Amazing food photography by Sannie Sanford

I am used to photographers dabbling in food photography in Kenya while specializing in other niches with some few exceptions. Sannie Sanford is one of them and food is all he shoots. He got into photography by accident and is also self taught but you wouldn’t tell by the quality of his images.

His government name is Sanford Masinde and his photography journey started when he attended an Instameet in July 2015 which was organized by Mutua Matheka. After interacting with photographers and photography enthusiasts at the event, he knew for sure that he wanted to be a photographer. He was lucky enough to be gifted an iPod Touch shortly thereafter and used the camera on it to photograph almost everything he came across.

Sannie Sonford

From there he got more courage and confidence to shoot more. He chose to specialize in food photography because of his love for food and because he realized that most photographers were shooting the same thing. Also, not many photographers in Kenya were focusing on food. He started taking pictures of food in the house using the iPod Touch and sharing on Instagram. People started taking notice and he eventually got his first client, Miss Mandi, via Instagram. He quickly realized that he needed better equipment because of the quality of images and so he bought one.

His tools of trade are a Canon T3i and an iPhone 5s but he says that he prefers the former. His favourite restaurant is Soko at DusitD2 which he loves because of the food obviously and also music, ambiance and service.

His advice to up and coming food photographers is that they need to ensure that their pictures have good lighting and presentation. He also feels that a lot more photographers should take up food photography in Kenya. This is so that they can challenge each other and grow in the same away photographers in other niches do.

Here is some of Sannie Sanford’s work. Do check out his Instagram @sanniesanford for more.