Last week I had Max Adams on the Photography Community Camera Clara livestream/podcast. He runs a YouTube channel with almost 80,000 subscribers (as April 2026, important to say, because it’s growing fast!). Max is known professionally for doing restaurants/food and real estate photography, and on his own time he’s a film photographer like us. We showed up wearing the same hat. We talked for over an hour and covered a lot of ground.
Find the full episode in this post’s header. Below, some highlights worth reading even if you watch the whole thing, especially if you are curious to learn if food photographers eat the dishes after photographing (sorry for the clickbait, I have to do it to survive 😂).
Shooting for a living
Max photographs food on location with one light during operating hours. Cheese goes cold, meat loses its shine, soups stop steaming. He shoots fast. Every time, someone asks who’s eating all the food. “I am,” he says, staring at 15 dishes.
I asked if clients request artistic direction. His method: say “I got it” and ignore it.
Sensors, shutters, and fake blur
He rented the Sony A9 III and showed why global shutters matter. A drone propeller at 1/8000s looks banana-shaped on a regular sensor. On the A9 III, perfectly straight. Every pixel reads at the same instant.
The fake depth of field debate came up. Software blur still can’t handle hair, glasses, or the gradual falloff from sharp to blurry. A decade of “it’s just a matter of time.” We’re still waiting.
Film, cameras, and strong opinions
I shared my Japan mistake: 20 rolls of CineStill 800T, shot temples and snow in Sapporo. Cold and flat. There’s a meme: “If NASA used CineStill 800T,” and there’s a gas station on the moon. Because that’s what we do.
Max said, “Can I say something controversial?” and dropped: “I’m not a fan of halation.” Bold move. Let’s all now altogether cancel him on the Internet. 😅
Near the end he casually pulled out a Leica IIIC from 1941. Delivered to the Luftwaffe. 85 years old. It works.
We want to do more of these. Go subscribe to Max Adams on YouTube. Almost 80K subscribers and he still responds to everyone.
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