As food styling has become better known as a career option, more and more food professionals are expressing interest in it. Food styling is a very creative side of food, from a purely visual aspect. From experienced chefs tired of the long hours in busy professional kitchens or culinary students looking for more career opportunities, to food management or development workers looking for a way out of an office environment, more and more people are looking for ways to express their creativity with food.

We do want to first dispel the myth that food styling is a glamorous profession. The hours can be long, unpredictable, and difficult. A lot of money rides on studio teams that produce food photography. It’s not cheap to hire photographers, art directors, food, and prop stylists. Stress levels can run high and time in the studio (and beforehand when preparing for a shoot) can be physically demanding. And if you are booked on a shoot, it’s very difficult to bring your personal needs to work—i.e. if you have a sick child, you’d better have a back-up plan to cover yourself because it’s not easy to just leave.

But once you understand the parameters you need to work in, food styling can be one of the most fun and rewarding ways to earn money. The teamwork involved in creating beautiful images or telling a food story through pictures is truly an art.

So are you ready to dive into this career? Here are some pointers to keep in mind:

• There are no established rules to getting into this business…no formal internships, few educational programs, and scarce mentoring opportunities.
• You need to be well grounded in your food handling capabilities, knowledge of food chemistry and art principles, being a creative problem solver and well organized.
• Be prepared to invest in education or professional development, equipment, and time—as in most careers, everyone needs to be patient and “pay their dues” to become established. You need to be very proactive on your own behalf and make your own opportunities--because they won't just happen on their own.
• You can learn from all experiences: volunteering to do office work in a commercial studio, being a photo or prop assistant, grocery shopping for an established stylist, or shadowing a stylist on a shoot. You may need to work for free a few times to show what you can do, that you are a team player, and to be sure you like the work environment. Keep your eyes open and observing, learning all the time. From eating out at new restaurants, looking at great food publications, to reading the local business page—what’s happening out there?

Okay, what about being a styling assistant? It’s not easy to break in as an assistant, but many styling professionals agree that assisting is the best way to learn a variety of techniques and the etiquette and politics of a commercial photo shoot. Most stylists have assistants they have trained or that they call first when there is a budget for one—it can be like the chicken and the egg scenario. Stylists want to hire experienced assistants, but how do you get the experience without assisting? How can you catch their eye and convince them to hire you? Look for ways to get in the “back door.”

• Establish your skills and reliability by connecting with a studio that shoots a lot of food. Make yourself available for grocery shopping, running for extra props, etc. If studios trust you, you’ll be first on the list when they need to hire or recommend an assistant.
• Ask photo studio coordinators who the prominent stylists and assistants are in your area—and they can be a good source of average hourly/day rates for stylists and assistants.
• Connect with established stylists in your area, send them information about your skills, arrange to meet them on a shoot—and volunteer your services. This may not be easy, and understand that not every shoot is an appropriate place to visit or observe. But be patient and persistent. Network with other assistants so they know who you are and might refer jobs to you if they are not available.
• Be aware of other food venues in your area—local cooking schools, food events, restaurant food and wine dinners, etc. where you might volunteer your services. You never know who you’ll meet. Joining and participating in professional organizations can also be a good way to get to know stylists or even potential clients.

Consider bypassing being an assistant…if you are confident in your abilities, are highly creative, and have experience in food presentation (as a chef, etc.). Some stylists have made the leap directly to full-time styling without ever assisting anyone. It’s possible to do some assisting while trying to break in as a full stylist, offering to do simple styling jobs to prove your abilities whenever possible.

• Find some photographers (even consider photo students at a local vo-tech program) who are interested in shooting tabletop food. Work on test shots, honing your skills in presentation, design, etc. Build a portfolio of your work that will complement your efforts to sell your skills as a stylist.
• Visit studios that you know shoot food—show your samples and let them get to know you. They will be more likely to consider hiring you if they like you and think you’ll fit well with their studio team. Learn more about how studios run shoots, what the studio etiquette or hierarchy is like, how they work with their clients, what their expectations are when they hire stylists, etc.
• Think about sending a small sample portfolio (mounted prints or a printed piece with several images or postcards) to agencies--advertising art buyers and art directors, retail food and food service promotion agency art buyers, and possibly direct to food companies that have in-house art departments. More and more companies are going direct for art services, so it's worth making your work known to people on staff. They often will request stylists when booking with photographers.
• So how do you find these contacts? There are agency and food manufacturer directories, etc. Try using a good reference librarian at the largest local library you have access to—they can be an amazing source of info. And of course, go on the web and see what directories you can conjure up. Just be sure that you send your samples to the best person (i.e. an art director or art buyer)—so it may be worth a little time and money to call agencies and find out who that person is, how to spell their name, what their correct title is, etc. There is so much turnover in this business, it'll be the best use of your promotion dollars to be sure you reach someone who is still working where you think they are! And be very respectful of their time and interest. See if you can find some of the small, newer "boutique" agencies or design firms in your region—they are able to offer better design "bargains" for clients, so could be busier than larger shops right now, while the economy is slow.

Remember that you are only as good as your last shoot (or so the saying goes). Do your best work, communicate well, be responsive to problems, be positive, go the extra mile. Even if a shoot is rocky, if you are the one who works to creatively solve problems and bucks everyone else up, the end result will be positive for you. And this goes for assisting, styling, or even volunteering your time and services.

There is no sure-fire way to guarantee a successful entry into this field. But if you have a good eye, patient and meticulous personality, creative flair, and are not afraid of hard work—you just might make it.