Where you and I might see a teacup or hot dog, Seattle-based photographer Christopher Boffoli sees a workplace and playground. His international award-winning series, Big Appetites, features a universe of tiny people living in a giant world of food.
In Boffoli’s world there are tiny climbers on walls of rock candy, motorcycle daredevils jumping cheesecake, ice cream cones turned into tipis, and even canoeists on lakes of milk. Captions deepen the story behind each photo, in this case: “Janet was one of those people who would use absolutely any excuse to stop paddling.”
Making this particular photo presented its own challenges. “I generally try to avoid liquids and melting things,” says Boffoli, “there’s so much cheating in food photography, but everything in my photos is real.” Photographing milk required equired working quickly. This was shot on his kitchen’s marble counter.
The Big Appetite series has been exhibited in more than 100 countries. “Whether you eat with a fork, chopsticks or your hands, everyone understands food,” Boffoli says.
The decision to turn photography from passion project to career followed a devastating accident on Washington’s 14,000-foot Mount Rainier more than 10 years ago. Twelve weeks later, recovering with a broken leg and ankle, Boffoli found himself back underneath fluorescent lights at his desk job, looking out at the mountains. “I asked myself, what am I doing here? So I took a creative sabbatical.” He hasn’t looked back.
While people are often delighted by the humorous juxtaposition of his images, there’s a subversive message as well, one of a nation with a complex relationship to food. “There are entire TV networks engaging with our eyes but not out stomachs,” says Boffoli. “As a culture, we’re not cooking very often; many meals are eaten on the go in cars, or are reheated processed foods at home.”
While Boffoli had previously purchased his tiny figures from model building suppliers, today he 3D prints them, and then meticulously hand paints each figure. “It’s a tedious process,” he laughs, “I won’t even make my assistants do it.”
See more of the series at bigappetites.net.
This article originally appeared in the 2016 Paddling Buyer’s Guide issue.
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