Surely just one more wafer thin mint
February 10, 2011 4:56 AM   Subscribe

Photographer William Rugen took pictures of everything he ate in 2010. Then he made Consumed, which you can browse by date or by tag, or you can search. His manifesto states "It is just pictures of everything I eat. Really, there is no subtext except what you want to take away from it."

He's not the first, Tucker Shaw did it years ago... and I'm sure there are others. But it's a compelling presentation, even if the first reaction it provoked was that's a lot of cookies.
posted by itsjustanalias (35 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Too much beige.
posted by gomichild at 5:01 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


OCD + Camera = Art?
posted by tommasz at 5:04 AM on February 10, 2011


That's a lot of cookies for an afternoon. For a year, it shows remarkable restraint.
posted by DU at 5:05 AM on February 10, 2011


Just because you CAN blog, doesn't mean you SHOULD.
posted by jenlovesponies at 5:24 AM on February 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


We took pictures of (almost) every dinner we made in 2010. We mostly eat at home. They are on Flickr. We didn't try for a blog, a book, a blog-to-book deal or a TV show. No movies or YouTube videos. We're just not ambitious or attention starved enough, I guess.
posted by fixedgear at 5:34 AM on February 10, 2011


There's a vaguely similar piece going on at slate.com right now, and reading it always makes me feel like I've been cornered by a boring stranger on the bus or at the party. The photos (without the benefit of any kind of white balance) are actually kind of nauseating as well. Is it the ubiquity of the cell phone camera and instant social networking that has made everyone believe that "what I ate each meal" is fascinating to anyone above the age of 7 and below the age of 75? (I have facebook friends who routinely photograph meals and post them, though luckily they draw the line at posting "cereal plus milk" type cuisine.)
posted by availablelight at 5:40 AM on February 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Don't you realize that there are children in India taking pictures of all the food they're not eating?!
posted by crunchland at 5:49 AM on February 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


There's a vaguely similar piece going on at slate.com right now, and reading it always makes me feel like I've been cornered by a boring stranger on the bus or at the party.

If only they wouldn't force you to click on those darn articles and read them. Man.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:10 AM on February 10, 2011


$#!^ My Dad Ate?
posted by Splunge at 6:15 AM on February 10, 2011


^ That would explain his grin.
posted by louche mustachio at 6:17 AM on February 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


Consumed is way better than the sequel, Excreted.
posted by fairmettle at 6:22 AM on February 10, 2011 [4 favorites]


Couldn't they at least be good photos?
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:23 AM on February 10, 2011



If only they wouldn't force you to click on those darn articles and read them. Man.

If only they wouldn't force you to read through comments, highlight, copy, paste, and italicize one, and then come up with a lame comeback about how one can't comment on what one consumes unless one has something favorable to say.
posted by availablelight at 6:32 AM on February 10, 2011 [5 favorites]


Food photography at places like LTHForm or eGullet is awesome. This? Not so much.
posted by kmz at 6:34 AM on February 10, 2011


Just based on the front page, I'm guessing this guy works at a prime rib restaurant?
posted by like_neon at 6:34 AM on February 10, 2011


I love this idea, though not necessarily the part about putting it out on the web, although once you've done it, why not. Nobody's forcing anybody to look at it. Same impulse behind diaries, scrapbooks, ticketstub collections, etc. -- snatching back the minutiae of daily life from the fog of accumulated days & years. Tell me if you found a trunk in your grandparents' attic filled with photos from a project like this -- you'd be fascinated. And you'd want to go back in time and slap the morons who snarked at them for doing it.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:35 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


He's not the first, Tucker Shaw did it years ago.... and I'm sure there are others.

For those trying to make a comprehensive list, add Toronto artist Dean Baldwin's Attempt at an Inventory. (here, here)
posted by ManInSuit at 6:43 AM on February 10, 2011


I was hoping for higher-quality photography. He ate a lot of junk food!
posted by DizzyLeaf at 6:54 AM on February 10, 2011


How many fingers does he have on his right hand? I'm asking for a friend.
posted by Eideteker at 7:21 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Who knew Howard Hughes was a cultural bellwether.....
posted by ennui.bz at 7:36 AM on February 10, 2011


Those cookies look homemade. Does he live with his grandma?
posted by orme at 7:38 AM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


I found out that he visited my town (apparently for a curling tournament) and had fun tracking where he went. Good choices!
posted by Madamina at 7:39 AM on February 10, 2011


there is no subtext except what you want to take away from it.

Is he suggesting I might want to get that "to go."
posted by CNNInternational at 7:47 AM on February 10, 2011


I did this back in 2003 (for a day) and it turned out that yes, I ate a lot of junk food (Ganitas for christ sake!) and yes, I was something of an attention whore.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:05 AM on February 10, 2011


I just do not understand the trend of photographing what you eat and looking at what other people eat. Just cannot wrap my mind around it at all. But I'm one of those food = fuel people.
posted by desjardins at 8:07 AM on February 10, 2011


Interesting exercise, will be of great interest in 50 years. I think most people would be disgusted with what they eat when presented that way, the amount of refined carbs (sugar, flour).
posted by stbalbach at 8:11 AM on February 10, 2011


I wonder how his eating habits changed simply as a result of photographing the food and knowing others would be judging him based on his choices.

I mean, if it were me, the first month I would be very, very careful what I ate, and I'd take nice pictures, and then I'd probably slip a bit after a while, recover, slip again, and by the end of the year I'd be all, "Fuck it," and there'd be donuts involved.
posted by misha at 8:16 AM on February 10, 2011


I wonder how his eating habits changed simply as a result of photographing the food and knowing others would be judging him based on his choices.

I was thinking the same, but a quick skim makes it look like he was pretty consistent throughout the year. I don't know if it's the casual way in which the food was photographed or the specific choices of food or what, but I found this kind of nauseating to browse through, although intellectually interesting.
posted by Anatoly Pisarenko at 8:22 AM on February 10, 2011


what, no sardines? i would have at least 30 photos of belha olhao if i could. mm, avocado sardine sandwiches.
posted by mlo at 9:30 AM on February 10, 2011


...and knowing others would be judging him based on his choices...

OK, I'll go ahead: This guy ate a lot of crap. I like his Flickr pictures though.
posted by The Toad at 10:09 AM on February 10, 2011


I actually felt he had WAY TOO MANY carbs in there (and I personally eat more carbs than I probably should).
posted by misha at 10:32 AM on February 10, 2011


If only they wouldn't force you to read through comments, highlight, copy, paste, and italicize one, and then come up with a lame comeback about how one can't comment on what one consumes unless one has something favorable to say.

I didn't suggest that you say anything favorable. Reading an article is nothing like being stuck talking to a boring person at a party. You can close the browser tab.

Unless you're finishing the article so you can snark about it on Metafilter, in which case, carry on.
posted by Fleebnork at 10:39 AM on February 10, 2011


This one captures the whole nauseating banality of this wankery.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:07 PM on February 10, 2011


I ended up doing something similar for my Sketchbook 2011 Project. I picked 'Coffee and Cigarettes' as my theme, and the idea I wanted to do completely fell apart. So, with a deadline coming up, I just sketched out the various cups and mugs of coffee that I've had during the project.

What I learned? I drink a lot of coffee. And I like drinking coffee better than I like sketching coffee. Seriously - it got dull after a while. And - and this is key - I'm picking a different theme for next year's project. (Though if you do want to check it out, I'm 'spinifex23' over there).
posted by spinifex23 at 9:02 PM on February 10, 2011


augh horizontal scrollbar flash aggghhh
posted by tehloki at 5:09 AM on February 11, 2011


« Older Yowayowa Camera Women Diary   |   An Island in the Rising Sun Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments