Within the first ten minutes of David Loftus’ interview on the Go To Food Podcast, the internationally acclaimed photographer covered the worst celebrity he’s ever worked with, getting attacked while shooting in New Orleans, what Gordon Ramsey's really like (it's not good) and why his moniker of "Lord" came out of bullying rather than affection.
"The nickname was given to me on a plane with a load of other photographers," he explains. "One of them said, 'Oh David gets everything,' calling me Little Lord Fauntleroy, then said I should be called Lord Loftus."
Ranked the 65th most influential photographer of all time by Professional Photographer – noting that "It gave me quite a lot of pleasure when I saw that Rankin was in at 100" – Loftus has shot the cookbooks of the biggest names in food, from Rachel Davis to Jamie Oliver. Loftus and Oliver have a longstanding relationship, selling over 30 million cookbooks.
Loftus tells a terrifying tale of being knocked unconscious by a stranger in New Orleans while shooting an end-of-line event, a jazz band behind a funeral march, for a series about the US and food culture.
"The food was amazing," he said, "but of course, all the people in this thing were taking a lot of crack. The police said to me afterwards, 'You were in the worst place at the worst time and you were very lucky not to have been shot.'"
Describing Gwyneth Paltrow as "charming" and revealing a desire to shoot Michael Stipe, Loftus also shared the lament of many a photographer: "Sometimes you get a real shocker."
Sadly, the person in question was bleeped from the recording. However, Loftus revealed, "I shot her for Marie Claire, not nice at all. It was at the editor's parents' house, and the shoot was a Halloween theme with multiple famous actresses, everyone there was just buying drugs on the shoot and it was disgraceful.
"Julian McDonald, the fashion designer – one of the most arrogant people I’ve ever met – was pulling coats off the rack and saying I'm going to keep this – $1,500 coats."
On the same shoot, Loftus reveals that the exasperating coked-up crowd also ripped out and used a page of a first-edition copy of Wind in the Willows to snort their drugs.
And don’t get him started on Gordon Ramsey. The words "bullying", "hideousness", "racist", "misogynistic", and "ghastly" were used.
Lamenting that photography fees have stayed the same for 25 years, Loftus finished by revealing that he finds it deeply upsetting when a chef he has worked with goes with someone else, noting this had happened with chefs and cooks Nathan Outlaw, Dr Rupy Aujla and Thomas Straker.
"I promise you I get properly heartbroken when someone goes somewhere else," he said. "I get very upset, I take it very personally, and often I only discover it by the person posting on Instagram."
Take a look at our guides to the best cameras for food photography, and the best lenses for food photography.
