About Us - Food Photographer
Eyal Gamili-Holtzeker, considered one of the most sought-after food photographers in the world, has been residing for the past two years in Tampa with his wife Shani, a food stylist, and the two are making waves. Video recipes in the visual world of today, in contrast with the written recipes of the past, are turning every simple recipe to an adapted, enticing and drooling video, one that would make you want to cook something at home and at ease. We all love watching those filmed recipes on social media - and surely you must have come across some beautiful food videos – but not everyone pays attention to the names and content creators behind the culinary result.
Eyal Gamili Holtzeker is one of the most esteemed and leading food photogs and content creators worldwide, boasting an impressive resume of largescale campaigns. Eyal shot for numerous high-end restaurants as well as the most recognized video recipes for industry titans such as Strauss, Tnuva, Zuriel Dairy Farm and others. Eyal filmed projects with most Master Chef winners, including Tom Frantz, Nuf At’amana, and with Chef Frank Azulay from Chef Games. He also developed campaigns for internationally renowned companies such as Maille, the global mustard company and Le Creuset, the pot company. Eyal Gamili-Holtzeker (42) was born in Hadera and took up photography in 1993 as a military videographer in an experimental unit at the Technology and Maintenance Corps. After his military service, he studied Industrial Design at Bezalel in Jerusalem. He then decided to focus on his love for photography. Eyal shot for issues that he took to heart, such as Videodance, music clips for leading singers and bands; however, he found his love for food photography thanks to his wife, Shani.
Shani is a professional food stylist who gave him the idea of focusing and researching this special niche, which brought forth their content company, Foo-Food.com. Eyal identified the need for video content which constitutes the majority of the marketing operations of leading brands. When he was at the top of his Israeli success, he obtained the O-1 extraordinary abilities artist visa to the US and decided to drop everything, walk into the unknown and start at the beginning. Eyal and is family made their way to Tampa, Florida, and he has since been travelling the US and Europe on culinary projects in the food industry. Currently he is busy on tour promoting his first book abroad, called Photography by Eyal Gamili Food.
He credits his secret for success to the fact that he loves what he does and attests that “I know how to transmit sensuous amorphous parameters directly to the viewer’s brain, such as taste and smell.” He usually takes a small taste of the dishes he shoots so he could be exposed to new tastes, smells, people and locations. However, he doesn’t spare his wife’s food, which he loves and praises.
To the question: what kind of food looks best on screen? What is the toughest thing to film and how do you overcome it? He responded: “When you shoot models, there is a hole team of professionals, from hair stylist, make-up artist to appearance stylist. The same goes with food, a combination of a food stylist and a talented chef can create a beautiful dish and all that remains is to properly shoot it with suitable lighting and equipment, and obviously, knowledge and talent that have not been gained in a single day.” His favorite restaurant, where he also shot material, is TABOON in New York, led by Chef Efi Naon, where Eyal was exposed to amazing tastes that reminded him of home, of Israel. To my summary question: which chef do you really want to work with? He quickly replied: “I have no special preference. A chef is first of all a human being, independent from his job, and the dish he or she creates is an embodiment of them. I love meeting new people and reaching fascinating locations and cultures.