Journal: Hikaru Funnell Q&A
Having first picked up a camera 10 years ago, and working in London as a food photographer for three of them, I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with some great clients at some really amazing locations.
If you’re interested to know a bit more about my background as a person and photographer - I did an interview with Digital Marketing Specialist, Holly Pankhurst. Check out the a Q&A on me below:
Where are you originally from, and how has that influenced your work?
As a child, I grew up in the East Sussex county town of Lewes. I spent most of my childhood in and around the rolling hills of the countryside, and lived above my parent’s classic French restaurant, turned cookery school, Thackerys. This was where I developed my love and passion for all-things-food!
What got you into photography?
My interest really started to kick in at around the time used to study music and was very into DJ’ing back in the early 2010’s. At that point, I had a partner who had just got a base-model Nikon, and whilst on a short holiday in Italy, I had a play with it and really fell in love with capturing photos. I immediately got very into the idea of learning how to shoot manually from day one.
A few months later, I sold off all of my music equipment and brought a cropped-sensor Canon 550D (T2i) with a nifty-fifty lens. At this point I was already in a salary job, so instead of the traditional uni route, I spent a few years self-teaching myself how to shoot - including learning how to use rudimentary studio equipment and hustling work from small local businesses in the area to build up my portfolio and confidence.
Every job that I have had since then, I was always the ‘photo guy’ in the office so I naturally shot more and more - capturing food, products, and people to then covering larger events/activations before I took the plunge at doing it full-time three years ago.
It’s interesting when I write down a concise version of this, because it took me around seven years from that first experience shooting on a DSLR to where I am now - being in London and in the fortunate position of having a great network of friends, clients, and colleagues around me - all stemming from those early experiences.
Any notable career highlights?
It’s tough to choose a specific one as I’m not sure that I have an actual highlight that I’d say was ‘the best one’, but I do frequently find myself really humbled by daily experiences that I’ve been able to have as someone who has recently turned 30 and feels that this is still quite early into my career as a food photographer.
To try and answer this properly though, there has often been times where I’m working with a really cool client at a great location, or I’ve wrapped a shoot that I didn’t think I could do a year ago - I’ll get home, edit, then just think to myself just how exciting my day was.
It’s so easy to overlook our experiences without giving them too much credence, or to only remember things that negatively impact us, but I try to give myself a little time each day to appreciate what we all have, as to note take it all for granted.
What would be your dream project?
I’m pretty intrigued by a lot of thing things, a lot of the time - ranging from trades to crafts, so I think my list of this would be too big to nail down! A massive interest of mine is actually people and those who are really passionate about what they do. Someone could be really into plumbing, but if they’re passionate about it, I’m all ears!
One thing that I’d love to keep shooting is combinations of storytelling photos as part of a larger shoot, food photography heroes or products in use. I’ve been doing more and more of those in the past 12 months during the Covid-19 extended lockdown, so shooting even more of those on a larger scale would be awesome!
What photographers influence your work?
I find myself really influenced by a pretty large range of photographers, but the ones that come to mind would be the early work of Martin Parr, especially The Last Resort as there’s something so quintessentially British about it. I’m also inspired by the street work of the famous Japanese photographer, Daidō Moriyama, and classic food photographer David Loftus who has done a lot of Jamie Olivers work from day dot.
Other than the obvious big names, I’m often inspired by the people that are around me, both physically and those who I follow and admire on Instagram. As I type this, we’re all into our twelfth month of lockdown and I’m happy to see so many industry creatives and food photographers that I know, cooking, creating, and shooting from home. Even before I kitted out my home studio for work, I was spending all of my time cooking and shooting from home to pass the time when this all started.
Another inspiration of mine is actually cinema and creatives like David Fincher, Roger Deakins, and Spike Jonze. Most notably, the way they shoot, grade, use colour palettes and the lighting techniques. It’s all super applicable to what we all do, so I’m always in a state of awe with beautiful movies.
What purchase of £100 or less has had the most positive effect on your life?
This one is just over the £100, but I got myself an analog-looking smart-watch about a year ago, and it’s been a total game-changer. I’ve always been quite interested in analytics (blame years of accounts and marketing work), but it’s so amazing for tracking my workouts, cycling, steps, and sleep patterns.
I tend to cycle roughly 100K per week and 400K per month in London, so it’s so amazing being able to track my performance across each workout and to get a general idea of how much cycling that I actually do.
Have you had any career failures that have driven positive change?
I’ve been lucky enough to have not had any major client failures, but I would say that I’ve taken on-board a lot of learnings over the last couple of years in particular.
One of which is the dangers of over-diversification on my services offered. I feel that it is better to focus your energies on one core service or niche and do the best that I can do within that idea - as opposed to over-extending yourself to keep a client happy. If I know someone who is better suited to a stills or video shoot, I’d rather entrust it to them as opposed to just fudging it for the sake of making a few extra quid which is a bit of a short-term game in the grande scheme of things.
The other would be to not over-busy myself. I’m naturally a slightly obsessive hard-worker who thrives on efficiency, but I’ve now come to terms with the acceptability of getting less done in a (non-shoot) day and giving myself a break to enjoy the little things. Bookshelves, I’m looking at you as I type!
What is one unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?
Back when I had a ‘normal’ salaried job, I had a company founder who always used to push start-up books on us to read. After reading over 20 of them in a couple of years, I’ve come to love the Pomodoro Technique for boosting work efficiency.
Essentially, you break down larger (usually boring or monotonous) tasks into smaller, easier chunks to do. Just give yourself 25 minute sessions to complete them, with little 5 minute breaks in-between. It’s such a helpful way of working for those days that you’re feeling distracted at the home office, or when doing stuff like quarterly expenses.
In recent years, which behaviour or habit has improved your life the most?
Following from my last answer, I would honestly have to really drive home the Pomodoro Technique, and the power of planning ahead a bit. We all have our own ways of doing things, but for me - I thrive in being organised and having my ducks in a row. There are times when it can be overwhelming to think 2-4 months ahead, but for me it’s a great way of looking at the greater picture - both personally and professionally.
Another would be my love of really nice homeware items. I semi-recently moved into a lovely un-furnished place with a garden with my partner, so we’ve both really been enjoying getting it all done up and making it a lovely space to live and work during the lockdown.
What advice can you give to photographers who are just starting out? Is there anything you wish you had been told?
When I first started out, I didn’t really know many people who shot other than mates at university, so I had to help myself a lot in the first few years by using very early YouTube videos, and hitting all of the forums for answers to questions that I didn’t quite understand.
In the early days, I’d noticed there were a fair few ‘gatekeepers’ out there who didn’t really share a lot of information with newbies, so I just kept pushing on my own. I think this steep self-learning curve is what makes me really supportive of new shooters and enthusiasts. I honestly believe that anyone who thinks themselves a master is usually the polar opposite as we never really stop learning.
I would also say that your network is only as strong as what you bring to the table. I think networking can sometimes be confused with finding people/clients with things that you need, but what it is really about is finding other like-minded people to whom you can bring something to the table; starting things off as a balanced and reciprocal relationship.
I’ve been asked a lot about what camera to start with by beginners, and enthusiasts. I honestly think that smartphone cameras have come along a long way (Pixel 5, I love you) for those who would have used a standard point and shoot a few years ago, but for those who want something a bit more substantial - I’d say get a Canon 5D MKII and solid 50mm prime lens. It can be picked up for circa £400 and has been a workhorse camera for many professional photographers over the years. I still use mine on shoots where I’m not too bothered about it being knocked around a bit!
In a nutshell: Be friendly and take photos. Sometimes it’s just about the fun of shooting, sometimes a finished piece of content. More importantly, if it’s not for a client or a portfolio project, it’s okay to just enjoy the experience of shooting instead of it having to be ‘your next best thing’.
What do you do to get out of a creative rut?
When I’m not shooting on-location or from my home studio, I’ve personally found that a bit of routine goes a long way. I treat my mornings as if I still work at an office over the other side of town, so the first thing I do in the morning is to cycle around 20K or go for a long walk at around 8:15 AM; this essentially acts as my commute and does a great job of waking me up.
Other than that, I’ll catch up with a friend or get cooking and creating. So if I’m not writing a recipe or trying out a new technique, I’m looking for props or creating backgrounds for a future project that I’m working on.
If that fails, I’ll go out for a nice lunch or dinner somewhere and give myself a break away from it all (currently missing this one BIG time).
What is unique in your approach to work that separates you from other food photographers?
I’d say that my food photography shooting style is bright, colourful and follows some core fundamentals of minimalism. On a typical scene, I’ll usually start by placing the hero or placeholder in its position then I’ll build the scene up with my pre-selected props, then I’ll work to pare them back to a point where we have the real meat of the story in focus.
For my restaurant work and storytelling work, I’d have to say I still keep on-board the bright, colourful vibe, but I like to work from more of a reportage angle instead; finding the best spots on location to shoot our scenes from and capturing the best content that is true to the atmosphere of the dining space.
As for my working style, I’d have to say that it’s my communication, art direction, planning, and reliability that matters the most to my returning client base.
Of course, I feel that my work is creative and there is always room for me to grow and improve, but on the still life side of things - so much of what we do lies in the planning, not just turning up at the studio. To be a moderately okay commercial photographer, you have to have a good head for planning, creating, pre-production, communicating, shooting, and of course, getting the end-product to your client ahead of their own deadline. Especially so when you may work as a one-person-band at times.
How important do you think social media is in the creative industry?
I think that for brands, social media or more specifically Instagram is a really great way for B2C communications to take place as a primary touch-point that isn’t their web-store, partner retailer or as a brick and mortar location.
As far as for me as a food photographer or for a content agency - it is still important but personally, it’s not such a strong touchpoint for a potential client to find me. On average, 90% of my work is returning clients and the other 10% is new business via word of mouth from those happy clients.
The way that I look at Instagram is that it’s a good additional touchpoint for clients to find me, but fundamentally it doesn’t drive a lot of new business. As an example, if a brand follows me, it’s their social media executive/manager who may not be the decision-maker or person who is in charge of campaigns or budgets. Sometimes it will be a smaller indy and I may get work via another client on Instagram, but in my experience, a new client will typically find me via an already happy client.
It doesn’t make it a non-goer, but I’d rather use it as a place to find inspo, chat with other photographers; to add my work/travel snaps to, and to build onto my personal brand narrative.
Over the past 12 months, how has the Covid-19 pandemic affected you? What are your thoughts on how it has affected the industry as a whole?
I was in the fortunate enough position of being booked right up until the 23rd of March 2020 when the first of the UK lockdowns took place - so at that point, I hadn’t quite felt the affects of booking cancellations as a whole that I know a lot of my industry-wide friends had been feeling. Of course, as soon as the lockdown kicked in, I saw all of my previous event work and much of my commercial work fall off for the first six weeks whilst consumers and businesses’ adjusted to the new way of life and everyone was taking stock of a new situation.
I spent a lot of my time catching up on all those little jobs, tasks, and personal food photography projects that I never used to have time for when I was flat out, pre-pandemic. In May moved out of my house in Hackney to live in East Sussex with my partner, and to enjoy the summer - shooting from a small space in Sussex, and driving up to London for larger studio shoots. After I saw my direct work start to come back in at a sustainable level, and I made a few business-wide changes, I moved back to a new place with my partner and we’ve been slowly doing the place up - including kitting out a studio space to carry out still life food photography shoots for the foreseeable future.
It’s been actually really nice to enjoy this slower pace of life and much like many of my industry mates - it’s going to feel strange when it’s all picked up again and we’re run off of our feet once more. Of course, it’s had its ups and downs from a social and working-identity perspective, but on the whole, I’ve found it really useful for introspection, recharging, and as a time for education as a whole.
From a non-self-absorbed perspective, it’s been quite heartbreaking to see so many businesses in hospitality, brick-and-mortar retail, and in the wider events industry (when I also used to shoot that) affected by all of the ups and downs that have been coupled with uncertainty over the last year. It has really shown the strength of all of the employees, freelancers, gig-based-workers, and creatives as a whole, as well as their ability to adapt to the changes that this has presented us with.
As consumer confidence rises during the slow re-opening of the country, the world continues, I’m looking forward to catching up in real life with many of my friends and teaming up on bigger and better projects.
Are there any sayings that you live by?
“If you don't ask, you don't get it”
- Mahatma Ghandhi
If you weren’t a photographer - what would you do?
I could definitely see myself either getting deeper into food by becoming a chef or food stylist, as I spend a lot of my personal time already developing recipes and both cooking and shooting them in my spare time. Art direction also really interests me, and I love the physical side of still life production - from concept to set creation, so doing that on a more frequent basis would be great.
I hope this has given a bit more of an insight into me as a person, a photographer, and my approach to food photography. Thanks again Holly for suggesting that I do a bit of a Q&A as well!