Picture Show: Visions of Fast Food

a couple people have pointed that out as well. I hope this goes a little further to examine some key issues in presentation/consumption in our society. I started this body of work in 2008–but definitely found it interesting when the scanwich guy came out with an aesthetically similar series. I hope you enjoyed the images.

Gross but compelling. I really like the order of the images too, a very well put together series.

@jonfeinstein Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

haha thanks!

Love the series Jon!  Must agree. Seeing them presented in order of fat grams was great.  

wow and just to think i eat one or two of those food items in one sitting ..correction I “use” to eat ,,,wow those foods look ewie..

@Atley Kasky Thanks for that site. 

One of the most interesting things about making this work was the split reactions I’ve received. While many viewers I’ve spoken to, as I anticipated, found the images to be disgusting/ disturbing, a large percentage described feeling hungry, or wanting to “go straight to McDonalds”. I think this speaks to American’s complex reactions to things we know are bad for us, but somehow continue to allure us. Another interesting anecdote:  when they were displayed at Scope last Spring, some flies were attracted to, and kept landing on the prints as if they were real meat displayed on the wall! 

My goodness, this is absolute awesomeness in it’s disgusting-ness! Loved how the food items are shot against this black-est black background and how this effective color contrast adds just the right amount of drama. Also loved the effectiveness of each image’s title – so simple yet so powerful! Each picture almost screams “Warning!” Great work!!However, I’m not surprised some people are still attracted. There’s this human trait – we’re naturally weirdly attracted to disgusting things. It’s like with ugly or badly injured people – it doesn’t look good yet it’s hard to look away. I’m not too sure what it’s all about but I remember reading about it somewhere. Still, I have a feeling there’s not going to be many people who are neutral about these sort of pictures – you either like it or you don’t, which is still an impression and is still good, because, at the very least, it made you stop for a moment and think. Hmm, which makes ME think that fast food restaraunts should probably put these images on the packaging, so that people at least have an idea of what they’re eating and then make their choice. And maybe they should put “Warning! The food you’re about to enjoy has __ g of fat” text on the packaging as well!..

It’s been years since I’ve eaten at a fast food place…these pictures just confirm what I already thought about fast food. It’s even more disguisting to read the ingredients and “nutritional” content of these items.

A good photographer can, with the use of lighting, make almost anything look good or , as in this case, look like crap. But I think the point is well taken, we are as a nation killing ourselves with this stuff. I believe this is a national emergency and needs to be treated as such. We cannot legislate what people eat or what restuarants sell but we can educate, educate, educate.

Ugh!  Have to get me one of those burgers, looking at all that food made me hungry!! Double ugh,ugh !Too bad our olfactory organ (The Nose) overrides our sensibilities and we go ahead and eat junk food anyway! I prefer my own cooking because I know it’s clean and what’s in it. I also continuously wash my hands while cooking!

That looks like a Double Whopper instead of a regular Whopper.  Which has 39 g of fat?

First, congratulations on a wonderful piece.!. The colors, sequencing and providing titles in “grams” and not names was educational. As I was looking at your pictures, I found it “amazing” how I KNEW the “real” names to all the foods. It’s sad thought that the public has been “educated” to know these things, yet we may not know the names of Nobel Prize winners. I may just re-think what I eat at fast-food chains. Thank you for opening my eyes instead of my appetite!

Yum!  Fat carries the flavor.  Now I’m hungry and still 90 minutes to the lunch hour.  Quiet, you growling stomach!

I like the pics. Of course the FAT content is a shock, but I don’t see any of those shots “disgusting” or “gross” as people have mentioned.I rarely eat junk food, one hamburguer every 3 months.The shots are great and most of the food still appealing and I don’t think it will make people eat less junk by looking at those pictures.

Interesting pictures:  I still like the fast foods, but of course it is not healthy to partake of them consistantly as is the case with many things.  Little error in the list considering Burger King has a Big Fish, not Filet-O-Fish:  Filet-O-Fish (Burger King)  Should be:  Filet-O-Fish (McDonald’s)

Danoka -thanks for pointing that out–you are right, the file-o-fish was from mcdonalds, It looks like there was just a typo in the details.

Thanks everyone for your comments!!!!

i would like to point out a mistake- the filet o fish is actually a sandwich from mcdonalds not burger king

i looove fast food but allow myself only one meal a month.. if at all. although i realize the images are disgusting to look at… they still made me want to eat chicken nuggets and a burger with sweet and sour. it confuses me and i am hungry.

Are these photos, or are these scans?They look like scans.

YES the pictures are shocking! YES the fat grams per serving are appalling! But, do you know what is even more appalling and shocking to me? The fact that the F.D.A., the W.H.O., the C.D.C., and all of the other organizations and administrations that are in place to protect human interest and quality of life (now maybe some of these organizations do not regulate the quality and
preparation of food products but I mention them because it should be a
coalesced effort to do so) are allowing these products to be sold in restaurants around the globe. Now I know what you are going to say “Well it is the responsibility of people to decide what they consume” and as I do understand that I also believe it is the responsibility of people who know better not to make such products so easily accessible to the public or perhaps not accessible at all. You know the old saying “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Well if you make the water exceedingly appealing and so surreptitiously non-threatening then you don’t have to worry about “making” him drink…

These are great pics with a blunt yet disturbing message.  As a beginning photographer, I am really impressed with your use of the scanner as camera.  After having completed a similar assignment I am betting that it took an awfully long time to clean the scanner between “shots.” Thanks for sharing your work!

It’s the cooled down grease that gives the “food” their unnatural sheen. Yum!