Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anna Hampton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Anna , appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Although I had an idea I’d like to work in food media, it wasn’t until I moved to New York City that I’d heard of food styling as a career. After meeting food photographers who were looking to work on portfolios, I was intrigued by the thought of the role of the food stylist – the person behind all the food on those billboards, commercials, and beautiful editorial magazine spreads.

After my first day interning on set with a food stylist I knew it was the path for me. I reached out and began assisting some of the most talented established stylists who were already incredibly busy with editorial, advertising and cookbook shoots.

Coming into this career was a culmination of pursuing different interests in work, school, (and for fun) throughout the years that eventually all came together find the perfect job for me, but one that I’d never thought of before.

My undergrad was in International Business, and French, but I also studied Film Production and participated in creative projects with film and photo. For many years during college (and beyond), I worked in restaurants, and because of my love for cooking, I ultimately decided to go to culinary school and pursue that path. It wasn’t until I identified food styling as a career path that I realized I could combine my interests and do both. The takeway: Don’t limit yourself to one subject. Follow your passions and interests until you to find the niche position, career or business suited for you..

Secondly, I cannot say enough wonderful things about my time as an assistant. Not only is being hands on the quickest way to know if you’re suited for a job or career, learning from others who have been in the industry is invaluable. Even though I already had a strong culinary background, I spent 5 years assisting food stylists on commercial, advertising and cookbook shoots. I realized there was so much more to learn about the specialized craft, as well as the business side of the industry. The takeway: Be an an intern or assistant! Don’t be discouraged when you have to run out to get coffee or lunch, be happy to be in the room and soak up the knowledge. There’s always a lot to learn and having a mentor willing to take you in is invaluable.

Knowing what I know now, I would have identified food styling as a career earlier on and pursued it sooner. There are a lot of jobs/careers that you may not even know exist! By apprenticing/assisting in the industry, I learned practical knowledge much more quickly than in my undergraduate education. I may have interned/assisted more at a younger age or even taken a gap year to get hands on experience.

Essential skills were strong culinary/cooking skills, knife work, staying up-to-date with industry trends, articles, and food media. Some knowledge of film and photography production and post production. Strong visual creative eye. Ability to be light on your feet and be ready for change at any time. Working as a team.

Obstacles in the way of learning: It’s such a niche career that ability to gain experience can be limited.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a freelance food stylist and recipe developer. As a food stylist, I work on advertising, commercial and editorial photo and video shoots. Along with a team of photographers and prop stylists, we create the beautiful food images found on these print and digital formats. As a recipe developer, I write and test recipes for publications.

My responsibilities as a food stylist are to meet with creative directors and the photo team to discuss art before the shoot. I procure and prepare any food ingredients for the shoot (often out of season, as we often shoot far in advance!) and work with assistants to coordinate complicated grocery shopping lists and order specialty ingredients. Kitchen prep days are needed to get ready and organized before shoot days, which could range anywhere from cooking pork shoulders overnight to freezing 20 ice cream flavors to scoop the next day.

When it’s time for the shoot days all ingredients are prepped, and we are ready for any environmental factors that may affect the food, such as bright lights or cold air conditioning. Food has to last a long time on set, so we keep dry ice nearby to keep ice cream cold and use tools like heat guns and torches to melt cheese and warm things on set.

I have an B.S. in International Business and B.A. in French, and also worked in restaurants all the way through college and beyond. I studied Film Production and worked on small creative projects as photographer, editor, and director while continuing to hone in on my culinary skills. Eventually I went on to a culinary degree at French Culinary Institute and planned to pursue a career in cooking.

Although I had an idea I’d like to work in food media, it wasn’t until I moved to New York City that I’d heard of food styling as a career. After meeting food photographers who were looking to work on portfolios, I was intrigued by the thought of the role of the food stylist – the person behind all the food on those billboards, commercials, and beautiful editorial magazine spreads. After my first day as an intern on set, it hit me like lightning. I knew it was the career path for me so it set out to focus on pursuing it. I began assisting established, extremely talented food stylists and for 5 years I learned the ropes of the industry. I was also able to work in magazine test kitchens as a recipe tester and developer, writing and editing recipes and food content.

As a food stylist, I focus on clients needs, ensuring foods and products are looking their absolute best at all times in any circumstances. I have some knowledge about every type of cooking, as assignments are very diverse and can come in last minute. Many times I also create recipes for clients based on our photography work.

I’m most proud of the time and energy spent learning the craft and being a part of some of the most talented teams to specialize in this niche creative space.

Some clients include Real Simple, Epicurious, Goop, Wolf/Subzero, Le Creuset, Sunkist, Frito Lay

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Along the way, the biggest source of new clients has been word of mouth. As it is a smaller community, I have been lucky to have been recommended for jobs by my colleagues (and I recommend them in return!)

Instagram also serves as a quick portfolio of some of my work and new things as they come up.

Online creative and crew sites such as Wonderful Machine and Komyoon are created to connect photographers and creative teams as well as clients.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

It’s easy to focus on things that go wrong when managing a team, resulting in negative feedback. Remember to also include positive reinforcement to bring up morale. Giving a compliment on a job well done goes a long way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.annahampton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annashampton/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-hampton-55b03b30/

Image Credits
Kelsey Hansen, Greg DuPree, Stephen Devries, Helene Dujardin, Victor Protasio, Christopher Testani, Victoria Wall Harris