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As I sit here in New Orleans, eating everything in my path, and photographing it like a tourist, a few things struck me: my obsession with food is quite unhealthy; I’m more excited than ever to embark on my next 365 day journey, which will include the juxtaposition of food and comics; and food photos, while they can get a bad rap are a sort of graphic novel that can illustrate our passions and experiences like nothing else. I have complained about people posting their grilled cheese sandwiches on FB (as have many of us), but in a way, I now sort of understand that it’s just a panel of the comic that is one’s day.
I have finished Ugly Delicious on Netflix; it was my favorite series of the year thus far, as I might have mentioned; however, what I will reiterate from the show is the meaning of the title. Something that is “ugly delicious” is beautiful and enjoyable to us, regardless of its appearance. Chef David understands that while his favorite meal growing up might not be as technically beautiful or have that wow factor in plating, the ugliness of those traditional home-style dishes is what brings us to those Anton Ego “Ratatouille moments” (please watch Disney’s 2007 Ratatouille if you do not get the reference).
The photos of our food, especially with a little context contain a ton of tone and mood. Check out these three photos from my NOLA trip so far:
Based on these three photos, I bet you have an opinion about how I felt about each item. And maybe even why I decided to photograph them in each way. For example, the most simple photo is the sandwich. I was starving; I wanted to eat; I didn’t want an elaborate photo; I just wanted to document the food and have a pic for my Yelp review. Yes, I Yelp…don’t judge. You do stuff that people make fun of you for as well.
So without getting into it too much because I for sure will next year, I wanted to start a discussion about our images, especially our food ones, and plant the seed that our pics work as separate panels of our day. But I’d also like to say that just because you toss out a series of photos from your day doesn’t mean that people have to find them interesting. Most of our days are boring as hell, and that’s why people complain when people post entirely too much about themselves, or take 8,000,000 selfies…I would never buy a comic that was just a series of close-ups of Spider-Man. Everything in moderation. Your Instagram feed says a lot about you and your comic. And if it’s all selfies, I can’t get with that book.
If you are interesting in making fun of my Instagram account, I’m @comics_teacher just like Twitter.
Happy reading!
Eric
Twitter: @comics_teacher
Instagram: comics_teacher
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