It's January 23rd, 2011, and this is the Candid Frame.

Photographs of food are images that we see constantly, whether we are consciously aware of it or not.

From the boxes and the labels of the foods we eat to the advertisements we see on billboards

or in magazines, food photography is part of our everyday visual landscape.

But what does it take to make extraordinary photographs of something we are also familiar with?

Well, today's guest, Lou Manna, certainly knows how to do that.

A professional commercial photographer for over 30 years, he has earned a reputation as one of the best food photographers in the industry.

An Olympus visionary, as well as the author of the best-selling book, Digital Food

Photography, Lou is a master who knows how to make food look both good, delicious, and

visually beautiful. So sit back and enjoy our conversation with Lou Manna. Well, Lou, welcome to The Candid Frame.

You were actually the first food photographer I've had on the show,

and I'm really excited about having the opportunity to talk to you and your work.

So welcome.

Thank you so much.

I'm really excited.

I've Googled the Candid Frame, and a lot of good things pop up about it. So it's my

pleasure to be on such a popular show. I was reading that you started at the New York Times,

and you didn't start at the New York Times just as a food photographer. I think you were more

of a generalist and doing feature stories. Tell us about the early, you know, the beginning of your career and how you started doing more and more photography of food.

Well, it actually stems back from earlier days when I went to high school and I studied photography there and I was president of the yearbook and photo editor

and photography club and I was they had a TV studio in my high school in Brooklyn.

I'm Italian from Brooklyn and I had such a great opportunity right in high school with

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