Eyes Eat First

Most photographers have a specialty, some love doing portraits or weddings but sometimes daily life needs to be front and center. Enter commercial food stylist and photographer Emily Triggs. Emily Triggs got her start in marketing, in fact she has an MBA. 

While many professional photographers don’t have professional training in their craft, getting a graduate degree in a different discipline is not a common story. 

While marketing and taking pictures of food may seem unrelated, for Triggs, her marketing background makes her a better photographer. She understands branding and what clients need beyond what makes a pretty photograph. 

Image of Emily Trigg’s Instagram @chewandtaste.

Based on the client list she has acquired, the fact that she has only been an entrepreneur for 2 years is impressive. Clients like Salt and Straw and restaurants all over Portland fill her Instagram feed as well as still life featuring local ceramics and fresh produce. 

Photographing food was not something Triggs fell into. Food started her passion for photography about 7 years ago. She started, as she puts it “a little food blog,” where she documented what she was cooking and eating.

 “I very quickly became obsessed with food styling and taking pictures of food,” she said. 

In 2016, her blog got noticed by someone at Maxwell PR, a boutique PR agency in Portland that specializes in food and beverage clients. They hired Triggs to be their in-house food stylist and photographer, she couldn’t believe it. 

“I was so lucky,” she said. “My pictures were so bad back then.” 

Image of Emily Triggs' website home page.

After several years at Maxwell PR and a lot of experience practicing new techniques with their client list that included Dave’s Killer Bread, Kettle Chips and more, she decided it was time to go solo and she started her own company.

When I interviewed Triggs a few months ago for this piece she said her dream was to create a space where food stylists and photographers could set up shop without footing the bill for a rented studio. Studios in town weren’t built for food photographers many didn’t have sinks, let alone kitchen’s to prep for shoots. Since we last spoke, this dream became a reality. 

2 weeks ago, amidst a pandemic, Triggs opened Tabletop Studio, a rentable space complete with props, backdrops, tons of natural light and a kitchen. Local creatives and freelancers have already started to use the space, solo of course, for client shoots or portfolio projects.

For some people, food as a subject might seem strange, for Triggs, there is nothing else that creates happiness like food does.