Want to be a Food Photographer?

My experience and evolution as a food photographer 📸

It’s been a whirlwind of a week and I’m excited for the long weekend but also because Veg-Table is now named a fall 2023 favorite by the lovely folks at Food and Wine Magazine and Bookshop Santa Cruz!

• Early next week, I’ll be off to Iceland to learn about and experience the réttir, where the farmers round up their sheep that have been grazing freely on the large island. I’ll share more details after I return, but you can join me on my trip on Instagram as it unfolds next week. I hope I get to see some volcanoes and lava fields (and any Game of Thrones filming sites, even though I really disliked the last two seasons).

• This is for meat lovers, and just in time for Labor Day, I’ve written a detailed guide for Serious Eats on why and how we tenderize steaks and meats.

• Make this sweet corn custard tart that carries the perfume of cool cardamom. I love a big slice served chilled just on its own.

• One more thing, okay, two more things;

This is a gentle reminder that it’s time to pre-order and reserve a copy of my new book, Veg-Table, if you haven’t already. Pre-orders are the number one way to support your favorite authors; they give publishers and media a sense of what to anticipate when the book comes out, pay attention to the cookbook, and help bookstores stock their shelves with copies.

Also, to celebrate my new book, join me at Dine with Nik for two special live cooking classes running in October and November. Please sign up soon before spaces fill up. We’ll cook from Veg-Table and chat about food and other things. Use this form to sign up for the classes, or go to my site and use the form there. Recipes for the classes will be released a week prior. Sharpen your knives and get ready to stir the pot (see what I did there. 🤣)

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I receive a lot of questions about my camera setup, equipment, editing tools, how to style food, etc. I’m usually hesitant to give too much advice on photography because I lack the experience to give hardcore technical expertise. I go with the flow and learn along the way.

My journey into the world of food photography was unplanned. This is how it all began.

The Start

I didn’t go to school to study photography. I was never interested, biology was my jam. The closest I got was the camera attached to the microscope in the lab.