Artistic Palate

Courtesy of Nathan Myhrvold

Photographer Nathan Myhrvold turns food into art.

When did you realize you could go from cookbooks and photography books to opening the world’s first food only photography gallery?
When I decided about a decade ago to create a cookbook, I saw an exciting opportunity to do something new in food photography—to portray food in unexpected ways. Almost immediately after our first book appeared, people started asking us where they could buy prints of the photos. After a lot of research, it became clear that the only way forward would be to open our own gallery.

Which food photographs are hardest to take?
Every shot has its own set of challenges. The most difficult are the action shots where everything happens in a fraction of a second. It requires a lot of attempts, persistence, and making a huge mess. We have a motto that it only has to look good for a thousandth of a second. 

Do you plan on photographing a Vegas-inspired food item?
It’s inspired us to shoot a lot of that food, including a martini in mid-splash.