Kim Kissling: The most common misconception about food styling is that the food is fake --
the food is absolutely real,
the more real it is --
-- the better it looks in front of the camera.
My name is Kim Kissling and I am a food stylist.
I started in corporate America. I have a bachelors degree in international marketing and,
in my late twenties I decided that I was really in love with cooking.
So I decided to change careers, and left corporate America and went to cooking school.
We had a career day where they told us about different careers and,
told us about food styling,
and as soon as I heard about it I knew it was something I'd want to do.
Today we are shooting a cookbook: it's an ice cream sandwich cook book, so
we are shooting every single recipe in the book.
That's pretty. I like that, the way the light is, it looks really nice.
So what usually happens is you talk to the photographer,
and you get a manuscript of all the recipes that are going to be in there.
What needs to be shot,
what order we need to shoot it in,
how may days it will take.
I usually hire an assistant to work with me
This particular project I am working on I have two.
And then I do all the planning as far as
shopping, what we need, what we don't need, what we have on hand, what we don't have on hand.
And we'll get to the studio and we just start cooking.
We just go in order of what we are doing.
Prep and cook and,
You have to be super organized to make sure that you're not
wasting time doing something that you're going to be shooting tomorrow.
You just have to be really organized about what
steps need to be taken to actually keep the
process moving so the photographer and the team isn't waiting for you to get food on set.
The tricks in ice cream is you have to keep everything cold, you have to work in a freezer.
If the room is too warm too, and you get it on set, you only have a few minutes before it starts to melt.
And sometimes melt is good, but you want to control that melt.
Another trick of the trade for that is
I have a straw that I'll blow through,
right on the ice cream and it will create a nice little drip
that will make it look melty in just the right spot
and drip in just the right place.
{discussing Image}
The relationship between a photographer and a food stylist --
you have to -- first, you have to get along of course,
you have to enjoy your time with each other,
cause you're spending so much time and you have to respect each other.
Because this is all about the creative process.
So, it's good to have somebody that you work with that
you have the same vision for the project,
and you're clear on that from the start.
Yeah, I love that. Go Kim.
What makes a great shot is, it's something that feels right.
It can't be taught.
You look at something and it just aesthetically feels really good.
Like everything fits together, there is not something sticking out or,
maybe that thing sticking out belongs there and makes it more interesting.
So it's just about having a sense of what works.
The equipment I use for food styling, I have lots of knives and paint brushes.
And there are so many things that go into it.
Okay, so this is my main kit, and I've got all sorts of stuff in it.
Spatulas, and scissors, and glue,
there's museum wax, there's tons of little spoons that I use all the time,
always a wine opener just in case.
It fills up the entire back of my car that I take to every single shoot, cause you just never know what you're going to need.
When I was in high school,
I never knew any of this existed, and I certainly didn't
understand that I wanted to get into the food industry
I think what would help is understanding the
food science, so science classes and understanding how,
you know, oxygen effects food, or how water effects food or oil, that would be helpful.
You really have to understand how food works: you have to know how to cook, you have to know how to bake.
Baking is a big one cause that, that's actually a science that you have to follow and understand.
Why do you beat the egg whites to a stiff peak and what is a stiff peak?
The only way to learn the trade is to actually be on set and,
work with a food stylist and assistant and apprentice, that's the only way you can learn the business.
What I love about this career is, actually, everything.
I love being in the creative world, I love being around food.
I love understanding how food works, I love
working with the photographer and the art directors and,
creating something beautiful that other people look at, and it makes them just salivate.
I've been doing this for eighteen years and I truly love what I do.