Feed the Eye: Why Seeing Comes Before Shooting

Before you pick up the camera.
Before you think about settings, presets, or what will perform well online.
There is something important.

You have to feed the eye.

A lot of people approach food photography from the outside in. We start with doing — shooting, tweaking, posting — without ever really learning how to see. The result? Hundreds of images… but only a few that actually feel right. Technically fine. Emotionally flat.

Because photography doesn’t begin with the camera.
It begins with attention.

Seeing Is a Skill (Not Just “Having a Good Eye”)

We love the idea of “a natural eye.” As if some people were simply born with it.

But seeing is a skill. And like any skill, it can be trained.

When you feed your eye, you start to notice things differently:

• how light wraps around food instead of just hitting it

• how shadows give weight, depth, and mood

• how colour can whisper — or shout

• how space allows an image to breathe

None of this requires expensive gear.
It requires slowing down.

We live in a world overflowing with images. We scroll, we save, we double-tap. But we rarely stop long enough to ask: Why does this work? What am I actually responding to?

Scrolling isn’t feeding the eye.
Observing is.

Why Shooting More Isn’t Always the Answer

It’s tempting to think that the solution is simple: just shoot more.

Sometimes that helps.
But sometimes it just creates noise.

Overshooting can dull your sensitivity. You stop responding to light and start reacting out of habit.

When seeing comes first, shooting becomes more intentional. You begin to know when to lift the camera — and when not to.

Fewer frames.
Clearer decisions.
Stronger images.

Feeding the Eye Is a Quiet, Daily Practice

Feeding the eye doesn’t mean analysing every image like a critic.

It’s more like:

• noticing how window light moves across your kitchen table

• watching how steam softens the edges of a dish

• paying attention to colour combinations in cafés, markets, packaging

• asking yourself, What am I drawn to here — and why?

No camera required.
No pressure to produce.

This is where visual confidence starts — not in perfection, but in familiarity.

Why This Comes Before Technique

Camera settings can be learned. Presets can be applied in seconds.

But without a trained eye, they’re just tools without direction.

When you feed your eye first:

• your compositions begin to simplify naturally

• your editing becomes lighter, not heavier

• your style starts to emerge without being forced

You stop chasing trends.

You start recognising your own taste.

And taste — more than technique — is what makes work memorable.

This Is the Foundation of my teaching.

Everything I teach, whether in workshops or through my work, comes back to this:

Learn to see before you learn to shoot.

Once your eye is awake, the camera becomes an extension — not the decision-maker.

Feed the eye, and the rest follows. 🤍