From ''food porn'' to ''food art'', Christchurch-raised photographer Henry Hargreaves has travelled an unexpected path. Rebecca Fox finds out about life in New York and how the internet changed his life.
If you had asked a young Henry Hargreaves about where he would be in 15 years, living in Brooklyn, New York, making a living as an artist would not have been his answer.
''Hell no,'' he said from Central Otago this week where he is taking part in the Festival of Colour.
''It's all pretty surreal.
He completed a ''traditional'' bachelor of arts degree at the University of Canterbury and then decided to go travelling.
''I wanted to put off the obvious, making a decision about what I was going to do.''
While travelling, the opportunity to model came along and for three years he modelled for some of the top fashion houses, such as Prada, Hermes and Lacoste.
''Then I wanted to be the guy taking the pictures.''
It was while working his second job in restaurants that his interest in photographing food came about.
''I was asked to take photos of restaurant stuff about the time the internet was taking off and websites were looking for photographs of their food, when `food porn' became the thing.''
But it got him thinking about food and how no-one was doing ''anything interesting'' relating to food and the emotions and experiences tied up with it.
''Food is such a common denominator.''
So he began a series of projects which relate food to real life, including ''No Seconds'', a series of photographs of death-row inmates' last meal requests.
''For us Kiwis the death penalty does not register ... but it is such a heated topic there.''
Reading about death-row inmates and their last meal requests ''humanised'' the inmates, he said.
''For the first time they were not just statistics. Nine out of 10 had bad representation, 70% are black, 99% male and all were below the poverty line.''
When he began putting the meals together to photograph, he found there was a trend towards fried food or, as the Americans call it, ''comfort food''.
He was shocked by the story of a mentally disabled death-row inmate who wanted to save his pecan pie for later.
''Did he even know what was going to happen?''The most powerful image for him was the single olive pit - a print pop star Katy Perry bought.
He hoped his work made people think and allowed different people to get different things from it.
His series on what celebrities requested in their green rooms showed some surprising discoveries.
''You have these expectations based on their public personas but then you find it's totally not what you'd expect.''
Examples were American ''shock rocker'' Marilyn Manson's request for gummy bears or Guns N' Roses vocalist Axl Rose's white Wonder Bread and Dom Perignon Champagne.
He enjoyed the opportunities to do ''quirky and unexpected projects'' such as his ''Burning Calories'' series.
His work was evolving more into the art or art and craft sphere, such as his series taking gingerbread houses to the next level.
''We made these elaborate structures and then documented them with photographs in the 11th hour. All the work was in the building.''
Other projects did not involve the camera, such as installation pieces, and then there were his 3-D books which did not involve food.
''Ultimately I'm following my nose to create projects I'd like to see.''
His sort of work had been made possible by the rise of the internet, he said.
''Ten years ago it would be very tough to do. Suddenly now people can share and talk about it.
''It is not this exclusive one-off piece hanging in a gallery.''
There was mass appeal in his work, with magazines keen to publish it, people wanting prints and ad agencies requesting work, he said.
''The rules have been totally rewritten. It's a crazy thing.''
He loves living in Brooklyn and does not have a hankering to return to New Zealand yet.
''It's pretty damn cool, I really enjoy it. I really dig it over there.''
In the past six months he had been back to New Zealand twice, and had reminded his mother that with her trip to New York, she had seen him more than most parents do their children in New Zealand.
''I'm taking advantage of being single and no kids.''
Once leaving New Zealand he had a big installation to work on for Art Basel in Miami, a large art festival, and a new food photography project, ''Staff Meals'', which he hoped to add to while in New Zealand, among other ongoing projects.
While in Wanaka he was giving a talk to local pupils and he hoped to impart some of the lessons he had learned.
''Having a million ideas is worthless unless you do something with them. You need to think outside the box.''
The internet had opened up so many opportunities to be creative, he said.
''Don't be scared to embrace things and try.''
