bee and butterfly
  • Home
  • Cinematography
    • MQFF 2019 launch party
    • Russian Resurrection Film Festival 2018
    • St Kilda Film Festival 2018
    • Swinging Safari red carpet with Kyllie
    • St Kilda Film Festival 2017: red carpet and opening night gala
    • Interview with MIchel Richard AFdM
    • Interview with Richard Sowada American Essentials
    • Interview with Matthew Holmes
    • Interview with Cerise Howard
    • Interview with Eddie Tamir
    • Japanese Film Festival 2016
    • Interview with Nicholas Maksymow
    • Interview with Annie Maynard
    • Interview with Louise Wadley
    • Interview with Tracey Birdsall
    • Interview with Nadir Caselli
    • Interview with Lorynn York
  • Performing Arts and Music
    • CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: KURIOS
    • ZELMAN SYMPHONY: Stradivarius Magic 2019
    • Charlie And The Chocolate Factory 2019
    • Helpmann Awards 2019
    • Mary Setrakian Interview and Masterclass
    • Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital Fundraiser 2019
    • Silvers Circus Mornington 2019
    • Interview With Lorenzo
    • Showgirls With Miss Gay Cabaret
    • Soul Chic at Paris Cat
    • Mamma Mia The Musical
    • Helpmann Awards 2018
    • Arjun 2018
    • Bonnie Lythgoe's Sleeping Beauty
    • Interview with Chirag Wadhwani
    • Interview with Stomp
    • Grease red carpet 2018
    • Interview with Rick Prakhoff at Zelman Orchestra
    • Interview with Hoang Pham
    • Interview with Vardos Trio
    • United We Dance vol 2
    • Interview with Adrian Tamburini
    • The Adventures Of Peter Pan
    • Peter Comber Children's Show
    • Helpmann Awards 2017 and 2016
    • Interviews with Shrek
    • Banjos, Boots and Beyonce
    • Interview with Xiu Xiu
    • Funatorium Mad Hatter's Tea Party
    • Pygmalion: Interview with Cale MacLauren
    • Interview with Iskender Ozan Toprak
    • Interview with Sierra Boggess
    • Interview with Jack Schiller MSO and Zelman Symphony
    • My Fair Lady Red Carpet
    • The Cabaret Musical: red carpet
    • The Play That Goes Wrong Sydney red carpet
    • Interview with Frank Pam The Melbourne Musicians
    • Interview with Bonni Lythgoe
    • Interview with Phoebe Russell
    • Interview with The Jerry Cans
    • Interview with Pilobolus Dance Theater
    • MICF 2017: Double Demin Show
    • Interview with Bogdan Ota
    • Interview with Fiona Joy and Trysette Loosemore
    • Interview with Circus Oz Robbie Curtis
    • Interview with Nikki Nouveau
    • Interview with Juan Martinez Ortega
    • Interview with Attilla Sautov
    • Interview with NICA
    • Interview with Love Junkyard
  • Fashion and Beauty
    • ASEAN INT DIGITAL FASHION WEEK 2021 RESORT >
      • AFRICA
      • AUSTRALIA, INDIA, NZ
      • BRUNEI
      • CAMBODIA
      • CHINA
      • HUNGARY
      • INDONESIA
      • KAZAKHSTAN
      • KYRGYSTAN
      • LAO
      • NEW ZEALAND
      • MALAYSIA
      • MONGOLIA
      • MYANMAR
      • PHILIPPINES
      • SERBIA
      • SINGAPORE
      • SWEDEN
      • THAILAND
      • USA
      • VIETNAM
    • GERMAN KABIRSKI JEWELRY
    • ROMAN FIDA: Man Of The Year 2020-21
    • MW and TOP MODEL State Finals 2021
    • ASEAN FASHION WEEK 2021 >
      • ASEAN FASHION WEEK 2021 01
      • ASEAN FASHION WEEK 2021 02
      • ASEAN FASHION WEEK 2021 03
      • ASEAN FASHION WEEK 2021 04
    • VAMFF 2020: ARTZ ARON KATONA FASHION RUNWAY SHOW
    • Coco Louise at Lumas
    • Interview With TAYLOR COUGLE
    • Miss Auto D'Elegance 2019 Grand Finale
    • Marisa Ferraro: Look and Feel Like Milanese
    • India Fashion Week Au 2019
    • RIO Carnival Charity Ball 2019
    • Ravishing Fashionista Fashion Show QLD 2019
    • Curves & Curls Plus size Pageant 2019
    • Miss Gay And Miss Transsxual Aus Intnl Pageant 2019
    • ARTZ Love Wins Aron Katona
    • FAGA 2018 and Rocky Gathercole show
    • Angels With Wings 2018 4 events
    • Spring Fashion Fundraiser for Minus18
    • Vikram Phadnis Fashion Show 2018
    • Miss World Australia Finals and Crowning 2018
    • Mary Kay With Olga Kirk
    • Vitamin by Sonalika show June 2018
    • Miss World Australia 2018 Vic State Finals
    • Bella E La Bestia showcase
    • Miss Tourist Australia National Final 2017
    • Australasian Beauty Pageant 2017
    • Miss World VIC Preliminary 2018 at Market Square Geelong
    • Telstra Perth Fashion Festival 2017
    • NGV: The House Of Dior
    • Lakeside Hair Beauty Spa
    • Miss World Australia 2017
    • Bellissima Bride: Deborah Selleck & Tir na nOg
    • Interview with Menswear Dog
    • Interview with Keiko Uno
    • Interview with Lera Leshcheva
    • Interview with Zangari
    • Interview with Julie Nelson
  • Visual Art and Literature
    • Can't Do Tomorrow
    • Heide Museum Of Modern Art: Two Exhibitions
    • NGV: Terracotta Warriors and Cai Guo-Qiang
    • Interview with Natasha Lukin
    • Interview with Alexander Montgomery
    • Interview with Max Davine
    • Alice in Venice Art Exhibition
    • Interview with a writer: The Lukin Longevity System
    • NGV: MoMA New York winter exhibition
    • NGV: Van Gogh and The Seasons
    • NGV: Art Book Fair Opening Night
    • Interview with Alexander O Montgomery
    • Interview with Kate Smith
    • Interview with Paul Margocsy
    • Interview with Neale Donald Walsch
    • Interview with Reka Kaponay
  • Lfestyle
    • HomeTEEN AND MISS RUNWAY SUPERMODEL AUSTRALIA 2021
    • Compello Festival Of Cars 2021
    • International Women's Day by Urban Vegas 2021
    • The Art of Opera & Performing in Business
    • Olinda Tea House
    • Wine and Cheese Festival 2020
    • Lavender Harvest Fest 2020
    • Vegan Cheese Making Classes
    • Saori Sauce: Japanese Vegan Cooking Classes
    • Blue Lotus Water Garden
    • Cherry Hill Orchards: Lunar New Year Festival 2020
    • Cat Lovers Show 2020
    • Masquerade Xmas Garden Party
    • Lexus Melbourne City new location opening
    • Oz Comic Con 2019
    • World Jousting Championship 2019
    • 400 Gradi Yarra Valley launch
    • Interview with Amit Singh
    • Santa Magical Kingdom 2018
    • Jurassic Creatures 2018
    • A Night In Spotlight - Hollywood Style Dinner
    • Cat Lovers Show 2018
    • The Melbourne Fair 2018
    • Julia's Organic Garden and Kitchen
    • Bastille Day French Festival Melbourne 2018
    • The School Of Historical Fencing
    • JITO launch Australia 2018
    • Dog Lovers Show 2018
    • Alma Doepel: History and Restoration
    • Interview with Sophia Rayat
    • Swordcraft at Kryal Castle 2018
    • LGBTI Chillout Festival Daylesford 2018
    • Wine and Cheese Festival 2018
    • MICE 2018
    • Kabloom by Tesselaar 2018
    • Pitch Perfect 3 Charity Night
    • Sand Sculptures Frankston 2018
    • Knafeh Nabulseyeh - Palestinian restaurant
    • Taste Of Melbourne 2017
    • Abacus Bar and Kitchen
    • Westbeach Bathers Pavilion
    • Rest In Pieces: Butterflies and Bubbles
    • Tesselar Tulips Festival 2017
    • Sk8House
    • Royal Melbourne Show 2017
    • Pink Ribbon High Tea Chanoyu Spa
    • Oz Comic Con
    • Burger Masterclass w/James Wilkinson
    • Breakthrough To Success
    • Royal Flying Doctor Service Australia
    • AFL: interviews 2017
    • Queen Of The South Restaurant and Bar
    • Melbourne International Coffee Expo 2017
    • South Wharf Craft Beer Weekend
    • Lights By Dreamworks Australia
    • Interview with NASA and CSIRO
    • Sandsculpting Frankston: Lands Of Imagination
    • Melbourne Regatta 2016
    • Royal Melbourne Show 2016
    • Thailand Ladyboy Superstars
    • Equitana Melbourne 2016
    • Wine and Cheese Festival 2016
    • Tesselaar Tulip Festival 2016
    • Gluten Free Expo 2016
    • Interview: Tesselaar Tulip Festival 2014
  • Photography
    • Interview with Chef Audrey Kuhl
    • Interview with Thomas Peschak (National Geo)
    • Interview with Tanya Zouev
  • Contact us
  • Our other websites links
    • Bohemian rhapsody social club
    • Bohemian rhapsody weekly
Picture
We connect you with the best businesses in the world. 
Our recommendation is based on our own best experiences. 
Happy shopping!
Let me introduce you to Tanya Zouev, a talented photographer. She takes astonishing photos of food, people and lifestyle. She does food, product and advertising photography in a very unique and artistic style. Tanya’s  skills and knowledge are based on over 20 years of experience as a professional photographer in Sydney and Melbourne. Her blog called The Cook Who Knew Nothing is popular not only among Australian but among overseas readers.

Q1. Tanya, your works of photo art are astonishing. They simply stand out. They are sentimental and fresh. I catch myself inside the feeling of being bewitched by your art and I cannot simply take my eyes off some of your photos… Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hello Natasha, thank you for your kind words about my work! I have been taking photographs now for a long time, twenty five years. My intention for my photographs is to invoke a feeling of curiosity and intrigue within the viewer, that they just might want to stay a while in it. Perhaps to taste the food, or to want to know the person photographed.

Q2. Did you go to school to study photography?
Yes I studied at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, I have an arts degree in photography.

Q3. How long have you been a photographer?
Since I left high school at 18. As soon as I was admitted into RMIT I registered a business name and worked my way through university whilst studying. I spent a lot time assisting professional photographers between the ages of 16 and 18, doing a lot of work for no pay, just to learn.

Q4. You take lots of food photos and your dishes are amazingly beautifully arranged and styled. Did you learn anywhere to cook?
I am obsessive about food, I could spend all day, every day doing nothing but reading, writing, cooking, tasting, touching, photographing food. It is such an amazing subject, a giver of life, maker of friends and enemies, so incredibly diverse in styles colours and flavours, so deeply entrenched in humanity and our survival depends on it. I am entirely self taught in the kitchen and have had the good fortune to have worked with some amazing food stylists and chefs over the years whom I watched with a keen eye. Some have been very willing to help and part with what they know, others have been more secretive. I have always relied on teaching myself both in my work and in life in general and will work on something obsessively (such as a recipe) until it is perfected. I adore styling food and fine great satisfaction in putting together the props to create an overall mood.
Picture
Baltic appetisers
Picture
Borscht
Q5. How would you describe your style?
My photography is contemporary yet classical in style. I like to look at a photograph shot five or ten years ago and not have it look dated. My cooking style is pretty much all rustic home cooking and my styling is very much about making something beautiful out of seemingly unwanted and discarded household items. I make a point of using almost only props purchased from charity shops or found on the street in council clean ups as a statement against mass consumerism. Old things are just as special as new if not more. Something doesn't have to be expensive or from a fancy exclusive shop to be valuable and beautiful.

Q6. What type of cameras do you shoot with?
I shoot on two Canon 5D camera bodies with either an L-series 28-70mm f:2.8 zoom lens or a 100mm f:2.8 macro lens. I used to shoot on super high end Sinar medium format digital camera systems and Canon 1Ds bodies but decided the money would be better off in my mortgage. At the end of the day it's about the photographer not the gear.

Q7. What is your favourite photography accessory, other than your camera?
My MacBook Pro which I shoot to and edit my images on.

Q8. What lighting equipment do you take on a shoot?
I rarely use artificial lighting. Most of my work is shot with simple window light and white reflectors and black light absorbing cards. If I need to use lighting I have a simple Elinchrom electronic flash lighting kit but honestly it gets pulled out only for product shoots these days. Generally speaking my motto these days is "less is more" when it comes to my gear.
Picture
Caramelised Meringues With Raspberry Sauce
Picture
Chocolate Raspberry Tart
Q9. I know you have a family. How do you find time for your work and your family?
It's hard but I work around my son's kindergarten days and also work late at night. I am always exhausted by 6pm but after my son goes to bed I get a second wind and can easily work until midnight. Getting up in the morning is another story however...

Q10. You started writing stories that accompany your photo art. They are inspired by your family's ethnic background. Tell us a bit about that.
Writing is another great love other than taking pictures and cooking and I have found great satisfaction from writing about my heritage. My parents were White Russians who lived in Harbin, North China until 1958 when they came to Australia. They were the children of Russians who fled the Revolution in 1917. I am a first generation Australian who spent most of her childhood trying to figure out if I was Russian or Australian. My parents were desperate to assimilate into Australian culture, yet clung to their Russian heritage. I didn't realise how Russian we were until I was well into my adult years and met Russians from other backgrounds (such as those who fled the Regime in the 1980's) and found how similar we all were. My parents were quite strict, I spoke Russian before I spoke English and we only ever spoke Russian at home. We went to church only for "prazniki" and ate Russian food at home (as well as a lot of Chinese food my mother learned to cook whilst living in Harbin.) We socialised a lot with other Russians as well as Poles and Jews, all people I have very fond memories of. Unfortunately my father and last Babushka passed away in 1997.

Q11. Can you tell us the true basis of your inspiration?
I love to look at pictures of food. I love to look at scenes of people eating and relating over food. It is the essence of this which inspires me and gets my creative juices flowing. I have a huge pile of cookbooks in my lounge room and my bedside table is overflowing with cookbooks and photography books and my iPad is full of cookbooks too.

Q12. What has been your most memorable assignment and why?
Undoubtedly being sent to Russia by a book publisher a few years ago to shoot for a London chef, Silvena Rowe, who specialises in Eastern European and Ottoman cuisine. We travelled around with our own driver around Moscow and the Golden Ring. Aside from being absolutely aghast at the traffic, I spent a magical time being shown around some incredibly beautiful places and met some wonderful people.
Picture
Cranberry Cookies
Picture
Gravlax Rye Supper
Q13. What is your favourite image you have shot recently? Can you describe its creation in regards to location, lighting, composition etc… and what this image means to you?
I love the photograph on my blog of the Sweet & Spicy Carrot Salad. It is so simple yet so delicious. It was photographed with old worn props which has so much warmth and character. It pretty much sums up my work.

Q14. Where would be your dream destination for travelling and shooting?
Despite having travelled to quite a few places, I haven't been to Morocco or India. I don't think you could beat being lost in the heat and bustle of the spice markets. I have a very romantic idea of places before I get there, it's not always what I imagine it to me but sometimes it is. A good photographer will always take the best out of a place and make it look amazing.

Q15. The first photographer that comes to your mind and why? Is he/she a photographer who inspires you?
Marcus Neilsson, a food photographer from New York. His photographs are so raw and so real. I've never before seen anyone photograph raw meat like he does and make it a thing of beauty. Yes he does inspire me, I think his work is incredible. He shoots for the likes of Martha Stewart and rightly so.

Q16. What are the ways you market your photos with?
These days it's mainly through social media, through linking up my website, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. It's a bit hard keeping up with it all!
Picture
Kedgeree
Picture
Russian Easter Bread
Q17. If not a photographer whom would you be instead?
I've asked myself this question many times and I don't really know, I've done this for so long I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Maybe I'd work with food somehow? I can't imagine being a chef in a restaurant, that's just too much stress so maybe I'd teach cooking lessons or be a caterer? I nearly went to study graphic design when I was very young so maybe I'd be a designer.

Q18. What talent would you most like to have apart from the ones you already have?
I'd love to be able to paint amazing huge canvases.

Q19. Is there something that you are still learning?
Yes, I am learning to cook different and new foods every day.

Q20. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My husband David. We have been together for twelve years and I couldn't imagine my life without him, he is an amazing man.
Picture
Sage Roasted Chicken
Picture
Singapore Chilli Crab
Q21. First thing you would do if you won the lottery?
Pay off my mortgage, put a little away for bills then donate the rest.

Q22. Which five words would your friends use to describe you?
Perfectionist, passionate, enthusiastic, funny,

Q23. What would you like to be doing in 2 years from now?
Exactly what I'm doing now, taking photographs, writing about food and cooking.

Q24. If you had one wish…
That humanity would take better care of our planet. It all starts with simple things like recycling, buying less and not wasting food. It's an issue I take very seriously and give my best shot every day. The earth is so incredibly generous with what it provides us in shelter, food, air and beauty, we need to take very good care of it and respect the environment before it's too late.

http://tanyazouev.com/
Picture
Siberian Pelmeni
Picture
Sweet Spicy Carrot Salad
Tanya Zouev website: http://tanyazouev.com/
Unique visitors:
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.