We got a chance to have a quick chat with one of Fotolia's top selling food photography Contributors. Here he explains where he gets his influences from and what it is about food photography which inspires him. Over to you Marco.....
I am Italian and I live and work in Milan. I started working with Fotolia at the end of 2009 having read an article about the market of microstock; something that I didn’t know much about.
My favourite dish is absolutely spaghetti with seafood. All the dishes I photograph are cooked and assembled by me. Some recipes are from the food-magazines I work with while others are simply my inventions.
I love the light used by the great artist Caravaggio in his paintings: not too much, roomy and concentrated. My style focuses on this kind of light that emphasises more the subject of the picture, exalts the nature and the details of the objects that I shoot. An example can be found here. The concept of this picture is that of a little roomy light.
Surely my upbringing in Italy has influenced my creative style. The secret is: love what you photograph. I love cooking so I linked my passion for the food with one of the photography.
There is not a particular food-photographer that inspires me. I like to watch the photos made by various professionals on food books or food magazines.
I work especially with food periodicals or with advertising agencies that organise campaigns, so more than focus on the audience I know what the clients and the art directors want from me and from my photos... I therefore work on their needs and input.
My plans for the future? Publish a book with my recipes and my photos and create a blog. This is my bestseller which has sold more than 3300 times:
Thank you so much to Marco for sharing some of his inside workings and processes. For more of his beautiful food photography check out his Fotolia portfolio, his website and find him on Facebook.