INTERVIEWER: Have you ever had to pretend that you liked a meal when you actually hated it?
JEREMY: I've never had to pretend I've liked a meal.
Uh...
You know, when I don't like anything! It's very few and far between when I'm, like, truly horrified by stuff.
But that is had actually made for some of the funnier videos that I've put out there.
[electronic pop music plays]
[Jeremy vlogging in the background]
JEREMY: Mmm!
INTERVIEWER: Hey Jeremy!
JEREMY: Oh! [laughs] Hi!
You caught me mid-bite!
INT: Sorry, but we heard you are at Tacocina doing some content,
so we figured we'd ask you 21 questions!
JEREMY [mouthful]: Let's do it!
INT: Alright, so what do you do for a living?
[Jeremy chewing]
So I run Brunch Boys, which is my social media platform, right?
To share my food adventures from all over the world with an audience of over 450,000 people!
INT: What's your go-to camera and lens?
My go-to camera is my Canon 5D Mark IV, and I have two lenses.
When I'm vlogging, I have the 16-35, which I have on right now,
and usually for photos I'll switch it over to the 50 mm.
INT: What was your first job?
My first job?
Was at Circuit City. I was in college, and I started out selling just like CDs and stuff like that.
I mean, Circuit City dates me; CDs certainly date me.
But then I sold televisions!
INT: What got you into food photography?
So it, you know, I sort of, like, reversed my way into food photography, which is funny.
I, uh, worked in TV.
I was working in sports TV first, and then ended up working in food TV.
I started as Bobby Flay's PA.
And then started producing. I was producing food travel, food competition...
Cooking shows, and started this weird Instagram called Brunch Boys 6 years ago.
And it took off and I was like
"Oh, maybe I should figure out how to, like, actually take photos"
And me just trying to learn how to be better at it really opens up the door to my passion!
And speaking to that, actually lemme just...
It's getting a little cold.
Lemme snap at least one... at least story pic.
[music continues]
INT: Do you do other type of photography besides food?
Yeah, so, because now it's become so much more of a passion of mine, I love taking photos of everything.
I bought a film camera.
I love just taking photos of, you know, my travels, my friends...
Some more street photography. It's it's it's really fun. Obviously food is the...
Bread and butter of it, but you know... [inaudible]
INT: Do you have upcoming projects?
No, big upcoming projects right now, but a bunch of travel coming up.
I will be in Miami soon...
thankfully because it is freezing here in New York City!
And then hopefully another international trip in the spring.
INT: What's your favorite part of your work?
Um...
My favorite part of my work is...
just that I get to be totally creative.
You know, when you work in TV it's collaborative,
and I think, like, there's definitely a lot of good things about that,
but certainly it could be frustrating when you're really creative person.
And now it's just been me. I wake up one morning have an idea,
"cool, let's go film! Let's go put that together. Let's go do it."
And I just do it.
There's no, you know, whatever. It's awesome!
INT: Do you have a least favorite?
You know, I think my least favorite is sort of the opposite end of that.
It's like, I do work for myself. I do work alone...
There's a lot of pressure about that, like you have to handle everything. Like what I do isn't just...
Taking photos of food and, you know, being at restaurants.
I'm running a business, and there's a lot to it.
So it's certainly difficult, and there's no one pick up the slack, but it's definitely been worth it.
INT: What are some tips for somebody who wants to get into food photography?
I mean for someone who wants to get into food photography, I would say just start taking photos.
You don't have to have this giant set up like I do. Cell phones are amazing right now.
I would say start on that.
Learn your style learn, how to really take a photo.
And then as you get more passionate about it, you could you know get a big rig like me
[music]
INT: So, let's switch it up a little bit: favorite restaurant in New York City?
My favorite restaurant New York City is Gato...
I am definitely biased! it's Bobby Flay restaurant,
but it is my fave, legitimately is my favorite. Has amazing food
I recommend to everybody. I've never heard anybody say anything bad about it, so...
INT: What do you do for fun? Aside from food photography?
I mean listen, this, this is a lot of my fun, but when I'm not specifically doing this, I do work out a lot.
That's the other side of the food world, is you have to work out. And um...
I do drink a lot of tequila, that happens!
[laughs]
INT: If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh, sushi!
INT: Favorite pizza topping?
Plain, actually!
INT: Have you ever had to pretend that you liked a meal when you actually hated it?
I've never had to pretend I've liked a meal. Uh...
You know when I don't like anything! It's very few and far between when I'm, like, truly horrified by stuff.
But that is actually made for some of the funnier videos that I've put out there.
INT: If you weren't a photographer, what would you be?
I mean, to me, just somewhere in the creative field, obviously. Like I worked in TV for a long time.
Anything, there's so many opportunities now to just be creative and put out content,
whether it's photography or filming or producing or--
so many different places. But somewhere in the creative field.
INT: What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
You know, it's not, like, one specific piece of advice I've ever, uh...
received that I could really remember.
But I think like working so closely with someone super successful,
like I had the opportunity to do with Bobby Flay,
I think you just pick up a lot of little lessons and little things along the way.
I mean, here's someone that...
dropped out of high school, now runs an empire.
And I think just like seeing the way he operates, seeing the way he pushes himself,
seeing the way he pushes other people is just like a never ending lesson
[music]
INT: You travel a lot for your brand. What's your favorite place you've ever been to?
My favorite place I've ever been to is Japan, easy! Easy number one.
I went last spring. I spent 17 days there
I went to five cities.
Shot like 20 videos. Took God knows how many photos.
Had the absolute best time. Best food, best people, best experience, bar none!
INT: What's one thing that makes your job easier?
Well, my beautiful Canon camera certainly helps, but truly I think it's like the...
Instant gratification you get from [laughs] Instagram.
And social media. Like, I could take a photo right now post it on stories and
start getting likes, start getting comments and...
I think like, listen, I realize my job isn't, like
life-changing, but it certainly brings a lot of joy to a lot of people.
And I think that's, that's really awesome. It's really fun.
And it's that one-on-one feedback that I really love way more
than you get to--when I was producing for TV. For TV you produce a show...
Six months later when it airs, maybe you'd, like, pray someone would tweet about it.
[laughs] Usually it was negative!
Where now, it's like instantaneous and you get that satisfaction.
You could change on a fly. It's really exciting.
INT: Do your family and friends understand what you do?
At this point, my family friends sort of understand what I do
I mean, here's a good example, like my grandfather is 96. He has a smart phone. He's on Instagram.
He actually watches my stories. If he can sort of understand what I do, I would say most people should!
If there were to be a movie about your life, who would play you?
Well, only because I have gotten confused for this person before,
and I've literally seen photos of this person that I thought it was me,
But it's Ben Schwartz. If you don't know who that is, he was John Ralphio
In Parks and Rec. And especially when my hair is like wild and crazy, we look very similar
INT: Who should we interview next?
Um...
I would say Drake?
It's pretty good, like, one two of like Brunch Boys and Drake back-to-back.
INT: Alright, well, we'll call us people up and see if we can make that happen!
[Jeremy laughing] INT: So, thanks for answering our questions!
Alright, great. I'm gonna get back to eating!
[music]