As a child, Louiie Victa wanted to be a veterinarian. She loved animals and thought caring for them would be a nice career — until she saw a video of a cow giving birth and promptly changed her mind. From then on, food was the only path she considered, so it was rather ironic that the only culinary job she could get, as a young immigrant to the United States, was at the San Francisco Zoo.

Though Victa had earned a hospitality management degree in her native Philippines, she struggled to get hired without recognizable names on her resume, so she began her cooking career by flipping burgers and whipping up pasta dishes at the zoo. “It was not quite the fine dining experience I aspired towards, but I was young and it was fun,” she remembers. “The zoo is actually where I learned a lot about American culture. Plus, it was such a perk to be around animals — the elephants especially.”

Eventually, Victa moved to Las Vegas to get hands-on culinary training from chefs on the Strip. She cooked at the Wynn Las Vegas and Bazaar Meat by José Andrés for nearly two decades before she contemplated leaving the restaurant industry for a more artistic pursuit, which she found in food photography.

That led Victa into recipe testing and development, and that’s how she ended up where she is today: successfully juggling all three jobs. She was responsible for testing all the recipes in our debut cookbook, Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes — so we know what she can do. Here, Victa shares the details of her career switch, how she maintains balance in her professional life, and what always surprises people about her work.

Eater: What does your job involve? What’s your favorite part about it?

Louiie Victa: As a recipe tester and developer, it’s really exciting to get a recipe from another chef and cook through it. When I was working on the Eater cookbook, I had such an amazing time cooking with different ingredients, tasting incredibly diverse cuisines, and learning the background of each dish. I believe that every recipe is a story. It’s an opportunity to learn new things — skills and techniques, sometimes shortcuts and hacks, and better ways of cooking a dish. Cooking and developing these recipes gave me a chance to work with and get to know such amazing chefs. I was able to recreate the dishes of acclaimed restaurants all in the comfort of my very own kitchen. You’ll get the same opportunity now that the cookbook is on shelves!

As a commercial food and restaurant photographer, I love bringing chefs’ ideas to life and being creatively engaged with building the image. If I have time, I try to get to know all the people responsible for cooking and executing each dish I’m taking a photo of. It builds a lot more synergy that way. I guess that’s why I call myself @the.cheftographer.

After each shoot, I make it a point to go to the back of the house to give high fives and thank each person involved for their hard work. It’s my signature move. When I was a cook dreaming of becoming a food photographer, it would have meant the world to me if a photographer or any guest came around to give me a little recognition. Just an affirmation that I was doing the right thing because food service is truly a thankless job.

How do you balance having multiple jobs in one: recipe testing, recipe development, and food photography?

Wearing multiple creative food hats is part of my brand. My days usually involve scheduling and planning things out. I had to learn that working the creativity muscle consistently makes you stronger, but you need to balance life with physical and mental health. Self-care and routine help me stay mentally and creatively sharp. Of course, there are days where you are required to be creative, but you don’t feel like it. You have to have enough “creative muscles” to get into a flow state and do the best work possible.

Mountain biking has been very beneficial for clearing my head. When I’m on my bike, I have to tune out other thoughts and focus on the obstacles in front of me. Otherwise, I’ll fall and eat dirt. I’m a big proponent of the “five hobbies” rule. It goes, find five hobbies that you love: one to make you money, one to keep you in shape, one to be creative, one to build knowledge, and one to evolve your mindset. That’s plenty to work with to grow in one’s career and in life.

Did you go to culinary school or college?

I attended university in the Philippines and pursued hotel, restaurant, and institution management, focusing on the business side of things. When I migrated to the U.S. in 2001, I originally wanted to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, but as an immigrant with very limited resources, I decided to move to Las Vegas to learn from the talented chefs on the Strip.

I figured that real work experience would enable me to build a career in the food industry. It was also a more financially sound move because the cost of living was low compared to San Francisco, my first home in the U.S. The move also allowed me to be in close proximity to my mom, who was living in Las Vegas.

I was fortunate to have my mom help me pay for my first degree, leaving me with no student debt. When I decided to pursue photography and film studies at the College of Southern Nevada, I used my former employer’s (Wynn Las Vegas) tuition reimbursement program. I took advantage of the opportunity they offered as an employee benefit. They allowed for any field of study, not just courses that were directly related to my job as a cook.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when you were starting out in the industry?

Being a young, first-generation immigrant presented me with very few great opportunities for work. I also had challenges advancing in my career being a woman in the kitchen. I would immediately get assigned to prep, garde manger, or any small appetizer or dessert station because that’s where women usually got pigeonholed. I observed that my male colleagues had a better chance of being promoted and advancing their careers than I did. This was in the early 2000s and it was a very male-dominated industry. There wasn’t a lot of diversity and representation in kitchens. As an openly gay brown woman, it was difficult to find my rightful place in the kitchen without first proving that I was more capable than my male colleagues.

When was the first time you felt successful?

I never truly felt successful as a chef. I never got to the point of being an executive chef or owning a restaurant. As a food media creator, there was a time that I wanted to be a renowned food photographer. But I had a light bulb moment when I realized I no longer wanted to be someone else. I just wanted to be myself and pursue my own creative ventures in the world of food.

Did you have any setbacks? What were they?

Putting myself through photography school, and succeeding at it, while having a full-time job in the kitchen was difficult. I didn’t have the best gear or technology because I simply couldn’t afford it. I had to go through the whole learning curve and hone my photography skills so I could justify buying professional equipment. What a game changer that was! Once that was done, there was no looking back. I now had enough skill and the proper tools to execute the images I envisioned in my head.

Switching careers is scary. There were so many questions and moving parts, but my two biggest creative entrepreneurial saboteur excuses were, Where am I going to get a paycheck? and What about my health benefits? Those two thoughts nearly stopped me from leaping into a brand-new career full-time.

I also found it hard to find resources and supportive people who would truly help me get my foot in the door. I remember asking a fellow chef to introduce me to his boss, so I could ask about shooting the restaurant for free to build my portfolio. He immediately shut me down and said, “Well-known photographers from the L.A. Times shoot for our restaurant. And who are you?” That really stuck with me and it absolutely lit a fire for me to become better at what I do.

What was the turning point that led to where you are now?

There were many turning points and affirming instances that led me to where I am now. After working for Wynn Las Vegas, I worked for Bazaar Meat by José Andrés, and being around that kitchen team made me fall in love with food all over again. Then, Eater Vegas put out a call for a photographer and [former Eater Vegas editor] Susan Stapleton hired me. For a time, I was working as a photographer for Eater Vegas and a restaurant, while trying hard to book more shoots. This was shortly before the pandemic began.

And then the pandemic hit. While the industry really suffered, it gave me time to think about what I wanted career-wise. On the one hand, I could keep overworking with two jobs. On the other hand, I could figure out how to use this strange time to go through my checklist and set up my business as a full-time food photographer.

The next stepping stone appeared when a mentor of mine, cookbook author and former James Beard Foundation Book Awards chair Hsiao-Ching Chou, recommended me to . I was a super huge fan of the brand since the launch of its sous vide tool, so I was stoked about this. I signed on with them as a recipe developer. Now having somewhat of a paycheck and some street credentials, I felt more comfortable to take the leap and decided to become a full-time food photographer.

I am very grateful and fortunate that the word of my work soon spread and the next stepping stones kept appearing, one after the other. I had a pineapple pork adobo recipe featured in Bon Appétit, signed on as a recipe developer at Butcher Box, and my former employer, José Andrés Group, gave me multiple restaurant photography opportunities. I was also asked to join the book committee for the James Beard Awards and then Eater’s Rebecca Marx gave me a shot as a recipe developer and photographer for Eater at Home, which eventually landed me work with the Eater cookbook.

Do you have, or did you ever have, a mentor in your field?

I have many different mentors that have shared their careers and technical wisdom with me over the years. Professor Charles Lohman taught me to grow as a photographer and an artist. Susan Stapleton, former editor of Eater Las Vegas, helped me navigate the early beginnings of my career outside the kitchen. Hsiao-Ching Chou has given me an opportunity to work with such amazing food folks. I always come to her for solid career advice. And chef David Thomas, formerly of the José Andrés Group, taught me a lot about being a chef, time management, and personal accountability. His lessons helped me grow as an entrepreneur.

What would surprise people about your job? Why?

One of the questions I get asked most is if I get to eat the food I take photos of. The answer is, occasionally. Most food styled for photography isn’t even edible and there is a difference between plating for looks and plating for flavor. The job is not as glamorous as it seems. Shoots are always fun, but there is a lot of hard work involved: planning, packing, carrying gear, maintaining technology, travel, jet lag, long hours spent editing images on a computer, and having to roll with the punches if things don’t go smoothly. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it gets easier over time.

For me, owning your own business means having to be your own assistant, accountant, PR team, and admin. On top of that, you are the creative! It takes a ton of juggling and mastering time management. The thing I miss most about working in restaurants is not having people to interact with on a day-to-day basis. I miss my fellow cooks and chefs, working through a busy service. I had to adjust to being a solopreneur. I do have a small circle of people, colleagues, that I can talk shop and decompress with, which is necessary for my mental health.

How are you making change in your industry?

I seldom think of making big changes, but I keep in mind the small goals and achievements that I can implement. As a chef, food photographer, recipe developer, and food writer, I tend to show other people how to not create boundaries for your work or who you work with. I represent the AAPI, LGBTQ++, and women in both the food & beverage and photography industries, and I also teach aspiring food photographers at the Community College of Southern Nevada and the University of Las Vegas.

In the future, I want to be able to provide services, lectures, and professional support to diverse groups of women in hospitality who do not have the resources to leverage their own businesses and careers. I want to make sure to give back to the industry that I love.

What would you have done differently in your career?

I wish I had spent less time figuring out how to make the leap into entrepreneurship and started earlier. The anxiety of making sure I had completed my business checklist was debilitating. The journey takes a bunch of small steps that happen in real time. I wish I realized earlier that you don’t need to wait to have all your ducks in a row. You can get them in line as you go.

If you want to be the best, you need to refine and perfect your craft. You also need to recognize your errors and eliminate them. Here are two of the most common amateur mistakes that the best photographers never make.

Life would be pretty boring without mistakes. How else would those hilarious meme creators get their content? Life without mistakes would also mean you’ve stagnated and are no longer learning new things. Mistakes are inevitable. That said, quickly identifying mistakes and making efforts to redress those errors is a skill that separates the best from the rest. Here are two common mistakes I see beginner photographers make far too often. The best thing is that they are totally avoidable.

One and Done

It honestly fascinates me to see photographers – in any genre – rock up to somewhere with all their gear, get one shot, then leave. Worse, it’s often the same shot that a thousand other photographers have taken. It fascinates me for two reasons: first, if you’ve made all that effort to get to a place for a photo, why are you in such a rush to leave? To prepare, you have to charge your batteries, clean your lenses, choose your gear, pack your bag, get to your location, and perhaps hike to a specific spot. For what? Wham bam one and done, let’s get outta Dodge?

The second reason it intrigues me so much is that, if you’re shooting outside, conditions change so much over the course of a day. There are so many options when you’re shooting a particular subject. Even if you’re inside in a studio, you can play around with almost endless variations in your lighting setup and subject’s position. 

Don’t be a one and done photographer. Take your time, move around, think of different, creative, original possibilities to shoot your subjects. Let me give you an example to demonstrate what I mean about variation of a single subject.

This image above was taken from a recent typhoon swell in the south of Japan. This location is a well-known big wave spot, but most photographers like to stand side-on to this wave so they can see inside the belly of these beasts. This shot, however, was taken from a more front-on angle in which I used a wider lens to pull the scene back to give the viewer more context.

It’s hard to believe, but the shot above was taken on the same day as the first image. The difference is twofold: first, this was taken about five hours later, in the afternoon, so the light and the colors are vastly different. Second, I used a longer telephoto zoom lens to really get in close to the surfer so the viewer can almost feel the power of the wave and the exhilaration of the surfer.

Finally, this is a completely different perspective, yet it’s the same location and same wave. To get the image above, I used a drone, but this time the focus was not on the surfers or the wave, it was on a festival that was happening at the time. But in the top portion of the image, you can see the wave breaking along the reef. The position of the drone gives the viewer an entirely different experience and lets them see the landscape around the location as well as the dangers of the shallow reef formations, not to mention the interesting party going on in the foreground.

From these three images, you get a unique story in all of them and a much better understanding of the wave, the location, and its nuances. That’s because I took the images from three distinct locations with three different lenses.

Next time you’re out shooting, spend some time looking around for original shots of a location that might have been shot a thousand times before.

I’m Not Interested In That

The other big mistake I see from beginner photographers (and experienced photographers if I’m honest) is that they limit themselves in what they do. For example, they might say, “I’m a landscape photographer, so I’m not interested in sports.” Or it might not relate to genres, but gear instead. For instance, they might say, “I only use prime lenses.”

We could use a million hackneyed cliches to support this idea, such as “Jack of all trades, master of none.” But the truth is, if you obstinately refuse to even entertain the idea of trying new things and stepping into territory that you’re not at all familiar with, then you’re only preventing yourself from growing as a photographer and a creative force.

I can use myself as an example in this one. When I first started out, I never shot black and white. Then, after a couple of years, I started to think of black and white as something to use when your colors weren’t so great. A fall-back option when nature didn’t co-operate in giving you the light or conditions you were hoping for. How horribly naive.

As I grew as photographer and began to meet more people in the industry, I became friends with a number of photographers in different genres who specialized in using black and white. Their knowledge and expertise in illustrating the reasoning behind black and white photography was jaw-dropping. I was genuinely embarrassed by how clueless I’d been about black and white photography until that point.

They taught me about the importance of things like contrast, texture, shapes, patterns, lines, and shadows. Now, when I go out shooting, I can immediately identify what will make a good black and white photo and I don’t use it as some kind of safety net back-up option.

Once I’d learned what to look for in black and white photography, I was able to apply it to my bread and butter, landscape photography. In the image above, you can see example of all the elements I discussed earlier: contrast, lines, shapes, texture, and patterns. If I’d never opened my ears and allowed myself to drop the ego and listen to others, I’d never have progressed as a photographer.

For you, it might not necessarily mean trying out black and white photography. It could mean shooting flowers with a macro lens or doing portraits using natural light. It doesn’t matter, the main thing is that you always open yourself to learning new things and never limit yourself. Doing so will only hold your progression and your skill-set back.

Summing Up

Mistakes are part of life. However, knowing what you’re doing wrong is very powerful because that’s the only way you can eliminate your mistakes. First identify, then fix. Two of the biggest amateur mistakes I see photographers make is rushing away from a location as soon as they’ve got a single shot, and restricting themselves to certain genres or certain tools. Be more open to discovering new things and you’ll become a much better photographer.

1970s New York is a unique time in the city’s history; blackouts, crime, financial problems — the Big Apple was at a relatively low ebb. But for photographers, it was a rich resource.

Photographer Meryl Meisler says she had an epiphany while standing beneath a disco ball at a dance club in Bushwick. It was at that moment she realized that her photos of nightclubs and humble streetcorners could be shown together to tell the complex story of New York City.

And now, Meisler is having her first retrospective at CLAMP Gallery in the Flower District of the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan.

Meisler’s photos are chaotic and outrageous, full of big personalities. She does not shy away from the absurd and joyful, viewing the world through her “queer, quirky eye.”

Meisler was a public school teacher for 31 years and has only just begun revealing her extensive photo archive after she retired in 2010.

Her photos are not just party folks dancing hard at Studio 54. Meisler’s retrospective also includes photographs taken recently as well as personal photos of herself and her mom.

Simply Scintillating: A Retrospective will be at CLAMP gallery until November 4. For more information, visit the gallery’s website.

From thousands of drone, underwater and coastal images submitted by the world’s best ocean photographers, Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023 has announced the overall and the different category winners of its prestigious awards.

The Ocean Photographer of the Year has a simple mission: to shine a light on the beauty of our oceans and the threats they face.

Marine biologist and amateur photographer Jialing Cai has been named Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023, with a stunning image (below) of a paper nautilus floating on a piece of ocean debris, photographed on a blackwater dive in the wake of a volcanic eruption in the Philippines.

Cai was inspired to start shooting on blackwater dives after learning about “diel vertical migration,” when zooplankton moves from the deep ocean to the surface at night. “That hit me like lightning,” said Cai. “My professor was telling me the deep sea was within my reach, that it would come to me. That realization was mind-blowing. It’s why [I’ve become] so obsessed with blackwater photography.”

All the winning photos will be showcased at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Australia, which opens to the public on November 17.

The overall winner, category winners and winning photos can be seen here.

Overall Winner and Runners-Up

A Paper Nautilus drifts at night on a piece of ocean debris, surrounded by heavy sediment (Philippines).

Andrei Savin was named runner-up with his astonishing image of a crab sitting in the middle of a sea anemone as it sways in the ocean current (Philippines).

A distressing but thought-provoking image of a whale struggling on with its flukes severely damaged as a result of continued entanglement (Mexico).

Category Winners

While surfing North Shore’s famous Banzai Pipeline, a rainbow appears in O’ahu, Hawaii.

A scuba diver explores the underside of a gigantic iceberg in Tasiilaq, East Greenland. Only in springtime, when the hard winter slowly subsides, are the ice-cold waters suitable for divers who can dive around icebergs that float in crystal-clear water.

A manatee enjoys the crystal-clear waters of Florida’s Homosassa River.

Two pale octopuses sit on a pipe that forms part of an artificial reef built to attract octopuses and other marine life to this area of Australia.

During low tide, a coral reef is perfectly mirrored on the surface of Mayotte Island, a French overseas region in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean.

The essence of Raja Ampat: Myriad colorful soft corals and schools of sweetlips in one frame at Indonesia’s Raja Ampat.

A batallion of mobula rays swim peacefully in the shallow waters of the Gulf of California in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

A whale shark and its entourage of remoras is attracted by the bright lights of fishermen in The Maldives.

The calm after the storm: After feeding on a baitball, almost diminishing it, a blue marlin swims through sparkling fish scales at Baja California Sur, Mexico.

A porcelain crab sits atop a sea pen, its constant companion in the Philippines.

Chilean devil rays glide through the ocean off Costa Rica.

Humpback whales in the shallow water at Turks and Caicos Islands.

A cormorant dives beneath the surface to hunt in Mexican waters.

A young gray reef shark is seen at the surface being hooked by an angler during the night in the open sea at Burma Bank, an offshore plateau in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Tanintharyi region, Myanmar.

Although shark fisheries are legally banned in Myanmar at the national level, the lack of enforcement at sea and trade regulation can barely prevent shark fishing or trade in shark products.

Half-and-half image of a shallow, healthy mangrove habitat containing numerous hard corals and fish and a local woman in a handmade canoe near Kavieng, Papua New Guinea.

Although the corals are plentiful and beautiful, they exhibit the beginnings of bleaching, which is a reminder of the urgent need not only to protect our oceans but also mitigate the factors contributing to climate change.

A South Right Whale fin-slaps the surface at Argentina’s extraordinary Peninsula Valdez.

A polar bear cub contends with the fragility of melting ice in Svalbard, Norway.

The young polar bear yearling is playing in the water, testing the fresh ice to get out of the water and jumping back and forth with his sibling while their mother is resting nearby.

Framed by her unexpected surroundings, walrus Freya sits on a concrete pier in the harbor of Harlingen in the Netherlands.

Dakar, Senegal

An aerial view shows Muslim worshippers belonging to the Mouride Brotherhood listening to teachings during the ‘prayer preformed at sea’ ceremony. Followers of the brotherhood gather for a ceremony celebrating the prayer that founder, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, preformed at sea when exiled towards Gabon by the French

Photograph: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images