Nimra's Portfolio: Head Over Meals

 For my project I decided to focus on food art and all the different creative ways I can make art out of it. Basically what I did, I took different kinds of foods and put them in different perspectives, lighting, positions and I also styled the foods in a certain way. How my ideas were presented were with different foods and I would find an interesting way to make something creative or presentable for example I took an orange and peeled it a certain way to make bunny ears and I cut out a paper bow to tape on it to mock Playboy bunny. Another example of where I tried to make food presentable would be when I took that plain photo of a shawarma and it looked really appetizing with the lighting and the filter I put on it. I created this kind of artwork because I thought it would be pretty interesting to try and make art out of a common resource people need everyday. 

     Food photography started in the early 19th century. The first still life meal was in 1827 set up by Nicephore Niepce. My overall vision for this assignment is that it’s very creative and personally it’s too creative for me. I didn’t think that I could come up with too many ideas but with some inspiration from others and from google I managed to get my own ideas and created a work of art. To be honest I think my audience should react in amazement because of how much effort I put into this project. I was never really passionate about photography but since I’ve started this photography course I have come to like photos and different creative ways you can take them and make them look outstanding. My current work relates to my previous work in some ways because of the similar filters I’ve used and how close up I would do the photos. 

     My work fits in with contemporary art because it shows a lot of the art pieces that are supposed to be one thing but looks like another and in my photography it also shows that. My photos fit well in the history of photography of food because most of the old food photos show a lot of still life and most of my photos represent still life for example the photo of the yogurt drink, banana, chocolate milk, juice, and yogurt is a great example of still life photography. These photos fit with other projects I have done in the past because of how close up I would take my photos to focus on a subject and how sometimes I would take pictures in a way that you can’t tell what it is so it gives a little mystery. I got a lot of inspiration for these photos from a lot of my friends, family and teacher. Google was a great help for inspiration too. Again the way my art relates to other artist’s artwork would be the still life and the set up of the pictures. For example, the way the macaroons photo was set up I have seen many other photos that had similar setups to make the photos look eye catching and pleasant to the eye. 

     I think my photos fit into a series because the whole photography is a series itself as I have found food that looks good and is worth calling art. Also I have found a way to make art out of food. Personally I think my whole blog would be a series of interesting perspectives of food. A certain technique I think was the most important to this work would be the patience and the multiple tries it would take to get the perfect and eye appealing photo. My philosophy of art making would be to have an eye catching photo that has a main subject that has good lighting, in a good position and has a purpose. This is my favorite assignment as I put in a lot of effort. This assignment has really inspired me to be more passionate about taking photos and has given me a different perspective on photography that I never had before. I learned a lot with this course. 🍸