Photo Submitted by Devante Carroll
Tatyana Grigoryan, a food photographer from a small town in west Russia, has been infatuated with food since she was a young girl. In fact, before her love for photography came into play, Grigoryan had ambitions to be a chef.
“I was always cooking and learning how to prepare different ingredients with different foods at home with my mom,” said Grigoryan.
She moved to Tallahassee in 2004 after making several trips as a college student to learn how to speak English.
Grigoryan has been photographing for four years, starting off with the first two years in portrait photography. When comparing portrait photography to food photography, Grigoryan says they are completely different.
“With portrait photography you are dealing with people and their emotions. The lighting has to be different and if you’re not a people person then doing a family portrait session would be hard. With food, it’s about catching the right angle at the right time depending on how the item is placed. It’s about bringing the photo to life in every aspect,” said Grigoryan.
Grigoryan believes that every restaurant or establishment that has food and beverage should have some type of advertisement. Whether that advertisement includes commercials, radio or, in her case, photography, this will help increase the establishment’s business.
“Over the last few months a lot of restaurants have permanently closed and I feel it was because of a lack of content that could’ve contributed to their business,” said Grigoryan.
Grady Ranch, a local fourth generation family farm specializing in grass fed beef located in Whigham, Georgia, has hired Grigoryan.
“Tatyana’s food images have provided professional level advertising materials for us that have already appeared in one magazine layout. She is lovely to work with, always kind and available while maintaining a very professional efficiency to her work,” he said.
The blog site Spoonful of Flavor, which is run by Ashley Cote, specializes in recipe development and fun foodie travel destinations. It has received assistance from Grigoryan as well.
“We work with Tatyana on a regular basis to create food content for our business. Tatyana styles and photographs some of our recipes featured on our site and social media. We use her services because she has an eye for excellent food photography and adapts to our style,” said Cote.
Grigoryan’s aesthetics on food photography are where one must look through her lens to fully understand that it is not just all about food. It’s when photography meets technology.