Food blogging is still very new field to a lot of people. You go to the restaurant, you spend more time to take photos of the food than eating it, or sometimes you don’t even finish eating. And the whole time you get a lot of judging eyes from everyone around. That must seem pretty ridiculous.
Some people are fancier than that, they bring flashlight for the best lighting for the photos, some even bring a reflectors to ensure their photos gets the best lighting, some carry food around the city like a homeless person just to find a nice background. But after all it’s just to produce that one Instagram photo you see.
instagram.com/igfoodfam
Why waste so much effort just for a photo? Why even waste time to take photo of a food (cuz it’s just food)?
I got that question a lot. Some people even told me they wouldn’t want to waste so much effort just for a photo. It’s not “just a photo” , it’s a hobby, an art. We like perfection. And after all, we have fun.
-Food is more than just a hunger cure - it’s an art-
It does bring satisfaction when it comes to a mouthwatering or an artistic photo. People who aren’t in this food field will definitely think we are weird when we think food is “sexy”, it’s attractive. But we do think so. It’s called “foodporn” for reason. It makes you drooling looking at your phone; it makes you want to eat your phone.
instagram.com/the.colors.of.yum (my favorite food Instagram account)
Food blogging as a real business
But at the end everything pays off. It’s true that food bloggers get invited to a lot of free tasting and receive a lot of free products not only from food companies but also from clothing companies and they get paid to post about some phone Apps.
instagram.com/imdatingfood (everything in this photo is sponsored besides Reese's and Hershey's)
My story
If you have been following my Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat, you are probably used to seeing me posting/snapping about food more than human. I like food a lot and started posting food a while ago, but I never knew of a real thing called “food blog” until I came across a food Instagram page that all photos are taken by digital camera and it’s laid out very pretty. I immediately fell in love. I got really inspired and thought to myself that perhaps I should try something similar since I also love photography. There I stepped into this field.
Carrying a DSLR was quite heavy and taking it out at the dining table was awkward at first but looking at a good-quality photo was just so satisfying. As I said foodblog is still something very new to everyone especially the older generation so it’s very common to receive negative judgment from them. They don’t understand why one would spend more time to take photos of food and eat it when it’s old cold and creasy. After half a year doing this I think I’m used to with all the staring or glancing at me when I take photos but I’m still very sensitive with negative comments. My parents only started to see the good thing in what I have been doing when I took them with me to an expensive restaurant that I got invited for tasting.
It’s more than just “taking photos of food”
I actually never call myself a “food blogger” because I don’t actually blog. I use “food bloggers” because most people refer to it as so. I started all these things without knowing any benefit that I could get from it. But at this point I’m glad that over that past few months my account has made a significant growth. I can connect to restaurants and brand companies. It’s amazing how I can shoot them an email and say if I could come for tasting, food photos and videos, or if they would want to collab with me for a Giveaway, or would want me to be their brand ambassador.
The more incredible thing that I earned is the remarkable numbers of friends I made around the world. Foodie friends: friends with similar interests and struggles (struggle of being judged by people around, struggle finding a right angle of the food to make it look sexier, struggle to find a good lighting spot or a good background, etc).
All of this seems very easy, taking photos of food and posting it. But it’s not going to be easy if you want your page to grow and know by a lot of people. It takes a lot of time of dedication and engagement. Time to select background, to arrange food in a better layout, time to edit your photo, time to respond to people who comment on your photos and comment on others’ photos rather than just like (because that shows how much you like it). You can just take one or two shots and be done with it. You want a uniqueness in your photos, else everyone could become famous.
Last words: if you ever find yourself a hobbie, a passion to chase after, don't be hesitant, don't be afraid of the initial judgments because once you become "successful", they are going to look back and regret. And if you want to produce quality products and want everyone to love it no matter what field it is in, you have to dedicate time for it. Never do something just because the benefits of it :)
