Capturing Culinary Art: Abhishek Vats' Journey from Hospitality to Photography

Showcase is an effort by 58Miles to bring beautiful journeys of some of the amazing photographers of India & aboard . You will read about their journey , techniques , style and can see the outcome of their art in stunning frames. We asked them some questions to deep dive in to space and here we are....

Introducing 58Miles showcase photographer Abhishek Vats from Delhi

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in photography?

I am primarily from the Hospitality background where after completing my graduation in Hotel Management in the year 2005, got an opportunity to work with some reputed QSR & Retail brands like McDonald’s, KFC & Walmart. After working for almost 10 years with all these organizations, I switched to e-commerce and worked for another 5 years with Amazon India
which eventually was my last stint in the corporate sector.
Eventually after having a successful and well established career of 15 years, I decided to quit and work for self, probably in some kind of a restaurant or hospitality business.
But I guess almighty had different plans and during the course of exploring opportunities, this photography bug bit me in 2019 and bit quite hard.
Thus after investing almost a year in shooting all kinds of subjects right from a housefly to an airplane, trying out various genres and learning through different sources of information, courses & tutorials available on digital media, I got my first project immediately after the first covid lock down in Aug’ 2020 which eventually kick started the photography journey with my brother Abhijeet who is a full time partner with me in our business now.

What inspires your photography, and how do you choose your subjects or themes?

Every good image that i come across anywhere be it in a book, social media, billboard, while walking through the city etc. inspires me to get better. There is no limit to the creativity that we can achieve in the field of photography. Everyday I see an image which just helps me to learn so much from it.
As we are primarily into commercial food and product photography, regardless of the subject my priority has always been to showcase it in the most creative and appealing form. Food images should compel the viewer to pause and eat with their eyes before they actually get an opportunity to consume it.
Every image should tell you a story about the brand, it's vision and uniqueness. Since the images shot by us are the first point of contact with the target customers of the brand , it should immediately create a sense of FOMO.
Apart from the commercial work, the genre which is very close to my heart is Birds & Wildlife Photography which I primarily do for my own pleasure and satisfaction. Sitting calmly in the wild with your camera waiting for that perfect moment just feels so surreal and delightful.

What has been your most memorable photography project or shoot, or any inspiring story around it, and why?

All the brands and projects that we have worked with, till now have been an amazing experience, since we get to be innovative and creative. Choosing one specific project would not be fair here but all those projects where we got the most amount of freedom to experiment, innovate and be fun have been the most amazing and successful projects.
Our first abroad shoot in Dubai in 2022 was definitely a great feeling as the overall project was quite amazing and we definitely loved the overall experience.

What is your photography kit ? or we would say, what is in your camera bag?

My kit has 2 camera bodies (Nikon Z8, Nikon Z6) , Few lenses specific to my genre Nikkor Z
105mm macro f2.8 (for those drool worthy food & premium product images) , Nikkor Z 50mm
f1.8 {for videos) & Nikkor Z 24-70mm f4s (for larger spreads and flatlays.) Apart from these the most essential equipment is my lighting kit which includes a few strobe lights (Godox QT600,
Godox SK 400 Kit for photography and a pair of Godox SL60 for those lip smacking videos)
Then we have some accessories like Shutter release cables, a steady tripod (Manfrotto 055),
light stands, a few soft Boxes, batteries and more batteries.

What advice would you give to photographers who are just starting out and looking to make a name for themselves?

My one and only advice to all the new gen photographers would be to learn the skill of photography by actually going out and shooting everything that they see around, even if it is a pile of trash. just try & shoot it in the most creative way that you can. Don't worry about gears and equipment as the only thing that matters initially is your creativity and the ‘LIGHT’.
High end cameras and lenses are like cars, if you don't know how to drive well you will end up banging them somewhere regardless of the brand and model you are driving.

You can find Abhishek Vats on :

Instagram : abhshekvatsphotography