Craft and food photographer and stylist Amanda Michetti has always been fascinated by the culinary arts. She created a food blog called Chew Town in 2011, where she could explore her love of simple food done well and her Italian heritage. Amanda cooked her way through her mother's traditional recipes and, as her interest in food photography grew, tried her hand at styling and photographing them. 

Now, years later and with more than 10 years of food photography experience, she's launched Let’s Make Stuff, a creative collective of freelancers that specialise in food content creation and management. In the studio she designed in Sydney for her unique set of work circumstances, she creates her own seasonal recipes to prove that food can still look impressive, even when it's simple.

Here, she talks about her career as a food and craft stylist and photographer and developing a studio space that allows her to both create and capture her work.

Getting Into Food Photography

Keen to explore her Italian heritage of cooking, Amanda naturally embraced food photography.

I am the daughter of Italian immigrants, and food is a massive part of our culture. I grew up in Western Australia at the skirts of my mother as she cooked a bunch of different foods. My dad was a hairdresser, but somewhere along the line decided he wanted to own restaurants. I worked in his restaurants for many years.

But at that time I wasn’t really into food. I sang opera. I was studying for an opera degree then became a young artist with West Australian Opera, and came to food later in life. I decided I didn’t want to sing any more, but still had to do something creative, so I worked in an arts organisation while teaching myself food photography.

I started a space online to really explore that Italian heritage of cooking. I took a lot of recipes my mother had made and started cooking them and shooting them. I was always interested in photography; for me, that was always the interesting part. 

A couple of years in, I got my first client. I was cooking and shooting on my dining room table while also working full-time at Opera Australia. For many years I did the two jobs, but it came to a point where I had to make a decision because I just couldn’t do both any more. I took a leap of faith to go from a salaried job that I loved and that paid well into something where it is my own responsibility to make that money. 

During COVID, I thought everything would slow down but the opposite happened. Everyone was at home, everyone was cooking and all my clients experienced a boom. Along with that, so did my opportunities. A year ago I moved into this space because I had outgrown the home environment.

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Creating a Unique Studio Space

It comes through time. A good studio space has to be functional, organised and, for me, definitely colourful. The perfect workspace comes over time. As I’ve worked in this space, I’ve realised what I use more often than other things and so I’ve had to adapt and bring those to the forefront. When I did my cupboards, I put everything in jars but didn’t label anything. Then I worked with that for a while and, after I figured out how the space was going to work for me, I got the labeller out and made everything permanent. 

What makes my workspace unique is the fact that I do two kinds of things in it: I have the food side of my business and the craft side. The only way to really make that work is to find ways to separate the functionality of those spaces. Most of the cooking and preparation of the food happens in the kitchen space, then the shooting space is for both food and craft. Where I sit and do all my editing is also within the larger craft space. It definitely took a bit of time to get the balance right, but I think a year on it’s got a really nice workflow. 

The Studio Space as an Extension of Self

Amanda Michetti’s studio space is a reflection of herself – calm, organised, and colourful.

When I come into my studio space, I’m usually running in from dropping my child at daycare, and I’ve got a coffee in hand. When I open the door and walk in, I instantly feel a sense of calm come over me because it’s my space, I created it. 

I know the moment I walk in what it's going to look like, whether I’ve put away everything the night before or not. Everything that happens in this space is mine and is my creation, whether it’s a mess or an incredible dish I’ve shot. A feeling of being centred and calm does definitely come over me.

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Taking Stock of Craft Projects

Craft is interesting because, every time you make a craft project, you use different things. It’s not quite as black and white as food photography, and I do need to have a lot of stuff. 

I try to keep the craft area as stocked as I can. There’s lots of coloured paper, iron-on and adhesive vinyl, felt, sticky tape… all the equipment that makes a craft project shine.

The good thing is that I have an Officeworks three minutes from me, so if I'm in the studio in the middle of a project and need something I can jump in my car and get the paper that I need, or the fasteners or the glue. Or if I’m in the middle of lots of things I do an Officeworks order in the morning then, by the time I’m finished shooting, I get that ping that it’s ready to collect. 

My Cricut machines are a big part of my craft, because they got me started in the craft world. Now I create projects for them, and I shoot those projects for retailers in my studio space. Having a Cricut machine is also great because everything in the studio is labelled, which helps keep me organised.

Developing the Creative Process as a Food Photographer

Amanda Michetti’s personal style as a food photographer is moody and dark.

Usually I work with a client to ascertain what sort of recipe they want, then I’ll work with my team on developing and testing that recipe based on what myself and the client think. It’s different for every client. Some are really specific about what they want to see and others are open to us being a bit more creative. The recipes are developed and tested, usually while I’m shooting something else, then I’ll get the recipes and cook everything that’s being shot. As the stylist as well, I’m prepping it all for camera and seeing what will work best. I usually shoot four or five dishes a day, so all the prep and cooking happens on one day then I’ll shoot them in the studio the next day.

It’s hard to say what my favourite food would be because I cook and shoot so much of it. I find myself doing a lot of sweet recipes. My preference is probably savoury, but over the years I’ve become so adept at making cakes and sweet things that I really enjoy it, and it is a real skill.

All of my clients love to shoot light and bright, but my personal style and preference is to shoot really dark and moody. There are a number of great food photographers who shoot in that space, so I'm constantly torn between the two. 

The more you do anything the better you get at it. None of us is perfect at something the first time, as long as you approach everything you do with a level of quality. You need to have an eye, but a lot of that can be taught. 

You should also be a perpetual student. I never feel like I’m good enough. I always look at a shot and think, “Oh, I could have done that better or made that better,” but that’s what makes you better. If you’re always critical of what you do and who you are, you’re never going to sit and think you’ve made it. I suffer from imposter syndrome and always think I’m going to be found out, but I think that’s what pushes you to do better and be better.

What To Try

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