Four cool photography jobs

Matthew Klein
food photographer (matthewklein.com)

What he does: “Over 90 percent of brand decisions are made at the point of purchase, which means that the way food is presented in the supermarket is more significant to a sale than the way it’s marketed,” explains Klein. And that’s why his job, photographing foods for packaging, is important—and delicious.
How he got into it: Klein went to Cooper Union for architecture, but his real interest was in painting. That evolved into photography. Eventually Klein did the photography for a cookbook and credits that project as his catapult into the food biz. “That got me lots of other cookbook work and then grew into advertising and packaging.”
His advice: “Photography is not a career,” he warns. “I don’t mean to be discouraging, but it’s not like law where you can go into it with good ability and make a living.” Klein points out that even the great Annie Leibovitz is in financial trouble. If you really want to follow Klein’s path, he suggests getting a background in art and assisting a food stylist where you’ll get access to a lot of different photographers.

Matthew Klein | Russ Heller | Nick Carr | Adrienne Aragon Schafer