Conversations with the Inspiring Regina Foster

Today we’d like to introduce you to Regina Foster.

Regina, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It’s been back in 2011 when my husband got me my very first camera Canon t3 as a gift for my birthday. I was extremely excited about this present and couldn’t wait to start photographing everything around me. I knew absolutely nothing about photography and this was so frustrating for me that I didn’t have much of inspiration to learn all about this. I thought that you have to be born with this skill to see the beauty around you! I was so wrong eight years ago. 🙂 So, this journey wasn’t that long and I gave up after six months. I put my camera on the shelf and I was using it for taking silly photos of our friends sometimes but this was just for family archives.

In 2014, I and my husband Dennis moved to the United States, Denver Colorado from Kazakhstan were used to live. It was a huge step and I was full of inspiration what I’m gonna do in our new home. I am really passionate about food. I always loved to help my mom in the kitchen with prepping and she was my biggest inspiration when I was a teenager. I worked in restaurants in Denver for four years since we moved to Colorado and this was one of the best experiences in my life so far. Besides working in the restaurant as a cook, I still enjoyed the photography and I was out of my mind when I looked at the photos on Instagram of some cool food photographers, travel bloggers, etc. Back in 2014, I took my camera again and decided to give another chance. And I said to myself: “I can do it too!” This is where my photo journey began. I fell in love with food photography and couldn’t even imagine that the food can look so good on the photos. I was obsessed about being as cool as all these people that I saw on social media. And I started to learn. I was learning camera settings step by step, the composition, how to make food look beautiful. This was a very hard process and I collected my knowledge really slow but I never gave up again and my goal was to take the photos that will excite you. I’ve never taken any courses, classes, and workshops. I was lucky to do my two favorite things: to cook and to photograph food, that’s why I enjoy cooking, and of course, I enjoy making great pictures of my dishes. It has been a long five years journey and back in late 2014 and I was not expecting that this hobby would be my future career.

I’ve got my first paid photography project in 2017 and I couldn’t be happier. I quit my restaurant job in 2018 and I started my own photography business and I finally have become a full-time photographer. I now can say that everything is possible and is in our hands. I’m very thankful to my family who supported me during the whole journey. Without them, I wouldn’t be who I am now.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think that everyone is struggling with challenges. And it wasn’t easy at all for me either. Every day, I learned new things about photography, I made mistakes and sometimes I couldn’t solve them. I tried over and over again. Being a self-taught artist I had ups and downs all the time. It is important not to give up when faced with a new challenge. This makes us stronger and better.

Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I’m a food photographer and recipe developer. I work with different brands available on the market. I’m very proud that I used to collaborate with such awesome brands such as Pomi, Wellington crackers, Grubhub, Carapelli Olive Oil, District 7 and many other brands. I was featured in many culinary magazines and books in the United States and overseas.

Who do you look up to? How have they inspired you?
There are so many great women in the world who inspire me a lot. As a person who loves to cook a lot, one of the most inspiring women for me was Julia Child. She was one of the most incredible cooks in the world who never gave up and she inspired a hundred of thousands of American women. Another woman who inspired me to become a photographer, of course, is Annie Leibovitz. She is a huge source of inspiration for me. Each work of her is the masterpiece that you want to look at over and over again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://reginafoster.us
• Phone: 7206603082
• Email: mail@reginafoster.us
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/my_tasty_stories/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mytastystories/?ref=bookmarks
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/reginafosterphoto/

Image Credit:
Regina Foster

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