Welcome to Eat Sleep Instagram , our weekly series of conversations with Instagrammers behind the most drool-worthy accounts about how they’re navigating the digital age, deliciously.
This week, Taste Talks contributor Amanda Odmark ate Ovenly cookies with food writer and photographer Donny Tsang ( @donny_tsang ) at Urbanspace Vanderbilt and debated the eternal New York vs. Los Angeles rivalry, talked about where to find all the food people, and reminisced about duck farm visits.
___________________
Taste Talks: How much time do you spend on Instagram?
Donny Tsang: I like to think that I’m on social media as much as the next person, which is probably way too much. I’m always in front of a computer and have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram open on the browser. Twitter is where I get 90% of my news and Facebook is where I get updates from friends and family—although I’m not at the point where I’m looking at my phone while crossing the streets yet.
Taste Talks: How did you get interested in food photography? Do you use an iPhone or camera or a mix for your Instagram shots?
Donny Tsang: I started doing food photography because I needed photos for my blog, which I had started in 1996 (geez I sound old), to document my college life and the stuff I was eating. I didn’t take it seriously until I teamed up with a friend, Howard Walfish, to start a food blog in 2008. That was when I started to learn about composition and shutter speed and ISO and f-stop. The photos on my Instagram are mostly shot on my iPhone.
Taste Talks: How has social media offered connection for you? Do you have a favorite story of social media connecting you to someone you admire?
Donny Tsang: This is part social media since I actually met Molly Yeh in real life first. In 2010, I was shooting for Schnitzel & Things . They brought me along to the Vendy Awards and that’s when I first met Molly. She had won a month of free schnitzels by becoming their 3000th Twitter follower. She was there at the Vendy as well, helping Schnitzel & Things scoop potato salad. We became good friends, and have been in touch ever since then. I admire her because she’s fearless and really taught me to do as much as I can because you never know where it’s going to lead you.
Taste Talks: What was your journey to the world of food media? Has Instagram helped play a role?
Donny Tsang: All thanks to Liza de Guia. I’m a huge fan of her Food Curated series and that really inspired me to do more behind-the-scenes photos and so I did, and because of that I met Cathy Erway (creator of the blog Not Eating Out in NY ). I was curious about the rooftop garden she had set up at Sixpoint Brewery. She told me to email Michael Harlan Turkell, who was the photo editor at Edible Brooklyn back then. He gave me my first photo gig, working with Jamie Feldmar for a story on rosca de reyes in Sunset Park.
From there, I met more food people and did more freelance gigs, though I didn’t really put 100% effort into it until I got laid off from my full time job in December 2010. I took a month off and spent it on the West Coast. After I got back to New York, I had so much free time and emailed everyone I could in the food world. I ended up writing for Serious Eats and Midtown Lunch . Then a year later, fellow Midtown Lunchers, Siobhan Wallace and Alex Penfold, got a cookbook deal and I helped photograph some of the recipes.
It’s only been a year or two that Instagram has played any role in the food world. More people and brands and PR companies are paying attention to Instagram and I have gotten some really cool opportunities because of Instagram, like going on a duck farm trip with Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer.
Taste Talks: What inspires your food photography style?
Donny Tsang: I’m not totally sure. I’m still trying to figure out what my “style” is. I do love very simple things, maybe because I’m terrible at food styling. I have this cookbook called Pork and Sons by Stephane Reynaud and was photographed by Marie Pierre Morel. The images are just pure amazing and yet very simple. The dishes are all on a simple background with great light and shadow. That’s it! No random garlic skin or carrots or spoons or anything. If I ever get to photograph a cookbook my way, it would look similar to that.
Taste Talks: I love your work from the Big Gay Ice Cream book! How did you get connected with that project?
Donny Tsang: Thanks! Well, I have pretty much been their photographer since the beginning. In 2009, my friends and I randomly found their truck while on a food truck crawl. I was instantly hooked on their ice cream and visited the truck once a week in the summer of 2009. I got to know Doug and he knew I was a photographer, and then that was it. They invited me to a couple events, gave me a BGIC shirt, put me to work, and I became part of the BGIC crew. Then they told me about the book! It was super awesome that Doug and Bryan wanted me to photograph it. I think after shooting them since 2009, I had a clear idea of what they like. Also, it’s a great feeling to have Doug and Bryan believe in me and my skills. Looking through the book is extra special because every single image in the book, portraits, beauty shots, background images are all mine.
Taste Talks: Do you discover new places to eat through Instagram? In what ways is Instagram a resource for you, if at all?
Donny Tsang: Rarely. A lot of my friends are food editors and bloggers and I discover new places from them. And of course the usual places like Grubstreet and Gothamist. I love looking at food pictures and when I do find a new place, I usually look at Instagram for food pictures from that place by searching the geo tag. That is sort of me looking through the menu of the place.
Actually! I think Paulie G and Adam Kuban introduced me to Prince Street Pizza through Instagram. For a whole week, that’s all I saw on Paulie’s Instagram feed. And for LA, I usually just look at my sister’s (Bonnie) Instagram feed. Her list of good eats in LA is longer than mine.
Taste Talks: You’re from Los Angeles. do you think there’s a big difference in food media between the two cities?
Donny Tsang: No, I don’t think so. In my mind the food scene in L.A. and NY are becoming similar. And thanks to the internet, you have food media like Eater, The Infatuation, Serious Eats, and Thrillist covering both cities with the same voices. It’s always about what’s hot and hip and cool, and never really about what makes each city special. But of course there are people that are actually doing the legwork and finding out what’s exciting. You have Joe DiStefano, constantly exploring Queens, and Bill Esparza finding every possible taco cart, truck, and tabls in L.A. Though we do have Jonathan Gold in L.A. and I’ll read whatever he writes. Is there anyone like him in NY?
Taste Talks: Do you have any rules or advice for people who are working to develop their social platform?
Donny Tsang: Just be confident with your work and be consistent. Also think about how you’re portraying yourself. Whatever you’re tweeting or snapchatting or instagramming, that’s how random social media followers will see you as. Heck, my dad thinks I eat way too much meat just because I posted one too many barbeque photo. I eat vegetables! I just don’t take photos of them.
