Patricia Niven
Patricia Niven is a creative photographer, who focuses on food and the people and processes surrounding it. As well as editorial & advertising work, she’s worked on a range of cook books including four with Honey & Co. as well as other prominent chefs and food writers.
Patricia lives with her partner Sarah in London and is currently working on her biggest project, “growing a baby”. She talks to QFAB about finding her spark in photography, the simple secret to capturing food well, and a fancy night dining in Paris in the early days with her partner of 20 years.
Photo Credit Tif Hunter
Introduce yourself….
I'm Patricia Niven, a food photographer and my pronouns are she/her. I am currently in Clerkenwell in Central London. I have recently had my 24th year anniversary of living in the UK. I am originally from Brisbane, Australia.
What is your job vocation/ job role/ title?
I’m a freelance food photographer. Food and portraits really. It can be anything from field and soil, animals or produce, what's on the plate, to the producer or preparer. I quite like being able to incorporate the interconnectedness of all of that rather than focussing on just one thing. I like the mix of everything.
What does your average day look like?
If I'm shooting I will probably be on set or at a location somewhere between 7:30-9:00am. The rest of team will arrive at about the same time. I'll have an assistant, there’ll be a food stylist, a prop stylist. In an ideal world, the food stylist will have an assistant as well. Mostly, clients are not attending shoots at the moment. And many of the art directors or the creative directors aren't either, so they will be on Zoom or WhatsApp or some kind of combination.
We will have a coffee and we'll talk about what we're doing, which hopefully isn't news to anyone at that point! If it's a book shoot, for example, the kitchen team will dictate the pace of the day. They’ve often got to do quite a variety of things, so they might want to do some drinks or produce or things that don't require too much preparation to start off with. The prop stylist will often work with me; we'll put together a set based on previous discussions & moodboards of what this project is going to look like. Then we'll just go through the day, we’ll do probably 8 to 10 shots if it's a book, and the set changes for each shoot. We'll have lunch, and then we'll be finished by about six. And then we do it all again the next day.
You get into a rhythm of working with people and build a bit of a routine. As a freelancer you don't always have that, but when it happens, I love it! It's always such a joy when you get together with people you enjoy collaborating with, especially if you haven't seen each other for a while.
How did you get to where you are?
I would say that by just diligently turning up day after day and not going away. And also responding to that little spark in you that lights up when you know that something really interests you and trying to follow that spark!
That sounds quite wide open, but I do think that's been quite a big part of it. I came to London on a one way ticket when I was 21 without really knowing what I was going to do, but knowing that I wanted to be here, so just not giving up!
What was your earliest experience in this industry? Did you expect to stay in this industry when you started out?
My earliest experience in the food industry was an after school job, working in this horrible strip mall thing in Brisbane. It was a fast food place which sold frozen yoghurt, frozen ice cream, kebabs (in the loosest sense of the word), and lots of fried chips, etc. It was my first ‘foodie’ job and I was about 14 or 15. Then I ended up working in a Lebanese restaurant when I was at art school, which I really loved.
When I moved to Sydney, I was the nighttime manager for a vegan cafe right in the centre of Darlinghurst (the gay district in Sydney), which was awesome, I really loved that. I had a day job as well so I was pretty knackered. When Mardi Gras was on we had front row seats, which was great!!
But photography was always the direction I wanted to go in. And getting here, to London, without being terribly clear about what that looked like... I think I arrived really wanting to photograph for The Face magazine (which has just relaunched), and at the time was the pinnacle of cool. But it turns out that I'm not that cool so I never got to do that!
I did end up doing some fun stuff in the music industry, particularly in hip hop, and went to New York quite a bit because the woman that I was assisting had a lot of work over there. So I started photographing music over there, and then over here a bit. Then I moved into what I called fashion portraiture. And then lingerie photography... I'm not too sure how that happened. But I did that for quite a few years, predominantly for one brand.
Then as that work was winding down, food photography work started increasing. That was about 10 years ago. It just took a while for things to slot into place. I feel like the food world is where I feel really comfortable and seen and get to meet really good people!
What has your experience been of being queer in this industry?
Lonely I think, really lonely! So much of the work and the working world that I've been in, until more recently, I would typically be the only queer person on set. So you feel like you're kind of coming out all the time if you decide to share anything about your life, if you want the people that you’re with to know more about you. When you are on set or at work with people who come from a similar place to you, you just connect in such a different way and can often be more you!
“In the beginning, a lot of the time people couldn’t pay me a full rate so they might pay expenses or a lower rate and then they would pay me in dinners. Sarah, my partner, reminded me of her joke that I was the world’s worst paid, best fed person. ”
“ I feel like the food world is where I feel really comfortable and seen and get to meet really good people!”
What advice would you give anyone who wants to get into your line of work?
This sounds really bad but working for free or low rates is a fairly typical way to become established, which I don't advocate. But I also think, if initially you're not relying on it to be your sole income, it's probably okay. For a bit. It's a good way to meet people. I know that lots of creative industries are similar in that you need to do that to make the contacts.
In the beginning, a lot of the time people couldn't pay me a full rate so they might pay expenses or a kind of lower rate and then they would pay me in dinners. Sarah, my partner, reminded me of her joke that I was the world's worst paid, best fed person. We just had amazing, amazing food. And sometimes it might be a table for four or a table for six and so we could take friends and it's just such a beautiful thing to be able to do and share with friends. However, I would always suggest having an additional, less precarious form of income when starting out...
I am quite conscious about students at the moment who've had this really rotten 12 months since they graduated, and I don't know where they will end up! Sometimes I have bursts of people contacting me for work or assisting or, but it's been quiet lately. I'm open to it if anyone wants to get in touch!
What are the best and worst things about this industry?
The best - The people and the food. I particularly like the eating part! And the being inspired by other people’s creativity.
The worst - I have to say that the financial waves that you have to ride as a freelancer can be challenging at times and I've been freelance my whole life. I'm 45 so that is quite a stretch of time. I think I'm getting better at riding that wave now. The last year actually helped quite a bit. But the financial ups and downs can definitely be tough.
What is the best lesson someone else has taught you in your years in the food and drink industry?
‘Do you want to eat it?’ That was the big question that I learned when shooting my first book with Honey & Co and their publisher Elizabeth Hallett. I don’t know if she said it a lot or if she said it once and it stuck in my head. But it's definitely become this thing that I just want to look at this picture that I'm making and think “god, I really want to eat that!”. That's the best lesson because otherwise, what am I doing?
What's the best meal you have ever had, where was it, what was it, who was it with?
It was with my girlfriend on possibly our first trip to Paris which is just over 20 years ago as it's our 20th anniversary this year! She said, “What do you want for your birthday?” and I said, “I want a week in Paris, please” (Laughing). It was so outrageous and I can’t believe I said that! So, that was really rude and I think she came back with kind of a counter deal and we went, but not for a week.
We went for dinner to this place called La Closerie Des Lilas in Montparnasse, Paris. It was established in the mid 1800s and it’s where Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein used to go and drink. It was probably the first really fancy place that I'd been to. It was one of those places with proper waiters who do that as a profession and just make you feel really, really special.
It was really sexy. We were quite new to each other. I can't remember exactly, but one or both of us was smoking... but we weren't really smoking! The waiters got us some roll ups and we sat there smoking opposite each other, staring into each other's eyes while we were the last people in the restaurant. I can’t really remember what we ate, maybe salmon?! Definitely champagne! But it was just this really beautiful experience. I think there were lots of trees in the restaurant and it was just very sweet. And there was no weirdness about us being queer. We were just very mushy around each other.
We also had a really lovely anniversary dinner a few years later at Locanda Locatelli (a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Marylebone, London). That may have been one of the first things that we really properly saved up for. It was the first time I'd been anywhere where there was a person for everything. I think there was a water waiter and a bread waiter and a person who combs crumbs off the table when you've spilled your food everywhere. We had a tortellini in brodo that we still talk about as being one of the best things we have ever eaten!
“‘Do you want to eat it?’ That was the big question that I learned when shooting my first book with Honey & Co ”
What is your guilty pleasure?
Oh god, it's really boring. But I really like it. It's just… Pret coffee (flat white with oat milk)!
Give us your top three places to eat and drink?
That's really hard, so here’s 4!
Rochelle Canteen - (a food institution in Shoreditch, opened by Melanie Arnold and Margot Henderson).
Song Que - the best Vietnamese restaurant on Kingsland Road, Dalston.
Honey & Co. (Middle Eastern restaurants in Fitzrovia, London, and creators of stunning recipe books) - I love all the food they make!
St. JOHN (a much loved food and wine business with restaurants and bakeries around London, most famed for their sensational donuts) - it's where we go for good days and bad days.
“It’s tiring to feel like you’re always coming out, you know, you’re starting from scratch in a way, when you start talking about yourself. It can be lonely when it seems like your lived experience is so remote from other people’s.”
Favourite banger to play while working?
This is not a banger, and I feel quite middle aged saying this but Cerys Matthews on Sunday morning on BBC 6 Music, whilst making brunch and coffee. This is a dream morning because the sunlight’s pouring into the kitchen, it’s a gentle start to the day and I love the cross section of music that she plays, and I love it when she has spoken word or she reads a poem or something. Also, I was playing KD Lang in the kitchen the other night, who I haven't played for about 12 years, and she is so fantastic (& reminds me of being a teen)!
What advice would you give to your younger baby queer self?
That's such a nice question! Something along the lines of, just keep being you and you'll find your chosen family. I think it will come, it’s okay. Just be you. And all the people who didn't like the you that you were will dissolve, or disappear, or take up less time in your mind and in your life, and the ones that you like will surface.
What are your top queer (food and beverage related) accounts you follow?
Mellisa Thompson (@fowlmouthsfood) she is AMAZING!
Terri Mercieca founder of Happy Endings (@happyendings / @terri_mercieca)
Zoe Adjonyoh founder of Zoe’s Ghana kitchen (@zoeadjonyoh / @ghanakitchen)
Jack Monroe (@jack_monroe)
Edd Kimber (@theboywhobakes)
Loic Parisot, a food stylist who I love to work with (@loicparisot)
Sal Dhalla chef (@foodwitchsal)
Dan Lepard, baker and writer (@danlepard)
Annie Smithers, Australian chef, author and farmer a really fantastic woman who has a beautiful French restaurant just outside Melbourne and her and her wife have an amazing farm (@kittensmithers / @du_fermier / @babbingtonpark)
Alexander Breeze, an excellent prop stylist based in London (@alexanderbreeze)
Ruby Tandoh, chef and author (@ruby.tandoh)
Michael Twitty (@thecookinggene)
Equity at the Table, a online directory focusing primarily on POC and the LGBTQ community (@equityatthetable)
Head chef and proprietor of Quo Vadis (@jeremyleeqv)
Sandor Ellix Katz, a fermentation revivalist (@sandorkraut)
Katie Hammond, still life photographer (@katiehammond_photography)
Nu Valado, prop stylist and still life stylist (@nuvalado)
Do you feel that it's important for the LGBTQI+ community within the food and beverage industry to have a network? And if so, why?
Yes, I do. It's tiring to feel like you're always coming out, you know, you're starting from scratch in a way, when you start talking about yourself. It can be lonely when it seems like your lived experience is so remote from other people's.
So I think it’s important to have a community where your entry point for connecting with people is similar. You can drop into a place with someone when you know that they are queer that you don’t necessary experience at other times. Maybe it’s a bit like when you discover that a new friend or a colleague is into the same niche music or artist or whatever that you are… you just ‘get’ each other on a different level. You might not become besties, but you know you’ve possibly travelled a similar road that can make, particularly a work environment, warmer, safer and more expansive.
What is next for you, have you got any new projects you want to plug or accounts?
I'm currently growing a baby which feels like a project. So I guess that will take up some time and space!
Honey & Co’s fourth cook book, that we shot in the Middle East in 2019, called Chasing Smoke is OUT NOW. That was such an amazing experience! We went to Egypt and Jordan and Turkey and Greece and Israel and ate a lot!
Also The Chicken Soup Project is a comfort food project on Instagram that I started early last year after I got COVID. I had really wanted to do this project that I had been thinking about for a while, where I got to go and speak with people and they made chicken soup for me, and we filmed it and then we ate it together. It has evolved into people saying ‘well, I don’t eat chicken soup, it’s not my comfort, can I give you a different version?’ And of course it's not about really being so confined. It's just about what is your comfort? And would you like to share that recipe with the page and it's just been lovely.
Anything you would like to share with our community?
Yes! The incredible, powerful visual activist/artist Zanele Muholi, (currently on show at Tate Modern until 31st May) but look for their work online if you’re not familiar with it.
And ‘High on the Hog’ an amazing series on Netflix about how African American cuisine has transformed America.
instagram & twitter - @patricianiven
instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thechickensoupproject/
