camera unless I had pre-arranged it with the management. I certainly wouldn't stand on chairs or spend too long on it though! lol

Mostly I use my phone when out and about.
I don't see any problems with the occasional phone pic while out & about; I've been known to do it myself if I am out with friends/family and we get something for the table that we've never had/seen before. I just don't get the people bringing their full-size DSLRs with them to dinner and standing on chairs to get better shots. At that point it is no longer about the meal but about the photography.
 
Here's a site some of you may enjoy....

Pictures of Hipsters Taking Pictures of Food

While the site is in jest I disagree with some of the shots because they are people using their cell phones or small pocket point-&-shoot cameras to discreetly take a picture. I really don't have a problem with people taking discreet shots or shots at home/work of their own creations; I do it myself on occasion and there may be a few pictures of my red devil flame cakes at Christmas floating around. :whistle:

The flip side of that is the scenario below where you have two people, both with a DSLR (one with a Nikon D3100 & the other with a Canon Rebel XS) taking pictures of each other taking pictures of milkshakes at..... McDonald's. At least the Canon shooter went for an artistic black-&-white shot. :D

tumblr_mlcwd0gKUF1qdm5oto1_500.jpg
tumblr_mlcwd0gKUF1qdm5oto2_500.jpg
 
Heh heh ... the Canon shooter is clearly an artist with the lens ... wide aperture and monochrome and a pair of shakes dressed up like gypsy wedding cakes ... what's not to like? The Nikon image is just a travesty ... it's the same with cars. I always drive well used small cars and rarely have any trouble keeping up with the bozos who've blown the budget on a shiny horse-power fest who can't actually control even a modest percentage of the performance they so rashly splashed out on.

To be honest my only interest in food photography is in Cake Wrecks. (The link is to one my personal faves with a video follow up.)
 
To be honest my only interest in food photography is in Cake Wrecks. (The link is to one my personal faves with a video follow up.)
I hadn't seen the video before, that is pretty funny seeing the reactions of the workers. I visit Cake Wrecks on a semi-regular basis; I'm the youngest of four and at one point we were all working in the same bakery at the same time many (many!) years ago. The oldest is still in the business while the rest of us still bake & cook as a hobby.
 
No, I don't photograph my meals. Certainly photographing prepared food for cookbooks, menus and cooking magazines would be considered necessary. Beyond that stated function, however, I don't see the attraction in taking pictures of food.
 
Looks like the mainstream media is starting to take notice of the trend. (Or, at least, Canadian media. :P)

Posting pictures of meals online? You may have health problems
People who post pictures of almost every meal they eat to social media may have a deeper medical issue, according to the mental health chair for the Canadian Obesity Network.

Speaking at the Canadian Obesity Summit in Vancouver Wednesday, Dr. Valerie Taylor said many post pictures of food because they enjoy it, but some do it because food plays a significant role in their lives.

"You don't take pictures of who you're with, you take pictures of what you're eating," Taylor said.

"For some people who have the predisposition for weight behaviours, it just goes that one step further, and they start to develop unhealthy weight disorders and they start to have weight problems."

Taylor said people don't eat food for its nutritional value alone.

Research has shown food has a more psychological role in people's daily lives, which is one of the main causes of obesity today, she said.

Taylor, whose presentation to the conference was entitled "Food Fetish: Society's Complicated Relationship with Food," is an associate professor at the University of Toronto and psychiatrist-in-chief at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto.
 
We only snap pics of things that aren't the norm...like a birthday/anniversary dessert, or when a place serves massive mozzarella sticks (like when my wife wanted to go to Twin Peaks...smh).

Funny, though, that one of the restaurants we go to (Famous Dave's) actually requests that you snap pics of their burnt ends and post them online, in order to drive promotion.
 
We only snap pics of things that aren't the norm...like a birthday/anniversary dessert, or when a place serves massive mozzarella sticks (like when my wife wanted to go to Twin Peaks...smh).
I only recently found out that "Twin Peaks" even exists. There are none around here and the first time I saw them, if I recall correctly, was on the Undercover Boss TV show. For the most part I'm the same way (and have admitted to) of taking a quick pic with my phone if we see come across something unusual.

Funny, though, that one of the restaurants we go to (Famous Dave's) actually requests that you snap pics of their burnt ends and post them online, in order to drive promotion.
Another restaurant that isn't around here. Do they give a discount for helping to promote them with the pics?
 
I only recently found out that "Twin Peaks" even exists. There are none around here and the first time I saw them I, if I recall correctly, was on the Undercover Boss TV show.
It took over the spot of a Timberline Steakhouse that we used to like going to for birthdays and such, so we found out it was there by driving past. My wife wanted to go, so we went...and as soon as I entered the parking lot and saw "scenic views" listed on the signage, I realized immediately what it was. The wife was a good sport, and we still ate there, but other than their mozzarella sticks, I wasn't impressed.

Another restaurant that isn't around here. Do they give a discount for helping to promote them with the pics?
It's mostly a northern midwest chain...odd coincidence that my uncle helped Dave (back when he was still running the business, which I don't think is the case any longer) with putting together a charity cookbook. I wish they would give a discount, but they just offer to display your message on their home page.
 
I belong to a foodie site so yeah take photos of some of my meals, but as usual people have to get carried away with the concept. Probably doesn't help that I'm rubbish at photography, example following. For those wondering a downtown Korean eatery that had no problems with a few snaps being taken.

pork.jpg
 
I believe that for a media crew to snap some meal pics using nice big camera is okay, but some folks just want their pictures taken with he/she seen holding a camera taking picture of an object. So basically what we get is a picture of someone pointing a camera to an object.

Snapping using phones is for personal use, such as making your friends drool by sending the pics. Common problemas are light intensity and angle.
 
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