© 2026 All Rights Reserved Cayla Zahoran.
Travel Food Photography Tip: Thailand Edition
First and foremost, I must say this: New York City spoils me. Being a food photographer, I get to eat a lot of amazing (and sometimes, but rarely, not so amazing) restaurants. And if I am not photographing a restaurant, I go to just to experience the atmosphere. I enjoy the ambiance of being at a restaurant. The decor, the lighting, the plating, the people – everything about it is why I love what I do. However, no matter where I go on the globe, I also come back to the realization that New York will probably have a restaurant that can compete.
coffee photography in thailand

Coffee culture in Northern Thailand is booming. Some of my favorite lattes!

New York spoils me in that way.
However, I travel to eat the culture. To experience all those ambiances in another place in the world. And while I am there, I might as well photograph the food I get to experience to share with everyone else. Instagram is handy that way. With the growing hobby of food photography and the incredible features of iPhone cameras and Instagram editing software, food porn is more popular than ever. I can’t stop people from trying to do what I do as a career with their iPhones. I can, however, help weed out the use of shooting tungsten lighting overhead of your food that creates unflattering shadows and in turn, help me scroll through a more inspirational Instagram at night.
street food in bangkok

Street food in Bangkok

So here is the first tip and most important tip for shooting travel food photography: USE NATURAL LIGHTING.
Avoid overhead lighting as much as possible. If need be, block it with a napkin and sit close to a window. Here are a couple of my favorite from outdoor and indoor locations.
food photography from Thailand

Fruit Smoothie from Fern Forest Cafe in Chaing Mai, Thailand

street food photography of prawns

Street food of Prawns in Northern Thailand

food photography of Thailand

Seafood dish at Cafe de Nimman in Chaing Mai, Thailand.

Ever since I really got into food photography last year, I have spent countless hours in front of the computer screen and Barnes & Nobles book store aisles, researching and admiring other food photographs. The money I have put into my magazine collection could have probably got me into retirement at this point. Nonetheless, what I have learned is that as nice as Pittsburgh’s food and restaurant scene has been lately, there are only so many head shots of the same chefs I can use in my portfolio.

So I decided, a little last minute for most people, to go on a road trip. Not just any road trip though, a food photography extravaganza road trip. And what better place to photograph and taste the best food in the industry is the one and only New Orleans, LA. Alright! So maybe I used this to my advantage to visit the infamous Bourbon Street to have some fun as well.

I decided to take the time and share with everyone some of my favorite southern culinary photographs from my trip. The first stop of the trip was Eat New Orleans, a quaint and airy restaurant right in the heart of the French Quarter.

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Next stop was Booty’s NOLA. The rustic industrial interior was a unique twist to the southern restaurant scene than I was anticipating, but the menu matched perfectly and I was not disappointed.

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The ending of my weekend southern food photography escapades in NOLA landed me at Cochon Restaurant, in the Central Business District. ImageImage

I hope no one is sick of looking at food photo’s yet, because my trip didn’t stop in New Orleans. I continued the road trip (with a few detours on the way) to Atlanta, GA.

Not that I am one to pick favorites, because I love all food equally, but the amount of things to photograph at my first stop in Atlanta was endless. I started bright and early the next morning at a bakery called Cakes & Ale. But the options of what to eat and drink doesn’t stop at just cake and ale, they served muffins, lemon bars, croissants, coffee,and that doesn’t include the lunch menu.

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All those delicious bakery items opened the sweet tooth black hole in my belly, so I couldn’t leave the Atlanta area until I got to stop at Sublime Donuts. This was my first time in Atlanta, so I had asked around from locals about places to visit. Not to often when the question of where to eat in a city does one get the answer to be a donut shop. I won’t question their opinions anymore.

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However, this is really only just a small preview of the photos I took while on my trip. Keep your eyes open for my website update. And if you don’t yet, follow me on instagram.

Pittsburgh Food Photographer travels South

Ever since I really got into food photography last year, I have spent countless hours in front of the computer screen and Barnes & Nobles book store aisles, researching and admiring other food photographs. The money I have put into my magazine collection could have probably got me into retirement at this point. Nonetheless, what I have learned is that as nice as Pittsburgh’s food and restaurant scene has been lately, there are only so many head shots of the same chefs I can use in my portfolio.

So I decided, a little last minute for most people, to go on a road trip. Not just any road trip though, a food photography extravaganza road trip. And what better place to photograph and taste the best food in the industry is the one and only New Orleans, LA. Alright! So maybe I used this to my advantage to visit the infamous Bourbon Street to have some fun as well.

I decided to take the time and share with everyone some of my favorite southern culinary photographs from my trip. The first stop of the trip was Eat New Orleans, a quaint and airy restaurant right in the heart of the French Quarter.

ImageImage

Next stop was Booty’s NOLA. The rustic industrial interior was a unique twist to the southern restaurant scene than I was anticipating, but the menu matched perfectly and I was not disappointed.

ImageImage

The ending of my weekend southern food photography escapades in NOLA landed me at Cochon Restaurant, in the Central Business District. ImageImage

I hope no one is sick of looking at food photo’s yet, because my trip didn’t stop in New Orleans. I continued the road trip (with a few detours on the way) to Atlanta, GA.

Not that I am one to pick favorites, because I love all food equally, but the amount of things to photograph at my first stop in Atlanta was endless. I started bright and early the next morning at a bakery called Cakes & Ale. But the options of what to eat and drink doesn’t stop at just cake and ale, they served muffins, lemon bars, croissants, coffee,and that doesn’t include the lunch menu.

ImageImageImageImage

All those delicious bakery items opened the sweet tooth black hole in my belly, so I couldn’t leave the Atlanta area until I got to stop at Sublime Donuts. This was my first time in Atlanta, so I had asked around from locals about places to visit. Not to often when the question of where to eat in a city does one get the answer to be a donut shop. I won’t question their opinions anymore.

ImageImage

However, this is really only just a small preview of the photos I took while on my trip. Keep your eyes open for my website update. And if you don’t yet, follow me on instagram.

Cayla Zahoran

Cayla Zahoran is a New York editorial food photographer. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA. Cayla specializes in magazine and cookbook food photography, as well as, restaurant portraits and interiors.
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