Food photographer Beth Galton serves up a platter of delightful photos of food flawlessly cut in half in her new series, “Cut Food.”
Galton’s photos of common foods cut perfectly (as in perfectly) down the center offer a charmingly unique perspective on seemingly static items. The texture of a cup of noodles is accentuated in one of Galton’s photos; a stack of jelly donuts appears mouthwateringly fresh in another. Meanwhile, milk splashing over a bag of cereal is frozen in time, as is chocolate syrup oozing down Neapolitan ice cream. Even a Styrofoam cup of Joe is sliced in half, magnifying that magical moment when cream meets coffee.
Cut Food was inspired by an assignment in which Galton and her food stylist, Charlotte Omnès, were asked to cut a burrito in half. In a Q&A with Imaging Resource, Galton said that cutting a cross section into a finished dish for a shoot was somewhat new to her.
“Omnès and I thought it would be interesting to explore the interiors of various foods, particularly items commonplace to our everyday life,” Galton said. “By cutting these items in half, we move past the simple appetite appeal we normally try to achieve and explore the interior worlds of these products.”
While some of the items were cut and photographed without manipulation, others required staging and food styling tricks such as gelatin and Kitchen Bouquet, Galton said. Digital retoucher Daniel Hurlburt also helped enhance the images.
Galton and Omnès are both highly regarded in the world of food photography – Galton has shot for Hellman’s, Campbell’s Soup, Kraft Foods, Swanson Broth, Wendy’s and Nabisco. Omnès’ client list includes Starbucks, Panera Bread, the Cooking Channel, Mission Foods, Darigold and Krispy Kreme. The two hope to continue the Cut Food series and are testing ideas for new imagery, Galton told Imaging Resource.
A few photos from the series are below. A slideshow of the entire collection can be viewed on Galton’s website.
