Colleen Guenther & Dinners with Wallpaper

Colleen Guenther walked into our office one afternoon and gave us a sneak peek of a food photography project she is working on. One such photo was a washed image of a stuffed bird, dressed up and ready to eat. Not epic meal time layout, nor an indy band album cover (although it may work), but purposely styled food with a quirky vintage feel.

An accomplished art photographer in her personal life, Colleen’s day job consists of business management and art directing food photography for a national grocery chain, helping create the shots you come across in the coupon section of your Sunday paper and beyond. Hence, seeing her artful, stylized view of a rather mundane subject seems a natural approach for Colleen, who has dabbled in creative projects her whole life (ask her about her garden gnome phase, if you dare).

In her latest series we can’t help but feel like we are digging in the forgotten magazine section at some old corner barber shop, or in the garage cleaning after grandma passed. To say the least, we like where this is going…Thus we had to inquire, and share. 

So. What takes up you day? 

I am a Photography Manager for a national grocer.

Why this subject matter? 

This series is a parody on 1970’s food photography. I am definitely a food lover and I’m either shooting it, making up recipes, talking about it or just eating it on a hourly basis. I guess this is where I plug my food blog: www.recipe-coop.blogspot.com. I’ve got 5 followers which include myself, my husband and 3 friends. I know that sounds intimidating but feel free to join. 

What inspired you to get into this form of photography? Was it your love of cheap chinese restaurant photos? 

I’ve always loved how vintage food shots have looked in their coloring and prop stylings and was always perplexed and in awe on why they paired certain dishes with other dishes. Again, I just love the way the images looked and I think that there is something really crazy and nostalgic about some of the meat choices that people ate at that time and still do to this day. On a side note, I am a vegetarian but I have no problems with people eating meat. I’ve been known to steal a couple slabs of bacon on a Sunday morning which is why I think I am now a bacotarian. 

How do you aquire all this material, product, and get it cooked and styled accordingly?

I’m not telling!