Alberto Zamaniego Figueroa is a photographer and creative director who first became interested in photography from his father, an engineer, who carried his camera everywhere. “He used to take photos of building structures and many other visually interesting objects. After years of looking at his photos, I finally understood that he had a very sharp eye, using different angles, playing with colours and black and white,” Alberto recalls. He was 13 years old when his father finally let him use the Canon Powershot A560 camera. “I was shooting all sorts of stuff but mainly shooting some off-road action on our trips.”
Alberto studied Science of Communication at the University of Baja California in Mexico and intended to become a sports journalist. “During my uni days, I studied a year of photography as part of my degree. I wasn’t very sure what I wanted to do with this, but I thought maybe I could do some photography and make some extra money.”
His photography teacher who used to run a sports photography website gave Alberto his first taste of working as a photographer. One day he asked Alberto to shoot some content for his website, and Alberto agreed. “I was a massive fan of Off Road Racing (very famous in Baja California, California, Nevada, and Arizona). Me and my best friend used to camp in the desert and wake up with the smell of VP racing fuel and the sound of 800 hp Off Road trucks driving pass our tent.” He can clearly remember the first photo he ever took and relates that something clicked for him that day. It was then that he decided to redirect some choices in his life. After a couple years of shooting and selling photos, Alberto landed his first job at a production company and became a professional off-road racing photographer with Vildosola Racing.
Alberto began to focus his attention on food photography in 2014. The agency he was working for at the time had a client who required food photography. “I was excited as I love cooking and food; I’m some sort of a frustrated chef,” he says. His very first assignment was shooting some hamburgers in a gas station for a big pharmacy chain with locations all over his state. “The food was crap, and the presentation was very poor, but we managed to make it look okay.”
Alberto continued to work with more and more culinary clients. Because it was his job to make the food good, he began studying more about food photography, styling, lighting techniques, equipment, natural light, etc. “A couple of my friends started working in restaurants or opening food places in the city. So to develop my skills, I traded my photography for some free food. It was awesome as I had complete creative freedom. They trusted me and I will always be very grateful for that.”
When Alberto first began, he developed his food photography skills without a mentor. He recalls that there wasn’t much he could look to for creative influences. “Instagram wasn’t a thing so there wasn’t much inspiration around, just National Geographic and Thrasher,” he remembers. This forced Alberto to develop his own style. “I combined my action photography skills and Anthony Bourdain’s narrative style, and started to try new angles and approaches. I’ve always been a bit of a rebel, so I used to see what others were doing, especially in a city where the creative hub is so small that everyone knows what the other one is doing and decided to go on the opposite direction.”
Alberto approaches food photography in the same dynamic way he has approached action photography. He knows that every single shot matters and tries to shoot as clean and accurately as possible. “I try always to capture that little moment when we are enjoying food, or those eureka moments when cooking. A big part of that, in action photography and food photography, is the people infant of the lens,” he says. “Their stories will reflect a lot their personalities, so I try to connect with people as much as I can. That way, they can open up to me, and I can come in with camera in hand and freeze that moment.”
His appreciation for the people responsible for the food is also clearly evident in his art, and he often includes them as part of his composition. “I believe that food is not just only what we eat, it’s also what we see. You know, the interaction between the customer and the person behind the counter, that first bite, the drips, the stains, the aftermath of a great bite.”
He adds: “There’s a particular type of shot that I love. It’s one where the cook is holding the food with both hands, as if they were giving it to you. I think that’s the purest expression of how we connect through food, no matter our background, nationality, religious or political view… we all eat.”
Alberto uses a documentary-style approach to his photography. A self-professed foodie, Alberto is constantly looking for an angle that’s appealing to the eye. “I grew up watching the Travel Channel. I remember there were so many documentaries about traveling and food; it was my favourite channel and my way of knowing the world. Then I discovered Anthony Bourdain, and I fell in love with his approach to traveling and food, but also life.”
Alberto likes to learn why someone decided to create a certain dish, or what drove that person to put specific ingredients together and share it with the world. “When I can, I love focusing on the food, just the food, how it is, no distractions. I take a deep look into what you are about to eat and how you would like to eat it.”
Alberto’s work has been featured in two books: Cook with Love by Enna Lakhani and STRAIGHT OUTTA CYMRU by Owain Hill, where he not only captures the personality of the authors inside and outside the kitchen, but also their journey. He is currently working on a creative proposal for another book and exploring opportunities to work with brands in the UK. Alberto has also started working on a documentary project called Secret Eye Club, where he says he can be totally rebellious with his documentary photography, focusing on people and portraits.
Alberto concludes: “Food is the most noble and purest way to say thank you to someone. Without food we die, so when someone is cooking for us, we are receiving life and like any art, cooking reflects the memories, backgrounds, and references of people, using culinary semiotics to put everything on a dish. I find that amazing, mesmerizing. I will continue my journey as a documentarist, with an aim to collaborate one day with National Geographic, working hard, continuously learning, eating and traveling.”
To learn more about Alberto, visit his website at zamaniegostudio.com.
