Meet Ruben Cabrera | Commercial Food photographer & videographer.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ruben Cabrera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ruben, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
This is actually pretty interesting, some people don’t know it, but I went to culinary school twice, first, the Culinary institute of Caracas in Venezuela and then at Le cordon Bleu in Miami, I’ve always had interest for the arts, music, cameras, photography, I’m a very visual person, and I noticed that the books that they were giving us at school had pretty mediocre photography. At that time it never occurred to me to grab a camera and start shooting food, but later after I graduated, I bought my first camera and started shooting whatever I could, I was working as a audio and video editor for a company named Fluenz in Wynwood so I would take my camera to work every day, and after work I would meet up with people and shoot anything I could, i got better and better, but I was shooting mostly portraits, and it was hard for me to monetize this, I’ve always had the idea of shooting food for restaurants in the back of my mind, but it wasn’t until I met Chef Diego Oka from La Mar in Miami that he gave me a chance to shoot for him that I really considered doing this exclusively. After that shoot, Diego got me in contact with Chef Brad Kilgore and i became his main photographer, after this, it was pretty obvious to me that this is was my call, and this is what I always wanted to do, I’m really passionate about food, and it’s really amazing to look back and see how I started cutting onions in a kitchen in Caracas and where I am now.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve already covered part of how I started in other question, but I think that one of the things that sets me apart from others is my understanding of food, how to show it, how chefs and businesses want me to portray their products, I guess this comes from my culinary training and being really passionate about food in general. Also I’m very business oriented, I actually don’t consider myself an artist. I am really technical, my mind works mostly through logic, and sometimes, art is not meant to be logical, it’s meant to be felt, so from time to time, when I’m creatively blocked, or on set and something is not working out, I try to remember to feel, feel the light, the food, the vibes of the brand or restaurant, and I keep shooting until it feels right.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh wow, I love to show people cool places, of course my plans would be always around food and drinks.

In Miami I would start the day with a ventanita for cuban coffee, croquetas and empanadas, Latin cafe 2000 in Lejeune is one of our favorite spots, I love fast breakfast and the ventanitas are perfect for this.
Then if the day is nice, we could go to the beach, if we’re in the mood for drinks in Miami beach we could go to the Broken Shaker for more Miami vibe.
Then for late lunch, we could do Itamae in design district and then drinks at Cafe la trova.

There is so many cool places to go but I think that would be a good start if you’re never been to Miami.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Wow, so many people I can think of, my main mentor/support/ecouragement has been Sonia Gil from Fluenz, my ex-boss and now friend. She basically always encouraged me to do what I love and helped me trough some rough patches on the road. She’s a great person, businesswoman and to be honest an inspiration to look up to.

Website: rubenpictures.com

Instagram: rubenpictures

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rubenpictures

Facebook: facebook.com/rubenpictures

Image Credits
All photos by Ruben Pictures. Different restaurants on the photos( Itamae, The den at Azabu, Villaazur, Old Gregs, La Mar by gaston acurio)