Photographer Tessa Dóniga translates “breakfast”

When translated literally, what does the word “breakfast” mean? That’s the question bilingual Spanish photographer Tessa Dóniga answers with humor in her series “Break/fast,” a collaborative project with art journal Polpettas. “When I try to translate some words to one language from another, I question myself,” she says. “My challenge was to set in one image both terms [‘break’ and ‘fast’] in a visual composition that would be recognizable to the viewer.”

The difficulty with food photography is maintaining the freshness of the product while images are being made.

“I had the idea of ironing pancakes before I knew if this was even possible,” Dóniga admits. “But in the end I cooked them and burned them and the result ended up looking great.” Another challenge was keeping the pancakes upright in the napkin holder—accomplished with the help of hidden wires.

Amanda Arnold is the associate editor of Professional Photographer.