Barney Taxel just wrapped up shooting cover to cover Editorial food photography for local, regional and national food interest stories featured in Flavor Magazine 2017.
For over thirty years Taxel has been a champion of the Cleveland food scene and a loyal #DoddPro. His food photography is the visual catalyst that the chefs of Cleveland's food revolution needed to propel them to a national stage.
Food photography has many different courses. The recipe for a successful food photograph requires careful consideration of environment, lighting, composition, usage, production values and of course equipment.
As with all commercial photography, how the images are going to be used determines creative direction, production and styling. Editorial and Commercial food photography differ in execution from pre-production to final deliverable, especially concerning food styling.
Taxel explains:
"Editorial food photography differs from commercial and advertising food photography. Flavor Magazine is a perfect example- 7 studio assignments and 8 location assignments, delivering 22 photographs to Flavor. All of this was shot in two weeks. Editorial is fast-paced, requiring precision planning and technical skills, as both as photographer and a stylist. I have had the honor to learn food styling techniques from great stylists and chefs in Cleveland, New York City and Brazil.
Commercial photography shoots (cookbooks, gourmet websites and housewares/ lifestyle catalogs) truly require a collaboration with an outstanding food stylist. In pre-production the stylist selects ingredients that align with the creative direction, plus tests and creates dishes days before a shoot. During production, the stylist creates the canvas for me to capture the dish that looks as good as it tastes. These artists bring culinary and design talent to a world where a split second can make all the difference between getting that hero shot and being too late to the party!"
Let’s talk Gear: I know all the photographers want to know how the sausage is made…
Taxel's photography gear choices, both analog and digital, are centered around having the capability of reliably consistent color and sharpness accuracy.
Gear List:
- Canon 5D Mark II
- Lenses-35mm to 200mm
- 100mm macro is a food shooter’s workhorse
- Broncolor and Speedotron have always been my studio lighting choices for their versatility and color consistency
- Interfit Monolights for location shooting with some great results at a very reasonable cost
Barney Taxel - Dodd Pro 2017
"Throughout my career, Dodd Camera has been here for me and my crew. We made daily runs there during the film photography days for fresh color film, darkroom chemicals, and paper. Today Dodd has the technologically advanced knowledge base needed in this incredibly fast-changing digital photography landscape, offering the latest gear at competitive prices. Dodd has always been my go-to professional photography resource, for cameras, rentals, backgrounds, accessories and of course great friendship!"
Film Director: Jurell Sison
Special Thanks To: My wife Laura and our beautiful family. Mike and Adam Carreras, Vince Grzegorek, Douglas Trattner, Anna Wallace Birchler, and all the amazing chefs and restaurants who make Cleveland the best place to eat!
Director Jurell Sison