UPCOMING EVENTS
Food Styling 101 (Introduction to Food Styling), an online course sponsored by Photo Styling Workshops. A new 4-week class begins on June 10, 2008. Self-Promotion and Marketing for Food Stylists, a bonus 2-week fast-track class with personal coaching is also available. Both classes are taught by Lisa Golden Schroeder of Foodesigns.com. These courses are a great way to learn the basics of the craft of food styling. Click here for questions, more information and registration details.
Farm Styled Food...June 20-22, 2008. Three-day, on location food photography workshop in rural Wisconsin (close to Madison). Click here for details; early bird registration begins March 3, 2008.
Looking for more advanced styling/professional development classes? Let us know...we've got some interesting new opportunities in the works!
SPECIAL APPEARANCE...a 2-day food styling workshop at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver, British Columbia. Scheduled for October 24-25, 2008, with limited enrollment, the class will take a hard look at the business of food styling and delve into the essentials you need to know to become a successful stylist. For more details, click here.
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Jim Scherer |
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Saturday, 02 December 2006 |
Food Photographer
Boston, Massachusetts
 Q: How long have you been in the business?
A: 29 years and counting. Sometimes it still feels like I'm just beginning, which makes it fun.
Q: What educational path did you take to get where you are?
A: I got a broad liberal arts education and majored in studio art. After graduation I thought I wanted to go on and get an MFA, which I pursued for one semester before discovering my real interests lay elsewhere. I assisted in Boston photo studios for three years, while gradually gathering some of my own clients. When I went out on my own, it was just a lot of very hard work, and the occasional days of doubting whether I would ever succeed!
Q: What "ah hah" moment defined your passion for what you do?
A: I don't think there is one single ah hah moment - really there are many wonderful ah hah moments, little and big, that come at various times often by surprise. At those moments I just feel elated about having created something I can feel great about. It could be that effortless moment when everything clicks together and we get a wonderful shot that I'm proud to put into my book. Or it could be the satisfaction of having solved a very tricky problem for a client.
Q: What is your favorite part of your job?
A: Hmm...there are so many! I like finding new ways to resolve old problems I've actually solved before under different circumstances, like for example how to light a beer glass. I like meeting new people and being challenged to shoot new kinds of things. I love it when that unusual client hires me to shoot a non-food job, when the only portfolio I have features food! And I love it when you get to the point in a client relationship where they trust you and consider you one of their team.
Q: What is your least favorite part of your job?
A: Cleaning up and putting away!
Q: What inspires you? How do you charge up your creative batteries?
A: I actually don't like to study food magazines too much. I do like to go to the museum, and I keep my eyes open as I go around town. Fashion can be an inspiration. So can travel.
 Q: Do you like to travel? Where do you go? Does travel feed your passion to shoot/work with food?
A: I love to travel. Recently I spent two weeks in China with several family members. It was a pleasure trip, but I was able to shoot a small series on tea while I was there. Last winter my wife and I spent three weeks in France, starting in Paris and ending in the south. We stayed with French families as a cultural exchange. So anything that puts me out of my normal comfort zone I find stimulating, and I come home with fresh ideas.
Q: Do you have colleagues you work with regularly that are great collaborators for your work style? Are you able to work with them a lot?
A: There are a couple stylists whom I truly enjoy collaborating with. We work well together and the flow of ideas is very uninhibited - we stimulate each other as we shoot. There was a time about 15 years ago when it was very difficult for me to test. I was my own worst client! Now, I've loosened up. It's very liberating.
Q: How do you handle difficult studio situations? Like an art director who can't make up their minds, an absentee client or really ugly product?
A: When things aren't going well on a shoot, it's usually a people issue. Maybe the client's expectations are unrealistic, or there is conflict somewhere between agency, client, and creative team. What works best for me is to see if we can step away from the job for a few minutes and talk it out around the table. If I see that something's wrong then it's my responsibility to make this conversation happen. Just pushing on, right through a bad situation, usually makes it worse.
Q: If you needed to make a career change tomorrow, what would you do?
A: Fifteen years ago, I would have said I'd go into the medical field or the sciences. But today, my career is a perfect match - I get to be creative and work with interesting people, I have the fun of being an entrepreneur and my own boss, and I satisfy my technical side as well.
Q: BONUS QUESTION...what's your pet peeve?
A: Food that looks over-worked and over-arranged. People think it out too much, especially newer art directors and people whose passion really isn't in the food. Food is not a machine-made item -- it needs to look relaxed and natural. Oh, and another pet peeve: having to fuss around with a napkin if the food is already on the set. Or actually, having to fuss around with a napkin at all!
To see more of Jim's work, visit www.jimscherer.com
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