All photos by Yum Tang. Used with permission.
When we speak of food photography, we envision scrumptious morsels shot in cozy locations. We are also seeing more meticulously styled dishes shot in the studio for out of the box approaches. Beijing-based visual designer and food photographer Yum Tang, however, brings an even more creative idea to the the table with her series, Food is doing surreal things in the desert. If you’re a fan of totally different kinds of photography coming together to create original works, we’re sure you’ll be amazed and inspired with this series.
Tang brought upon herself the challenge of bringing together food photography and travel — two of the most important things to her in a body of work. These two can’t be any more different from each other, but somehow, she found this a potent source of ideas and inspiration.
“I wanted to do something I haven’t done before, take pictures of things I’ve never tried. I combined travel and food, and did some surreal things such as swimming in the desert with food, and being submerged in the desert sand inside the houses.”
She also picked an interesting location for the setting of her conceptual work: the sand-covered ghost town of Kolmanskop in the Namib Desert, just a few kilometers from the port of Luderitz. Instead of making a singular star out of food, portraits, or location for this series, she used all three to cook up a collection of surreal snaps that show them in ways we most likely never expected. While the food items serve as simple accessories in these photos, the fact that they seem out of place actually draws attention even more.
If you’re looking for more ideas on combining different concepts, creative disciplines, and genres, we’re sure this body of work did the trick for you.
Don’t forget to check out Yum Tang’s Behance portfolio to see more of her impressive food photography.