One of my favorite things to do, is waste hours of precious time perusing through the photos on foodgawker and craftgawker, and most recently, stylegawker. I’m always in intrigued by the things that people come up with and I’m drawn to the perfectly composed photos.

I’ve always considered myself a bit of an amateur photographer. I understand about lighting and composition. I grasp what makes a decent photograph versus what makes an amazing photograph. I look through the photos on these sites in awe. In particular, the food photos. I wonder how long the food is sitting there, getting cold, before that perfect shot is taken, or how long and how many hours are spent editing the photo in photoshop? While these are incredible photos that definitely deserve the attention received on foodgawker, I like to think it’s also about the “real life photos” and the content of the blog that helps me decide if I’m going to “add to favorites”.

We’ve all seen the advertisements for McDonalds, or any other fast food chain. The perfectly crisp, fresh vegetables stacked high upon the fresh, fluffy bun in between juicy, succulent beef patties. The whole thing screams “EAT ME”. The food composition is flawless. Every pickle in it’s place. Every lettuce shred in perfect position against the 100% USDA beef burger. So you give into the hype… you go to the fast food joint and order yourself the very burger advertised.

When you open the container or wrapper, you look down at what is presented to you, look back at the photo on the menu, look back down, back at the photo, back down again. Tell me folks, has what was pictured EVER been what you received? How many times have you followed a recipe and got the same exact photo-tastic results as in the original? Not many, I’m guessing.

While I understand plating, and food composition, for me, it’s also about the real life photos. I want to see that someone cooked this up, took a photo, and posted it because they were so hungry, and it was so delicious that they wanted to immediately share it with the world. I want real life bloggers that I can relate to. I want a funny anecdote in between recipe lines to know that this person is human and not a Michelin Star Chef or professional food photographer in disguise.

But maybe that’s just me….

I have just been rejected in both of my food gawker entries (the burgers and the soup)  AND my craftgawker entries (The 36-Second Pimp-Out, and The Sock) based solely on my photos submitted. While I’m a bit disappointed by this, I will still continue to cook and share with you my recipes. I will still share with you my DIY ideas and present you with real photos. Non-model quality pictures of myself with messy hair demonstrating what I just made and occasionally non-perfect shots taken because the food was still hot and steamed up my camera lens.

I will also continue to gawk on the gawker pages and hope that one day, I am worthy of a spot on their amazing sites.