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Shiftintaste
Philippe Barret is one of the most respected food
photographers in his native France. We talk to him about
texture, natural light and PC-E lenses.
WORKASSIGNMENT
P
hilippe Barret’s client list reads like a
Who’s Who of international cuisine:
he has provided the pictures for
books by Yannick Alléno, Éric Fréchon, the
first book by the Pourcel brothers and of
patisserie chef Christophe Felder as well
as several tomes by Régis Marcon. Those
famous chefs, owners of several Michelin
stars, don’t hesitate to call upon Philippe
to illustrate their culinary opuses. Indeed,
his pictures are mouth watering because
this veteran photographer is passionate
about his subject – he’s even set up a full
working professional kitchen in his studio.
He started photography aged 13
and 10 years later, in 1982, opened a
photographer’s shop. ‘My idea was to evolve
towards photography and stop being a
retailer. By chance I was commissioned for a
food project. The client liked it so it brought
me more work in that field,’ says Philippe.
In the early 90s, after working with a small
culinary magazine, he became passionate
about the subject and the cuisine world.
‘Three years later, I did a complete set of
pictures for a 10-book collection on French
cuisine and terroir. I worked with more
than 100 chefs; I met farmers, fishermen
and breeders,’ says Philippe. From then on
he specialised in food photography. ‘This
stirred me towards culinary photography
because when a chef I’d met was making a
book, he’d ask me to provide the images.’
At the same time, he was also contributing
to a hotel magazine, a 12-year collaboration
dealing exclusively in recipes by great
Michelin-starred chefs.
If those big names trust Philippe, it’s not an
accident. ‘In this trade, you must love eating,
know about cooking and the industry. If a
RIGHT: Macarons au chouchen, taken for Editions
Presse Citron.
D800E, PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f2.8D, ISO 125,
1/125 sec @ f/6.3
chef realises that you know your stuff and
that you cotton on really fast, you’ve got a
recipe for success. You need to work quickly
because most of the time, the pictures
are taken in a working restaurant – the
brigade de cuisine prepares the dishes and
the chef checks and gives the final touch.
Another reason for being quick is that those
preparations don’t last forever. I use a D800E,
often with a 85mm, a great lens for still life.’
Being available is crucial because restaurants
work late. Philippe receives tardy calls from
chefs who’ve just finished the service.
Besides his work on books, Philippe likes
to dip his fingers in other pies: ‘My second

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FAR LEFT:
Campanule,
D800E, PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f2.8D, ISO 320,
1/80 sec @ f/9.5
LEFT: Mousserons marines,
D800E, PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f2.8D, ISO 50,
1/160 sec @ f/7.6
RIGHT: Soupe de renoue a l’huitre.
D800E, PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f2.8D, ISO 125,
1/160 sec @ f/12
All images on this spread taken for the book Herbs with
Chef Régis Marcon – Editions de La Martinière.
He’s also noticed cultural cross-influences.
‘Chefs travel and work abroad. Alléno, for
example, has spent time in Japan. Differences
are less obvious even if each country keeps
its own identity, savoir-faire and specificity.’
Talking about style, Philippe points out
his clients’ contrasting wishes: ‘For their
books, chefs want everything to be in
focus and neat (reflecting their character)
whereas magazines like to experiment
with blurred effects. In that respect, the
early digital lenses were a bit disappointing.
That’s why I got the idea of using a PC-E
lens to have better control of the depth
of field. At the beginning of my career I
obviously used film and experimented a
lot with tilt and shift in the darkroom.
‘When I received my Nikkor 85mm f/2.8
PC-E, I fumbled for about half an hour and
then Eureka moment, I knew I’d found
exactly what I wanted. I use it for 90 per
cent of my shots now. The sharpness and
contrast are amazing. I’ve always used
Nikon – I had a Nikkormat when I started.
Now, with my Nikon cameras and lenses
I’ve stopped using medium format.
activity takes place in my studio equipped
with a professional kitchen. With the help of
my assistant and food stylist Cathy Ghinozzi,
we work on recipes published in magazines
and recipe books. We even correct recipes
and create our own dishes. Some patisserie
chefs have come to my place for photo
shoots, as it is more practical than their
own lab. Combining the studio with a full
working kitchen is the perfect solution.’
Philippe also takes pictures for the food
industry and regularly works with the
likes of Valrhona (chocolate), Saint Jean
(fresh pasta) and Revol porcelain – an
activity that represents 50 per cent of his
time. Those images are mainly for stall
decorations, catalogues or the internet.
With his considerable knowledge of
the industry, Philippe has noticed that the
trend was towards ‘simplicity and natural
lighting, with pictures that complement
chefs’ work rather something very artistic
that transforms the dish.’ For a while,
there was a France/Japan confusion: ‘I’d
have bet with you that you couldn’t tell a
French dish from a Japanese. Of course this
also influence the style of images. Today,
there’s more freedom, spontaneity, with
sharp colours or blue and fuchsia that we
would never have used in the old days.’
WORKASSIGNMENT
‘Today there’s more freedom,
spontaneity, with sharp colours
or blue and fuchsia’

3. 1712.1616 12.16
Philippe Barret
lesrencontresdelaphoto-chabeuil.fr
www.philippebarret.com
Tablet
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CLIENTS
Mainly publishers of
books and magazines,
food companies and
manufacturers or
distributors of kitchen
equipment or tableware.
WHYNIKON
I bought my first
Nikkormat FT2 in 1976
and since then I have
always been Nikon.
The permanent optical
compatibility and reliability
of the boxes are the key
points and I have never
been disappointed.
WHAT’SINTHEBAG
D800E
PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm
f/2.8D
AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm
f/2.8G ED
AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm
f/2.8G ED VR II
NEXTPIECEOF
EQUIPMENT
I’m very interested in the
new AF-S NIKKOR
105mm f/1.4E ED. I intend
to try it as soon as possible.
KIT BAG
WORKASSIGNMENT
PC-E Micro NIKKOR
85mm f/2.8D
AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm
f2.8G ED
AF-S NIKKOR 70-
200mm f/2.8G ED
VR II
Nikon D800E
ABOVE LEFT: Vin de sureau, taken for Editions Presse
Citron.
D3, PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f2.8D, ISO 200,
1/20 sec @ f/5.3
BELOW LEFT: Tartines aux champignons dea bois,
taken for Delbart Editions.
D800E, PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f2.8D, ISO 100,
1/80 sec @ f/6.7
RIGHT: Pomme de foie gras, taken for the chef
Stéphane Buron - Le Chabichou - Courchevel.
D800E, PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f2.8D, ISO 63,
1/80 sec @ f/8.5
‘My personal take on food photography?
I’m looking for a combination of atmosphere
and texture, a little bit like the texture of a
painting, that’s what I love. It’s about picture
precision blended into the texture of a
painting – I’ve searched long and hard to get
to this result. It’s a blend of a sharp photo
and a textured picture with blurred details.’
Talking about which, Philippe is
exhibiting this month about 20 of those
personal images in a gallery of Saint-
Donat-sur-l’Herbasse where he lives.
It is a first, as he hasn’t showed those
pictures to a wider audience yet.
Philippe is a busy man as next month will
see the publication of his latest book Herbs
(450 pages) dedicated to cooking with herbs,
he has done with Régis Marcon, rated one
of the top 50 chefs in the world. Besides a
selection of images from the book will be on
show at the Semaine de la photo de Chabeuil.
‘Those pictures are natural, full of light and
lightness and quite personal because Régis
gave me a lot of freedom on this project.’
Philippe remains faithful to his ethos, which is
to ‘put the subject first on each page’.
To see more of Philippe’s work visit:
www.philippebarret.com