It’s said that in Singapore eating is the national pastime and food a country-wide obsession, so much so that even its common Singaporean Chinese greeting comes in the form of the question, “Have you eaten?”
Singapore’s rich and diverse cuisine, much like the country itself, is a place where East meets West and all of its extended cultural family: Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and more. Like a well-composed broth, Singaporean cuisine draws from each component of its history. From century-old borrowings to modern-day imports, the Garden City is not your garden variety of multicultural buffets. Its famous hawker street food stalls are a treasure-trove of culinary delights. One hawker even boasts being home to the cheapest Michelin-starred meal in the world: a plate of soya-sauce chicken and rice or noodles for US$1.50!
The name Singapore is derived from Sanskrit for “lion city,” perhaps a reference to the appetite and heart of this tiny food paradise. With a population of about 5.6 million, “though she be but little, she is fierce!” Food photographers in Singapore play an important role in showcasing this vital aspect of cultural wealth and identity.
At Wonderful Machine we define food photography as depicting food as “a product or an experience, including showing it being grown, prepared, served, consumed.”
Whether it’s for a commercial or editorial project, there’s a Singapore food photographer for you! We’ve done the research. Here is a list of Wonderful Machine’s selections for the seven best food photographers in Singapore.
Carlina Teteris is the founder and lead photographer of Silk and Salt Images, a hospitality, lifestyle, and architecture photography studio based in Singapore. With a growing demand for her photography, Carlina left the corporate world in 2012 to spend more time having adventures and serving an amazing set of clients who love what they do as much as she does.
A self-taught photographer, Carlina has been shooting for the past 10 years and particularly enjoys mentoring young photographers to further their talents, art, and the industry. She is proud to collaborate with Nikon Singapore to provide workshops and seminars for promising photographers.
Carlina can usually be found in the ocean, an airport, or a market looking for awesome ingredients to experiment with in her kitchen—always with a camera in hand!
Carlina has great technical skills, creative compositions, and a modern style. Her photos are warm and experiential. Like this festive portrait, she delivers the full animal!
Lauryn Ishak is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Singapore, though she’s frequently found bouncing around Asia and beyond. She shoots everything from architecture in China to the posh Maldivian private islands, scraggly climbs up Indonesian peaks to all the hideouts that comprise the perfect day in her Lion City home. Lauryn has lived, studied, and worked in Singapore, Germany, Indonesia, Hong Kong, New York, and Switzerland. She speaks English, German, and Indonesian.
Her clients include: AFAR, AirBnB, Alila Hotels, Apple, The Australian/ Travel + Luxury/ Vogue, Living, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Australian Pork, Belmond, Bloomberg, BMW, Casa Brutus, Conde Nast Traveller China/India/Italy/UK/USA, DestinAsian, Die Zeit, DHL, Essilor, Food&Wine, Galderma, Galle Face Hotel Collection, Gardens by the Bay, INK-Global, Jigger and Pony Group, Monocle, The New York Times, National Geographic Traveller UK, Outside Magazine, Qantas, Sansiri, Surface, Tages Anzeiger, The Soori, Travel + Leisure, Travelzoo, UNIFEM, Virgin Australia Voyeur, Virtuoso Life, and Wall Street Journal.
Lauryn doesn’t just capture food and drink photos, but a photography that commands presence and authenticity, top-full of adventure and wonder. As in this cake, layers and ornamentation make the wholeness!
Lim Hee Peng is a Singapore food photographer, who also specializes in Corporate, Home/Garden, Portraiture, and Still Life and Product photography.
Lim studied at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman (or SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman for short), a national secondary school located in Jalan Putra, Mergong. His first photo job was in 1995 working as an assistant, when he came from Penang to Singapore.
Lim has owned and operated Lim Photography since 2014.
His clients include: Sannouya Izakaya, Caffe Pralet, Mdm Ling Bakery, Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant, Library@8, Logan Property, HDB Residential, and NUS Enterprise (Singapore Science Park).
Like this staircase of delicacy, Lim takes food photography and plating to new heights!
Kevin Wy Lee is a photographer and creative director based in Singapore. He has worked in the creative industry in Asia and Australia for over 20 years. In 2010, he founded Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA), an influential platform for Photography & Visual Arts in Asia. Through IPA, Kevin participates vigorously in photography and art across the region as a practitioner, curator and educator.
He has served as curator and jury for various festivals and programs, including the World Press Photo (2021), Angkor Photo Festival (Cambodia), WMA Masters Award (Hong Kong), Singapore International Photography Festival, Odessa/Batumi Photo Days Festival(Ukraine), Prix Pictet Award, and PhotoQuai Biennale (France), to name a few. He is also an adjunct lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore.
Kevin is a Design Graduate from the College Of Fine Arts, University Of New South Wales, Australia. He was the first artist in residence for Exactly Foundation (Singapore) in 2015. His projects have been exhibited at the Singapore International Photography Festival in 2016 and 2020. His book of photographs titled Suddenly The Grass Became Greener was published in 2016. Kevin’s solo exhibition AESTHETICITY was presented at DECK in 2018 as part of the TRACE Series featuring Singapore image-makers. Hundred Daughters Hundred Patience Hundred Meals (2019) is his latest publication using photography and food as mediums to narrate identity, diaspora and migration. One of Kevin’s latest pursuits include the culinary arts through Poon’s Supper Club.
In his own photography practice, Kevin is interested in Singapore’s temperament, aesthetic and growing pains. A broader canvas is marked by a curiosity in mortality, and how people cope with the finiteness of being mortal.
These noodles may be green, but Kevin’s eye for deliciousness is anything but!
Felix Hug is the photographer and director of Eyes on Asia, an award winning commercial and advertising photography/videography team based in Singapore. Eyes on Asia was cofounded with stylist Jamie Boyd in 2007, and since then has operated in the Maldives, Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, China and as far as Mauritius and the Seychelles. Felix’s images have been commissioned and licensed from clients and ad agencies all over the world. He speaks English, French, German, and Italian.
Clients include: the Ritz-Carlton, InterContinental Hotels Group, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Universal Resorts Maldives, Anantara Maldives, Meritus Hotels and Resorts, Dusit Thani Maldives, Nyiama Maldives, Centara Hotels & Resorts, Raffles Hotels & Resorts, Chapung Bali,The Lalu, W Maldives, Melia Hotels and Resorts, Accor Hotels, Carpe Diem Maldives, One15”Marina Singapore, Lukes Restaurants Singapore, VISA Worldwide, Singapore Airlines, UBS Bank, and Bank Sarasin.
Eyes on Asia can easily provide professional models, styling, videography and photography in all areas and on the highest level, as well as the overall production and coordination that comes with it.
Float to infinity. Felix’s food photography is as luxurious as a luxury hotel!
Joyce Leong is an award-winning Singapore food photographer. She works with brands, restaurants and business owners who demand on point imagery, but don’t feel as if they have “much to post.” Joyce helps brands get from frumpy to Following, with an all-new way to bypass business and convention for clients that want “to cut through the sea of sameness.” Her work evokes emotions and tells a story about a brand, with clean, bright, colorful, and stylish photos. She sculpts light and shows natural beauty through styling and props.
As a commercial photographer, Joyce has been featured on Canon Asia, Her World, and asiaone.com. Her recent clients include: Old El Paso, Chesdale, Soup Restaurant, and Tea Tree Cafe.
Before starting out her photography company, Joyce was a home-based baker. She got into food photography after being dissatisfied with the photographers she enlisted to capture her brand. Joyce knows it’s essential to produce the kind of images that her clients envision—not the images that she assumes the clients may like. In addition to basic rates, she also provides value-added services such as food styling, basic retouching, fact-finding, provisions of backdrops, props, and prop set up.
Like this aerial, there’s not a pepper out of place in Joyce’s mise en place!
Rory Daniel is a Singapore-based commercial photographer. He specializes in food, architectural, retail, industrial, hospitality and headshot photography. He can make a website or brand come alive with original on-brand commercial images. Rory has 19 years international experience as a working professional photographer, and has been awarded a Master of Photography Degree from RMIT University. He writes,
“I shoot mainly architecture, food, and people. These are the things I am good at—and passionate about. This handy combination means I can do many things—I can work with people, but I can also handle the technical stuff. I can shoot an entire hotel from its rooms to its service staff and restaurants. Or I can shoot an oil rig.”
His clients include: Westin Hotels and Resorts, W Hotels, St Regis Hotels and Resorts, Le Meridien, Raffles Hotels and Resorts, JW Marriott, Crown Plaza Hotels and Resorts, Frasers Hospitality, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Goodwood Park Hotel, Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Dhensa Boutique Resorts, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Park Hotel Group, Shangri La Hotels Raffles Hotel Singapore, Fairmont Hotels, and Starwood Group.
Rory’s style is fast, client-focused, and efficient—yet creative, thoughtful and detailed. His commercial jobs are very brand-focused with an emphasis on the marketing of products. Every shot is carefully considered through the filter of what the purpose is. He consciously aims for a commercial graphical look with bold colors designed to catch the eye and highlight the product or idea, while being cost-effective, flexible, efficient, and hassle-free.
Boar on board, Rory’s food photography is never boring!
Singapore food photographers have us singing the chorus of serious eats! Hope you’ve enjoyed Wonderful Machine’s list of the seven best. Have you eaten!
See more Singapore food photographers.
Learn more about Food/Drink photography on our Intel Blog.