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Seattle is steadily gaining prominence on the national stage, due to its flourishing tech boom economy and legacy of innovative businesses including Amazon, Starbucks, and Costco. Yet one of its most celebrated aspects is its food scene, centered around its oldest economic engine: Elliott Bay, the home of the Port of Seattle. One of the busiest and most important ports in the Pacific Northwest, it has facilitated trade for well over a century. This port also has facilitated another phenomenon that continues to be embraced to this day, which is the seafood that Seattle is often known for. Salmon and oysters are mainstays, while clam chowder is also very popular. Yet that’s only the beginning. Because of its location and history in international trade, the early 1980s saw a wave of immigration from southeast Asia to Seattle. Since then, many eateries have been in business for decades providing authentic chicken teriyaki, pho, and sashimi. However, one of the city’s most notable dishes is one created right at home: the Seattle Dog. An all-beef hotdog topped with cream cheese, grilled onions, and mustard, this popular food is findable everywhere. Gourmet versions exist, while street vendors sell them everywhere as a go-to snack for locals and tourists alike who have explored Pike Place Market and the Space Needle enough for one day. With such a diverse heritage of cuisine, a food photographer in Seattle can take any niche and make it their own.
At Wonderful Machine, we define food photography as imagery of food as a product or an experience, including showing its growth, preparation, and how it is plated and consumed. Each brings something unique to the table – here are the 7 best food photographers in Seattle.
Multi-talented across several specialties, Tegra Stone Nuess shoots both commercial, editorial, and documentary photography. Travel is her biggest passion, yet Tegra also is adept in portraiture, lifestyle, and food photography. With skills that make for consistently detailed and engaging work across the board, she has a gift for involving her other specialties with her food imagery. While many professionals in this field will focus mostly on capturing finished dishes, Tegra takes a look at the humanity around the preparation and enjoyment of a meal. Many of her photos feature kitchen staff presenting their signature plates, while others engage the lifestyle specialty in showing these meals being enjoyed by people connecting across the table. Perhaps Tegra’s passion for travel fuels her interest in also photographing the individuals working on farms to provide the ingredients to make quality food. Having earned a B.A. in photography from Connecticut College, Tegra shows her well-honed talent by creating highly detailed and deeply colorful images. This is easy to see in the clarity of her entire photograph, especially those showing people preparing and serving food, which can be a delicate balance. Yet, her still images of plates ready-to-serve have that same impeccability. Tegra is unique among Seattle food photographers in her focus on bringing the experience of humanity into her imagery.
Alex Ermakoff is an accomplished photographer with a specialty in creating visual materials that drive successful campaigns. Having worked for agencies as well as being a producer, Alex has a rich background in making brands come alive. With strong work in lifestyle, portraiture, product, and even animal photography, he’s perfect for both advertisements and editorials that cover businesses that achieve something special. Yet as a food photographer in Seattle as well as Los Angeles, where he divides his time, his vision is the exact magic most establishments need to stand out in a competitive market. Able to combine specialties to make for dynamic imagery, Alex takes viewers on an adventure that begins with the cooks preparing ingredients for a dish. With detailed imagery mixed with warm lighting, he has the ability to focus on the food itself amidst the activity involved in actually making it. This is very effective for brands and establishments seeking to communicate an artisanal quality because, in just a few images, he shows the finished meal being enjoyed. Alex’s utilization of his multi-faceted background is a boon to any business seeking to tell its story through a concise, classy, and eye-catching campaign.
Nate Watters is a Seattle-based food photographer who is often tapped to work for some of the city’s largest publications. Nate grew up in Montana and Washington State, finding a passion for photography at the young age of 14. His drive is to create a direct representation of the people and things he photographs. This has led to a very accomplished portfolio in the variety of dishes he has captured, yet consistency in allowing the food he photographs to speak for itself. This shows through his imagery being incredibly detailed, well-lit, and free of any distracting elements. His composition is often simple, yet rich in his exploration of his subject. Textures in bread, steam rising off of a hot plate, and colors blending within a mixed drink are details that stand out vibrantly in Nate’s work. His simple approach especially extends to the background of his photographs, usually showing a single color or tabletop that is complementary to the plate he is centering on. This makes him a very strong match in highlighting local favorite dishes for tourism sites, which you can see most recently in the 25 Best Restaurants in Seattle covered on The Infatuation web publication.
It’s hard to find a backstory more traveled than that of Brooke Fitts. Born in Germany and raised in Greece, she has also lived and worked professionally in Hawaii and New York City. Now currently in Seattle, Brooke brings her passion for food, travel, and people to publications and establishments of all levels.
If you’re looking for photography that revolves around storytelling, environmental portrait making, food media, lifestyle-forward editorials, or small business content creation… then you’ve come to the right place and we’ll likely work really well together. I also have a 1000 sq ft commercial space that’s fantastic for in-studio-based work.
Brooke is extremely dynamic in the settings she captures food. She’ll use tabletops of all kinds, stark black backgrounds, or restaurants to best bring out what makes each dish special. In doing so, Brooke often showcases her subjects with colors that bring out their own, creating a richness in the image that is bolstered by her knack for detail. With her own studio, she also has a space to create backgrounds that can communicate any setting for the food to appear in, be it fine dining or a food truck park. An ability to use her experience and passion for photographing people to show cooks creating dishes is another skill Brooke brings. And this is what makes her work truly special: her joy in capturing what makes people happy and translating it so well.
Darren Hendrix has been a professional photographer for over 15 years. Working between still and video photography, his specialties are diverse and he has the portfolio to prove it. From travel to healthcare to lifestyle, Darren covers it all. Yet as a food photographer in Seattle, he fills a special niche in embracing the process of making a great plate. He has a knack for shooting cooking outdoors, using natural light while maintaining pristine details, most noticeable in capturing seasoning mid-air as a chef sprinkles it. Not only does this pair well with outdoor-oriented eateries, but also with businesses that manufacture relevant equipment, such as grills and their accessories. Yet that’s just the tip of the iceberg with Darren’s work. He is just as effective at capturing chefs within a kitchen, often done with naturalistic lighting, giving his entire food portfolio an overall feeling of both realism and freshness. His imagery of food on its own is as diverse as his work in general. Finished dishes next to their ingredients – which are great for advertising do-it-at-home meals – sit comfortably next to images of fine dining. His ability to make video versions of these shoots is another asset he can bring to any business looking to advertise online with still and moving images. A man of many talents!
Originally from the Midwest, Max Cozzi works as a lifestyle, portrait, and food photographer in Seattle as well as Tacoma, where he is based. After completing a degree in photography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Max began his career as lead photographer for a library archive. This mostly involved photographing historical maps and restoring scratched-up negatives, yet it also clearly sharpened his eye for close-up photography and meticulous detail. One can see this in that a number of his food images are similarly done from overhead while expertly captured. Max still has a diverse range of angles he works with, as well as types of food: elaborate dishes and casual eats are all given the same attention. He is also quite dynamic in the backgrounds he uses to showcase his subjects. Solid colors, tablecloths, wood, marble, and more all work together to highlight the personalities of the dishes being photographed, always complementing the meal itself. With work that is very ideal for cookbooks and recipe websites, one might be pleased to know that Max himself is an accomplished cook. Merging his passions, he documents his culinary journey, focusing on healthy ingredients used in meals made from scratch, on his own food blog: Redwood Kitchen.
Steve Hansen received a degree in baking and pastry from Seattle Central College before earning a degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America. This led to years of working in some of America’s most prestigious restaurants in fine dining as well as becoming a personal chef. During this time Steve was honing skills in his other passion, photography. Already experienced as a food stylist, Steve also began working as a digital artist and soon officially embraced photography as a vocation. Combining these three skills has since given him a career as one of the most unique Seattle food photographers on the scene. Utilizing his own expert photography, Steve presents images with incredible detail, capturing nuances that only a seasoned chef would notice. Yet his work with CGI is also notable, allowing him to create fun and vibrant images that explore the movement in making certain foods. The slow drip of yogurt or icing, the swirl of chocolate being mixed, or the fall of powdered sugar falling onto french toast are all examples of images that Steve creates. His close-up shots of various meals or ingredients are flawless in clarity, while his choice of backdrops is solid colors, all of which vary to suit the mood of the dish he is capturing. A professional who covers all of the bases of his craft, Steve is also a teacher holding classes in photography at Kelby One and Creative Live.
With its unique location and celebrated traditions, the Seattle food scene continues to thrive as the city itself grows in popularity. Exciting both for its diversity and long-standing staples, eateries and businesses will always need innovative ways to stand out. With each of these Seattle food photographers, it’s easy to see how many directions one could take.
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