We recently connected with Gabriel Lucido and have shared our conversation below.

Gabriel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

A common misunderstanding with my type of photography is that most clients have the impression that I work off a standard rate, but it’s a little more complicated than that and usually requires more information from the client. To keep it short, for the average project, I would provide an estimate that includes any outside expenses, like props and third-party creatives, and my service fees, which include my day rate, post fees, and licensing fees. The main point of confusion comes from the licensing fees, which is a fee the company would pay to use the photos and can vary depending on how long they’d like to use the photos for and what they’re going to use the photos for. Essentially, the more exposure the photos will have, the more expensive the licensing fees will be.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Gabriel Lucido, I’m a commercial food photographer. I’m currently working out of my studio in Orange County California. I mostly work on packaging projects and ad campaigns. I currently have over 50 clients which include for some of the top food brands in the United States.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The most important lesson I had to unlearn was that technical perfection doesn’t matter when it comes to building a photography portfolio. It took a long time to stop focusing on understanding all the technical aspects of photography and to start focusing on the important aspects which have more to do with style and feeling. I do think that the period of studying the technicality of photography was very useful for me, especially when it comes to solving problems on set, but I needed to unlearn the purpose behind it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a food photographer has been getting to learn so much about photography, lighting, cameras, and everything related. Another rewarding aspect is getting to see my portfolio improve more and more over the years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gabriellucido.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielvincentlucido/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielvincentlucido/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabrielvincentlucido
  https://www.pinterest.com/GabrielVincentLucido/

Image Credits

Some images: Food Stylist: Peilin Breller
Some images: Stylist: Taylor Chloe Berk