If you’ve ever considered a change of career from chef, baker, or pastry chef to food stylist, Holly Cochrane has all the intel you need. After over 10 years working in film she made that all important jump to where she is now, a successful food stylist working on an ever-changing set of exciting projects that keep her on her toes, and always learning.

We asked all the questions YOU need to shine a light on following the same path yourself, and she’s given all the in-depth answers, taking a deep dive into the advice, the myths, the highs, the lows, and the unexpected quirks of being a food stylist, including the time she made (surprisingly delicious) ‘chocolate chip’ cookies with giant ants…

How did you get into your current role?

Food styling is actually my second career – I worked in the camera department in film, tv and commercials for over 10 years before switching to styling. I got to a point in my film career I’d always wanted to be, and to my surprise and disappointment, felt very unfulfilled. Amongst other things, the 18 hour days, 6 day weeks and constant travelling meant I’d fallen out of love with what I thought was my dream job. And to be honest it was terrifying!

But being a freelancer, I adopted the attitude that I could effectively work doing what I liked as long as I was earning – so whilst keeping in with film, I started to explore alternative careers on my down days. I was a very keen home cook, so a role in food made sense – not in a kitchen, but on sets where I felt at home, and had some prior experience. I took on some work experience with a few brilliant food stylists I was lucky enough to have met through work, cooked my way through every lauded recipe bible I could lay my hands on, and spent weekends speed dicing onions, julienning carrots and making puff pastry. When it became clear that pastry and baking was my forte and made me happy, I took part time jobs at bakeries and did stages in pastry sections as additional work.

There eventually came a point where my styling bookings outweighed my film ones, and the camerawork just fizzled out. I assisted for about 3 years, and now work as a lead stylist on editorial, commercial and film and tv projects.

What surprised you most about the realities of the job?

What a lot of people seem to misunderstand about food styling, is that you are basically a chef. The word ‘styling’ is misleading – your job is not just to artfully plate and fluff food, but to cook everything to perfection too, so you need to be able to cook first and foremost. For some clients, the job can also involve recipe development, so an understanding of flavours, the alchemy of cooking, and a borderline brave level of creativity is also a big plus.

Admin is arguably as important as the food. Keeping yourself organised on projects is so important, and the role can be almost managerial at times. Before a shoot you’ll be writing schedules, ordering and sourcing ingredients and kit, sometimes designing and setting up a temporary kitchen, and then once you get to set, you’ll be managing your food team, a schedule, and often doing a fair bit of problem solving too.

Building strong relationships with the people around you – photographers, directors, publishers, authors, other stylists and suppliers – is also vital. These relationships are not only key to making a project a success, but also what make my job such a pleasure and so worthwhile. I’ve learnt that when you find and nurture good ones, good things happen.

What’s the best thing about your job?

Variety! Every job is different, every project I’m working with different people, recipes and ingredients. One week I could be shooting ice creams for an editorial feature, the next I’m doing a deep dive into the science of noodle and dumpling doughs for a scene in a short film. It’s one aspect of my job I love, but it can be quite daunting at the same time. Variety can take you out of your comfort zone.

Arguably it’s wise to accept work based on a skillset or knowledge base you already have (and if you’re lucky, you’ll develop a rep for being the go-to person for certain things), but sometimes you’ll be in the position where you have to say yes to a mad, physics-defying brief before knowing if it’s achievable, or yes to shooting a book of 80 recipes from a cuisine you’re not that familiar with. Preparation is your best friend here. 6 years in, I’m still learning and exercising new skills in new situations all the time, which for me is a dream.

In terms of projects, books are probably my favourite. Supporting an author on a project they’ve put their whole heart into, and helping it to become a reality is a real privilege.

And what’s the worst thing?

Smelling of cooking all the time. Like deep in your pores.

I had a job for a sauce brand recently where we had to deep fry kilos and kilos of different types of chips. Excellent in theory, who doesn’t love chips, so gross in real life. It doesn’t seem to bother some people though – on my way home from a shoot, I once had a woman who was sat next to me on the tube tell me I smelt delicious, ‘like butter’.

Recipe testing can be quite trying when you’re on your 4th or 5th rendition, especially if it’s a baking recipe that isn’t working, as it’s not always obvious what’s going wrong. It can be a number of things, which all need to be figured out by process of elimination. Elimination = time. It does make it all the sweeter when you finally nail it though.

What does a typical day look like for you?

All my days vary really – a project is so much more than just the shoot days, the build up is often months of prepping and planning.

On prep days I’ll write my kit lists and schedules, go to my unit to pack up all my kit, do any ordering for the shoot with supermarkets or other suppliers, and test any recipes which need testing. Any produce I’d like to pick myself, either for the joy of it OR because it needs to be the reddest, most beautiful strawberry you’ve ever laid eyes on. Then I’ll make any recipes or elements ahead which will hold for the shoot day.

I love shoot days – most projects I work on have such a nice, creative and collaborative environment, and I get the opportunity to work with so many talented people. On a typical book shoot day, myself and my assistant will unload all the kit and groceries into the studio kitchen, organise fridges and dry store and then crack on with any recipes that need making for the day. Oven juggling and timings need to be factored in so that things look their best and don’t sit around for too long.

Shot numbers vary from photographing anything to 6-10 recipes a day, depending on what they are. For each shot, props and surfaces sourced previously by a prop stylist will be picked by the team, and a test shot will be done without the food to check for lighting, composition etc. Once the food is in, my job is all about making it look as glorious and inviting as possible, and keeping it that way. Sometimes I’ll make multiples of things to pick the best of the bunch, sometimes I’ll make an extra batch of sauce to add extra ooze. Sometimes a cake will look beautifully calm, whole and untouched, with a simple dusting of icing sugar. Sometimes life can be brought to a shot by adding texture or an element of the perfectly imperfect – a dollop of softly whipped cream or a ruffled scoop of slowly melting ice cream.

Shoot days in TV, film and commercials are different again, but I’ll need at least another 150 words for that!

What advice would you give to someone hoping to get into your profession?

Cook, cook, cook. Get out of your normal repertoire and focus on cooking new things and the things that terrify you. Practice plating and setting up small scenes and stories, and photograph them – as well as the food, think about your lighting, textures and colour palette. Having a portfolio in a visual industry, even if only small, will help you to get work.

Look at lots of images – Instagram is obviously brilliant for this, as are cookbooks. Figure out which stylist’s work captures your attention – we’re all quite different! – and email them introducing yourself. Ask if they’d be able to have you along on a shoot day, and don’t be put off if it’s a no the first few times – shoots are busy and sometimes timings or projects won’t allow it. Keep reminding them you’re around and update them on what you’ve been working on. Being top of someone’s inbox is always good.

When you’re on set, make yourself an asset and do whatever you can to be helpful – use your initiative. Even if it’s just basic things like making the team a coffee, getting started on the dishes or doing a bit of tidying before someone gives you another task. The small things will not go unnoticed and the team is always so grateful for an extra pair of hands!

Don’t try to run before you can walk. Cooking at home or even in a professional kitchen is a very different beast to cooking for a photograph, and learning that skill takes time. I would always rather that someone ask questions if they are unsure or uncomfortable about anything – no question or query is too stupid, honestly. If I have the time, I love to teach or show someone how to do something, and that will be the same for most people – you are there to learn too!

Lastly, attitude is important, skills can be learnt – be keen, present and make the most of every opportunity you are given.

What’s the best piece of advice that YOU were given?

Potentially a bit of a controversial one but – don’t bother with cookery school.

My biggest concern when I was considering a job in food, was that I’d never formally trained as a chef. I looked into cookery schools, but for me personally, the financial expense plus having to take time out of work meant it wasn’t an option. Talking it out with other stylists, most said the best way to learn was on the job – work experience, stages and part time work – alongside self-led learning. So that’s what I did, and it meant I learnt a broad range of new skills very quickly, as every day I was doing something different. It’s not like at cookery school where you’re being taught a set syllabus, or in a kitchen where you’re often cooking the same menu day in, day out.

Obviously everyone’s route is different, and I agree that cookery school may have given me a confidence in my ability that possibly took me longer to find. But now I’m a very proud member of the self taught club, and I’d say my knowledge base is wider and better for it.

What did you want to be when you grew up? And how is this similar?

My not-so-well-kept secret is that I am, in fact, a huge nerd. At school I studied sciences to A-level, and even considered doing a 5 year chemistry degree, with the hopes of ending up with a career in forensics. Unsurprisingly though, the appeal of a degree in my other love – film – won, and I eventually ended up working in a very techy camera role.

Although both of those things sound wildly different from what I’m doing now, in principle they’re not that dissimilar at all, and definitely nurtured a skillset which lead to my specialism in pastry and baking – precision, organisation, an eye for detail and an understanding of and interest in science, to name just a few. So many jobs have transferable skills, some of which aren’t immediately obvious. Feeling like you don’t have the skills for a different career should never stop you approaching something new.

You might be surprised what you already have a really solid basis for, and what you are lacking, you can often learn in whatever way suits you.

Tell us the weirdest thing you’ve had to do in the course of your work

Very early on in my career, I did a food challenge for a reality tv show where we had to develop, make and feed the contestants dishes made with bugs and insects – beetles, crickets and these big fat white grubs that turned up in a polystyrene box. I remember the giant ant ‘chocolate chip’ cookies particularly, because they were actually delicious.

More recently, I worked on a Wes Anderson film last year (pinch me), in an abandoned office block on an industrial estate in Maidstone, which was pretty weird, but also utterly wonderful.