Know Your Power Couple Food Photographers
Flipping through the pages of Bon Appétit, you may wonder: Do photographers work alone anymore? Lately the magazine has been filled with the stunning work of duos, many of whom are not just creative partners but romantic ones, too. In celebration of Love Week, we reached out to five of our favorite food-photographer couples to find out how they make it work.
Anais & Dax1/10Anaïs & Dax
Los Angeles–based photographers Anaïs Wade and Dax Henry have been together for the last four years. How did you decide on your former name "Young & Hungry" and your current name "Anaïs & Dax"? AW: "We had a blog, which was named Young & Hungry, and what was a personal project became pretty much our job. Food was definitely the center of what we wanted to do at first, because we were so busy working that all we had, basically, as a couple was making a good meal. Dax has really good knife skills!... Eventually, even though it’s clever, you can’t be young and hungry forever! Eager: Yes. And our current agent was one of the people that was telling us, 'Just be yourselves—you have good names!' It’s not like we’re Peter and Mary."
Anaïs & Dax2/10Anaïs & Dax
What's the worst argument you've gotten into on set? AW: "I don’t really think we ever argue on set. To be honest, the very regular argument we have is the morning of, going to shoot, and being tired and overworked and excited all at once, not having coffee in our bodies, and just arguing about really small things, like, 'Ugh, we’re late because of you!'"
Gentl and Hyers3/10Gentl and Hyers
Andrea Gentl and Martin Hyers (pictured) married at age 24, less than a year after meeting at Parson's School of Design in New York City. How did you begin working together? MH: __"__I was assisting a photographer, while Andrea was assisting a stylist. We were living such separate schedules that we were not getting to spend much time together. We decided to try our luck working together....We took some props, on a hot summer day, to our roof in Hell’s Kitchen; Andrea styled them, and I lit them (for as much as we were lighting in those days). The next day, we took some more props to the front room in our railroad apartment. We placed a piece of marble on the top of our radiator next to a north-facing window. This turned out to be much better than shooting on the hot roof! We shot most of our first portfolio on that piece of marble."**
Gentl and Hyers4/10Gentl and Hyers
How do you resolve a disagreement on set? MH: "There are no code words to resolve disagreements. But like any relationship, there is a twitch of the eye or hands on the hips or a squinting of the eyes that says it all. Because there are two of us, we often have different opinions and quite often end up shooting things two ways. This is generally our compromise, but in the end, when all is said and done, we don’t remember who took which photo. It somehow seamlessly comes together."**
Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott5/10Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott (whose feet are pictured above) met three-and-a-half years ago when he was sent to photograph her for Canadian House & Home magazine. What are each other's strengths as a photographer? NH: "Michael’s really diplomatic; that’s a strength of his on set or in any situation.....I’ve been shooting for a very short time relative to his 20 years. Sometimes, when I see something I just don’t like, I’ll just say, ‘Nah, I don’t like that,' when it’s not an appropriate time to say that!" MG: "Nikole’s strength is just saying what’s on her mind and being very direct about things. I think people learn to trust Nikole, because she’s often right."
Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott6/10Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
Who takes the photos on your vacations? MG: ____ " It used to be, when I went on vacation, I would not take my pro cameras with me, because I was on vacation. The lines between work and personal life are much blurrier for Nikole, and in the early days, on vacation, I would think, ‘This doesn’t feel like a vacation at all.’ But soon after that, I caught whatever bug Nikole has, and I wouldn’t think of not bringing my camera with me anymore."
We Are The Rhoads7/10We Are the Rhoads
A week after they were married, photographers Sarah and Chris Rhoads (pictured) moved to Seattle together, where new friends referred to them as "The Rhoads." Were you photographers when you met? SR: "When I was 13, I saved up all my babysitting money and bought my first camera. My father passed away unexpectedly, and I think I just became very aware of the importance of documenting life. Chris is an incredible musician. He's a bass player. While we were in school, he'd come back with these incredible photos from touring. So we both had this thirst for documenting our life experience, in a way. But I don't think either of us would have been able to say, 'Oh, we'll be doing that together one day.'"
We Are The Rhoads8/10We Are the Rhoads
What are each other's strengths as a photographer? CR: "We joke that I am the head and Sarah is the heart." SR: "I'm the passionate, spontaneous, emotionally driven type of shooter. And Chris is very thorough and methodical."
Peden + Munk9/10Peden + Munk
Taylor Peden and Jen Munkvold (pictured) began collaborating in a fashion-photography class in an attempt to monopolize the best models. Why the plus sign? TP: "It's really the combination—Peden plus Munk—that makes our work unique. It's not Peden and Munk; it's the fusion of our point of views. And we're a couple together, so it's kind of our lives fused together."
Peden + Munk10/10Peden + Munk
____Does it seem like there are a lot of couple food photographers? JM: "Totally. I think if you have photography and food as a passion in your life, you really want to share it with other people. That probably leads to the connection that us and Gentl and Hyers and Nikole and Michael all have." TP: "It's a support system, too—being able to get those two points of view. One person can't be in two places at once; I can really rely on Jen and know her point of view, and it's really interesting in the edit to see what we both got." ____
