Have you ever looked at a food blogger’s posts and wondered how it is done? How do they get that perfect shot? How do they make the food look so tasty? How do they find the trendiest spots? Tim Cheung is one of those food bloggers who have us wonder how his work is done and what happens behind the scenes. On his Instagram account for the Bay Area Foodies, he makes his job look easy and effortless. But do not let that trick you, a lot of work goes into food blogging.
Tim Cheung’s journey began five years ago as a hobby, but as time went by, he realized his posts were helpful to people in the community. Throughout the years, he has used his digital marketing and social media marketing experience to perfect his posts. He has noticed pouring syrups, making egg yolks ooze, or squeezing a lime are some of the good ways in which he could highlight certain aspects of a dish in a photo.
However, food blogging is more than photography. This Bay Area blogger says, “it is important for food bloggers to check out the newest food trends as those are usually newsworthy.” This means part of their job is doing the appropriate research to stay up to date on food trends and local spots. Part of Cheung’s research involves minority-owned spots and mom and pop restaurants because he wants to shed light on the Bay Area hidden gems.
After his research, this professional food photographer usually organizes food crawls with other food bloggers to keep his career entertaining and fun. During these, they visit five spots in one day trying different dishes. The food crawls are also an amazing motivation to stay consistent–which Tim Cheung says may take a lot of hard work. To keep his audience interested, he needs to have a reliable posting schedule with quality content.
Once the food has been tasted and the pictures have been taken, this foodie spends a great amount of time creating and perfecting his content. He has to study the trends to help him edit the photos and create videos. Multiple hours are spent making his posts look appealing and attractive while creating catchy captions. During this process, he focuses on relatability because he believes this is one of the most important details food bloggers should pay attention to when it comes to food.
Tim Cheung suggests keeping food blogging fun to avoid making it feel like a chore. When you stop enjoying it and only see it as a responsibility rather than a passion, you will lose interest and your content will lose its quality. He suggests you “blog about foods that you find are the most interesting and to create content that you enjoy doing.”
Taking a look at his Instagram account, you would think Tim Cheung only takes photos of food and posts them. However, so much more goes on behind those delicious photos you see. Food blogging involves research and strategic thinking. Although eating tasty food and photographing it is part of the job, these talented foodies work harder than we can imagine.
