CometPhoto

Just for fun! These little gems were so beautiful, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take some personal photos. (They’re fun to eat also!) I originally shot them for Washingtonian magazine’s “Best Of Washington 2012” issue. These are by dccakepops, whose chocolate cakepops won second place out of 12 entries.

I love the process of photographing food—really looking at something, interpreting it and making it into something you want everyone to see. The subtlety of lighting, angle and texture can make something magical.

“A whimsical, quirky flavor,” is how art agency, GlowArtworks describes my work, which they represent. Their monthly newsletter (above) recently featured me and some of my personal work, in which I assemble sculptures of kitchen implements and other found objects. The sculptures become characters to me—and I take their portraits. GlowArtworks includes these works in their exclusive collection, which they describe as “…a complete source of setting-specific art that engages the eye, imagination and spirit…healing art that encourages the well being of patients, visitors and workers in healthcare and other spaces.”

For this newsletter, GlowArtworks Founder, Thomas Lee interviewed me about my creative process. While they included a short excerpt in their newsletter, I want to share the full interview here, as it gave me a good opportunity to reflect on why and how I do what I love to do…

First, would you please give me a short bio? Where are you from, how did you become a food photographer, what else are you into, what are your passions, etc.?

I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, which can be a really quirky place with a unique cast of characters. I became a food photographer by accident. My first job was shooting a cookbook series for Time Life Books. That was when I realized that shooting food really fits my personality. It is a nice mixture of working alone and working collaboratively with a food stylist, a prop stylist, an art director, etc. Working alone is Zen-like when trying to solve a problem visually. It is a luxury I love. I am interested in food and what it means culturally, how it brings people together. I like being around people who enjoy food and cooking so I can eat well. My favorite pastime is hanging around the table eating and talking. I have a lot of interests, but my passion is my family.

Then take us through your thought process when you are composing a picture. Your pictures in our collection have a unique sense of whimsy that make them extremely fun to look at. How did you come up with some of these concepts? Do you see the image in your mind and then go prepare the ingredients? Do you just start playing around with things and notice a picture forming?

Recently I heard a Maurice Sendak interview by Terry Gross, where he described the creative process so eloquently: “When I thought of it, I was so happy I thought of it. It came to me, which is what the creative act is all about. Things come to you without you necessarily knowing what they mean.” Ideas do just come to me… they might start with a seed, like a newly found wire whisk. Then, a character starts forming in my mind’s eye—a personality, an attitude, a funny look and poof—she is “Bad-Hair-Day Girl.” I add out-of-control thyme from my garden, red habanero for the ruby lips, a pair of earrings and a party dress, and she is ready to go. It is ridiculous, but really, what could be more fun than making photos like this.

This sense of whimsy adds a dimension to your photography that brings it beyond food. It gives the viewer a chance to interpret your work on a personal level that may be different from one individual to the next. Do you think about the viewer when you make these pictures? What do envision them feeling when they see your work?

I am always hoping that the viewer laughs when they see this work. I am using food to create personality and humor. But, no, I am not really thinking of the viewer, it is just a free fall of whatever pops into my mind. I think about the audience all the time for my commercial work, but it never crossed my mind for these pieces.

Many of us have a philosophical outlook on the world at large: things we feel are special, things we feel need to be changed. If you have such views, would you please share them with us? How does your work tie into these ideas?

I do, but I don’t really feel like sharing them—haven’t I blathered on enough?

There’s an obvious mastery of technique evident in your work, yet the pictures are so fun and playful that it’s easy to overlook how difficult they may have been to make. Can you talk about some of the trials and tribulations of some of these compositions?

I think this is true of so many successful photographs—they look as if they just happened. I like to work by building a shot layer by layer with all the parts coming together easily. I am not a big fan of over-thinking a shot. If something is not working, I usually scrap it and start over. The worst thing that has happened is having the whole sculpture collapse before getting the shot. There is a lot of teetering going on.

How do you define art? How does your work fit in with this definition?

I have a pretty broad definition of art—anything that is creative, imaginative or makes you think differently. I guess these pieces fit the definition, although I have been wrestling with the idea of taking them one more step…something…just not sure where that will take me.

Thanks to GlowArtworks for interviewing me and featuring me in the newsletter (excerpt below). I feel like I am in excellent company there with their other distinctive artists, including my old friend, photographer Cameron Davidson, who introduced me to this group. His lyric and technically dazzling aerial photography is a real contrast to my pieces and shows the range of work represented at GlowArtworks. Thanks to you, too, Cameron!

Food usually stars in my photos. But, props are the strong supporting cast. They add to the drama and help to tell the story. Objects speak to me—especially vintage kitchen gadgets. I collect them. They whisper plaintively to me at flea markets, convincing me to take them home! Sparking my imagination, the dialog that develops between objects and food is an important part of the script for most shots. This fanciful relationship I feel with props inspires a body of my personal work. Kitchen implements combine with food items or other materials until distinct characters emerge—and begin to speak to me. Above, a grouping of characters I created from my collection are auditioning to be featured in a new production, all clamboring, “Pick me, pick me!”

In my work for clients, the language of props is just as important. They create exposition about setting, just as characters in a play often have lines that help the playwright convey place and mood, or even take the place of scenery: “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?”. Props in a food image can tell the viewer about the recipe by conveying setting: casual or elegant, rustic or refined, vintage or modern. Color, texture, style and scale are also critical elements helping to create that impression. Objects speak volumes.

I always love the chance to incorporate unique pieces into my shots when they complement the food and the style of the job. For Robert Sugar’s cookbook, Delicious By Design, I was able to feature many of my favorite vintage pieces. They worked well with the intent of his recipes, our personal style and sense of humor. His recipes were all developed at home with his family over many years, and the text of the book is written in a light, warm, casual first-person style. The well-loved look of many of the vintage kitchen props we featured supported that style. And, one of my favorite collaborators, food stylist Lisa Cherkasky knew exactly how to realize this vision with me. Here are four of my favorites from this book:

The up-ended colander, in the role of a salad bowl, supports the “Onglet Salad.”

The vintage meat-grinder is cast in the role of a superhero who can support this “Juiciest Hamburger,” and really take the heat.

This handsome mezza-luna makes a sharp escort, supporting “Mom’s Chopped Liver.”

The grater shines in a supporting role in this steamy ensemble production of “Not-Macaroni and Cheeses.”

Below, this collection of vintage kitchen implements waits in the wings. Some of these tools are familiar, but who even knows what some of them were originally used for? And, what new story will be told when the recipe is presented using one of these unusual items? What/who will these now-anonymous objects become, when transformed by my imagination? When they are ready for their turn in the spotlight, I will be sure to mount their debut on this stage!

These shapely femmes are starlets in my character-sculpture photograph series.

For years, I’ve found inspiration in my collection of vintage kitchen utensils. Sometimes they even find their way into photographs for client work, as they often did for the cookbook, Delicious By Design. For this personal work, I combine them with food and other objects to form sculptures that take on personalities, and I photograph them.

In these pieces, an old-fashioned whisk and egg separator are each sheathed in vintage doll dresses, which were beautifully handknitted by my niece’s grandmother in the 1970s. They looked pretty chic on my niece’s Barbie doll… But it was fun giving these flirty little frocks their new incarnation—accessorized with a linguine chapeau and a lettuce stole! As a kid, I had Midge doll, and used to create whole miniature worlds in the basement of our house—not much different from what I do now! (I wish I still had the outfits my mom made for Midge.)

I’ve shared this personal work previously in this blog in several posts. This time, I’m pleased to mention that excellent quality prints of many of these images are now for sale via Glow Artworks. This new company, co-founded by photographer Jim Esposito, offers “curated bodies of original art of a caliber and character rarely seen in public places….greatly varied, vital, and evocative.” I’m happy to have my personal work shown (and for sale) in such good company, and I wish Glow Artworks well!

FaLaLa Merry Christmas!

Arugula is fierce! Not only does it have a taste that’s not for the timid, it’s actually still growing strong out in my garden—in the chill of December! Its hearty spiciness, like a hot, tangy mustard, almost begs you to ice down your palate. Looking at the oddity of a fresh, leafy green in the cold, and admiring this lovely green Ice-O-Matic, given to me by my friend Christiana Aretta…the dots just connected for me, inspiring this new face.

Christiana is an interface designer who thinks about “why we interact with machines,” exploring “how to guide human-machine interaction within the most elegant and direct structure possible.” In my own way, I do, too, in my series of character face sculptures and the still life images I create of them. So, her gift, and her own creative inspirations relate to this work.

The Jalapenos that form the rest of the features on this guy are from my garden, too. Man, this arugula is tenacious for thriving in my frigid urban garden. It’s also food photographer’s dream…greens that can stand up for 30 minutes without wilting!

YUM3: A Visual Feast is the annual exhibition of food photography that is part of DC’s citywide photography event, FotoWeekDC. I am happy to be included in the exhibit again this year. The photo above is of a still life I created, and it is one of my pieces that will be in the exhibit.

This year, (from November 15 to December 15), they are also planning YUM3: A Virtual Feast, an online version of the exhibit with even more pieces than will hang in their gallery.

Please join me at the exhibit opening event on Thursday, November 10, 6-8 p.m. at the Art Insitute of Washington, 1820 N. Ft. Meyer Drive, Arlington, VA.

Inspiration is everywhere. I love that my client projects often inspire personal work, and vice versa. The spark of life born of a happy accident is how the image above was hatched.

I shot the image below to illustrate the concept of retirement investment allocation for an article in AARP Bulletin. After shooting, I was removing the labels from the eggs very gingerly, when one stubborn label tore off some pieces of shell.

I was suddenly very touched by the visceral beauty of the fragmentation that revealed the membrane-veiled contents. The fragility brought out my nurturing instincts. I found myself tearing up gray egg cartons and soaking the pieces to hand-mold a nest! When it dried, I added some tangly wisps of cheesecloth for swaddling, and my own, personal piece was born.

Listening to my heart and following my instincts while I work keeps me open to inspiration, which nutures my soul. They say you have to break an egg to make an omelet. I say, if an egg is accidentally broken, you could still make that omelet—or you could whip up something completely different and unexpected.

Have you found creative inspiration from a “happy accident”?

Eat, Write, Retreat was a blast! Alive with creative energy, this food blogger conference (AKA “EWR,” held in DC May 20-22), delivered what it promised. It was an upscale, yet down-to-earth learning environment that offered hands-on workshops led by accomplished professionals. The agenda allowed plenty of time for both hardcore networking and, you know…fun. Lisa Cherkasky and I taught two Food Styling and Photography workshops there; and I have to say, organizers Robyn Webb and Casey Benedict created a high-quality, valuable experience.

For the real meat of the event, I found it so interesting to learn about other people’s businesses. I met a range of smart, ambitious, creative presenters (authors, editors, PR pros), sponsors (foods, beverages and products) and bloggers. Another lovely benefit of EWR was the crazy-good swag bag, which included Calphalon’s great 12-inch nonstick griddle pan. I was so inspired by this, that I actually cooked this frittata in it myself! (For you cooking bloggers… I didn’t use a recipe, just what I had in my kitchen: eggs, potatoes, onions, rosemary and Parmesan cheese.)

Our Food Styling and Photography workshops had two parts: In the first part, Lisa and I showed slides of our own, professional work. We explained how aspects of it (basic principles, methods and equipment) can apply to bloggers’ own photographic situations and offered realistic options that will result in greater versatility and efficiency. For instance, while we all love to shoot with beautiful natural light, often it just isn’t possible. So, we provided basic technical information on lighting: from optimizing natural light sources with reflectors; to using a simple lighting kit that is daylight-balanced, for easy mixing with natural light. We also strongly suggested using a tripod to maintain camera position while making adjustments to the subject.

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