David Griffen has made a name for himself in Newcastle based on his food photography.
He has styled and photographed 15 cookbooks to date and in 2015 won the Pink Lady International Food Photographer of the Year award for his image "Smoked Wings" - a street food vendor smoking a cigarette while cooking racks of chicken wings over hot coals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Griffen was the first Australian to win this award, trumping 6500 entries that year from 56 countries. His photograph also won The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action.
It demonstrates how food photography has evolved over the years, for example, from images of a plated meal to capturing the cultural context in which it was made.
Taking photographs of food is commonplace these days, thanks to smartphones (and social media), but the practice of documenting our meals can be traced back centuries when it was captured in still life on canvas. Food photography as we know it has evolved over the years but it remains very much an art.
Originally from Adelaide, Griffen spent 15 years in the UK working as a food photographer.
"When the UK left the EU we decided to go on an 18-month road trip around Australia, home-schooling our young children," he said.
"After checking out all of the amazing food regions in Australia we chose Newcastle as the right place to raise our family."
Griffen says he failed photography at high school and trained to be a chef. His focus changed, though, when he bought a second-hand 35mm film camera.
"I loved the access it gave me behind normally closed doors; a legitimate reason to loiter and observe," he said.
"I would wander around the Adelaide Museum, university and gardens, shooting rolls of film, then dropping them off at the one-hour mini-lab before getting some dinner at the Central Market.
"I was immersed in hospitality when I took a year off to travel through Europe with a load of 35mm black and white film. When I got back I did not leave the darkroom for months, and when I emerged it was straight into a commercial photography course."
He started shooting food photography when he arrived in the UK and saw a gap in the market where he lived, in Cornwall.
"There was a renaissance in hospitality taking place, with a huge focus back towards local produce and low food miles. I have always had a love of still-life photography, styling and composing images in a deliberate and considered way, so I was very comfortable styling and shooting food still-life images."
"I think the point of difference would have to be connection. Hospitality businesses are much more connected to their community here - and customers feel a stronger sense of connection also," he explained.
"Newcastle's proximity to the Hunter means chefs can emphasise locally-sourced ingredients, supporting nearby farmers and producers."
Food photography is an art. It's not a simple case of point and shoot.
"For a location-based shoot the first consideration is finding the right spot to work - I bring my studio lighting with me, rather that relying on available light, so I usually look for a space that has some interior decor and styling details that I can incorporate into my shots to create a sense of place," he said.
"I have been doing hospitality shoots for 20 years, so I am very adept at capturing a restaurant's vibe.
"For my studio-based work it is more about creating a style. In my kitchen studio I have a selection of backgrounds and props that I construct a still-life setting to shoot.
"It is a slower and contemplative way of working, usually listening to a good record."
Griffen is branching out to new territory with his new exhibition, Plantlife, which opens on Saturday at 133 Beaumont Street, Hamilton. It's a collection of large black and white prints and colourful alternative process prints.
"I am always looking to push my craft and learn and develop my work, and the past few years I have been focusing on more fine art still-life photography, with a desire to grow more as professional creative artist," he said.
"Plantlife has been 12 months in the making and I am really pleased with how the body of work has come together."
