The photo above is the picture that started my journey through food photography.

Let me set the stage: It's May of 2018 and I have just spent 5 days in Tokyo, Japan on my own. It's my first trip that I have ever done solo and between my fumbling Japanese and 8-10 miles of walking every day, I am feeling a little defeated. After a quick check on what to do on one of my last full days in Tokyo before heading to Kyoto, I find the recommendation for Kabaya Coffee from Japanese Language Learning website Tofugu. Upon arrival in this quaint town on the outskirts of Tokyo, I come upon this historic-style building that one would guess is a traditional tea house. After stepping in, I instead find that it is a cozy, modern cafe. I "successfully" order in Japanese, and I stare out the window, watching as very few people stroll past on this weekday. My food comes out in a few minutes.

The Tofugu podcast had convinced me to visit this location to try two things: their egg sandwich and their "Russian" coffee. The "Russian" coffee is actually half coffee, half hot chocolate. We've all basically had this kind of drink before from a Starbucks or Dunkin'. The white porcelain on the black table tops provided such a contrast that I couldn't help myself from taking a picture, even if it did make me look like such a gaijin. On a subconcious level, I suppose I was aware of flat lay foods of food, but at the time I had never taken a successful flat lay photo before. The photo above is what I consider my first ever food flat lay that I was immediately content with. In fact, I would consider it the first food photo that I was ever truly satisfied with. This is the photo that started my pursuit of food photography.