Food Photographers

While in high school, be sure to get involved in clubs that will help you explore your interests and skills in cooking and photography. Most schools have a yearbook or newspaper that you can join as staff photographer. Also check to see if there is a cooking club that you can join in addition to taking family and consumer sciences classes.

You can also explore this job outside of school. If you have a camera (even one that's on your smartphone), you are ready to explore the field. Take test shots of kitchen and food items, paying attention to how different lighting and props affect the end result of the picture. Show your pictures to your friends and family and ask their opinion about your work. Does it make them hungry? Do they want to ransack the fridge after looking at your picture? If so, you might be on to something.

Start a blog or a social media page that features your photographs of food and commentary about food and the photographic process.

Participate in information interviews with food photographers. In such an interview—which can be conducted in-person, on the phone, or through video-conferencing technology—you will get the opportunity to ask food photographers about their job duties, work environment, likes and dislikes about their careers, educational training, and other topics that will help you to learn more about the field. Perhaps you could even job-shadow a photographer to learn even more about the field. Ask your school counselor or a teacher to help you set up information interviews and job shadowing experiences.

Participate in photography competitions to test your skills against others and meet people with shared interests. The youth organizations SkillsUSA (https://www.skillsusa.org) and Skills Compétences Canada (https://www.skillscompetencescanada.com) both offer photography competitions.