Archive for the 'Photography' Category
A few months ago, I wrote about a personal photography project I’ve been working on, Mysterious Decay (AKA Rotten Stuff—as in, “I can’t see a movie with you today, I want to work on Rotten Stuff while I have some free time…”).
What happened was this: I found a bowl of figs pushed all the way to the back of the refrigerator while cleaning last fall—the figs were just beginning to grow mold. Instead of being like, “Ewwww!” and then throwing the figs away, I wondered what they would look like if I styled and photographed them. That’s exactly what I did, and it lead me to keep the figs in the fridge for another two months, photographing their decay periodically until they were too mushy and terrifyingly gross to hold on to any longer. That was the start of Mysterious Decay.
Since then, I’ve kept various other fruits and veg waaaaay longer than I should have, and photographed their decay, too (above is a photo of three-week-old cherry tomatoes—no mold yet, but good shriveling). And all of this lead to the main part of the project: Tablescapes of decaying foods, styled and photographed as if they were not at all decaying and the perfect subjects for an epic editorial food shoot.
The result? A surreal body of work that is the total opposite of food porn. Think: If you opened Bon Apetit and all the great photos had moldy, rotten food.
What originally started as a study of decay ultimately lead to a really cool surreal photography project and statement about food waste. I’m excited to finally be close to finishing Mysterious Decay, and am looking forward to sharing the work!
My ever-evolving side project, my personal food blog Kitchen La Bohème, has a fresh new look. I’m always at my happiest when I’m preparing and photographing dishes for KLB! Tweaking the graphic elements and branding, and overseeing the project as it developed into the “Bohemian Kitchen” that I’d originally dreamed up has been an exciting process.
KLB is a source for Vegan and Vegetarian recipes and other food-related content, and a platform for inciting social change by showing how beautiful and delicious plant-based cuisine can be. Check out the full blog here!
A new portfolio site design for the new year… The new and improved HyperfocusNYC.com has launched. Check it out here!
For the past few months, I’ve been considering the concept of decay — the process of destruction, death, The End — both figuratively and literally. Relationships sometimes deteriorate, a lot like the bowl of figs that got pushed to the back of my refrigerator and was accidentally forgotten for a month. There is an evolution to decay — the mold on the figs; the distance and communication breakdown in a dying relationship… It grows over time.
I became interested in this process initially in the literal sense after finding and subsequently photographing those figs, hairy with psychedelic mold. I began to photograph them daily until they were just a pile of unrecognizable mush. I’d been doing so much food photography for my food blog Kitchen La Boheme already, this was just a natural twisted extension of what I’d been working on with my recipes. But the process was pretty far along when I’d discovered the figs — I wished I’d noticed them and begun the photography sooner. So I started a little science experiment, purchasing and allowing other fruits and vegetables to rot while photographing the process. Some deflated and shriveled, some oozed and grew strange forms of mold; and I photographed them all in various stages of decay in carefully plated and styled shots, some even in intricately developed tablescapes. In the end, what I’ve created has become an unsettling series of surreal still lifes (and the total opposite of food porn); but it’s only just the beginning.
There is a personal side to decay and the way it develops and continues, or sometimes stops (think aging skin; mummification…). But I’m also thinking of the breakdown that can occur between people. How does it begin, and how does someone document that process? There are many ways to conceptually show deterioration…
Above is one of the initial, very basic, photos of the figs that started it all. Vibrant, dark, mysterious decay. I don’t want to post any of the tablescape photos yet — the ones that are more elaborately styled, much darker and more emotional — at least not until I have a final version of the series pulled together. But for now, I wanted to share the idea behind the project. There will be final photos to come!
I‘ll start off by saying something that’s sort of like what everyone who neglects his or her blog says: I know I’ve been terrible about keeping up with this little area of my webspace, but I’ve been soooooooooooo busy…
I truly have been busy, with working a full-time staff design job and pushing myself to keep up with Kitchen La Bohème during my free time, I’ve been lax on the whole keeping-up-with-the-design-portfolio-website-and-blog thing. But I’m beginning to find time to work on a new design for HyperfocusNYC.com, an updated portfolio (for both graphic design and photography), and a revamped blog look, too. As usual, I’m just caught up on finishing the design section — there’s so much work! It’s a big job to sort each piece and pace the portfolio. But a new and improved HyperfocusNYC.com should be ready to launch in full soon.
And? Find me on Instagram! I’ve been using the fun little iPhone app to share some of my food photography, as well as some street photography (above) for the past couple of months. If you’re using it as well, find me there and connect!
Feeling hedonistic? Above is an email blast I created for Jonathan Adler, highlighting a selection of luxe, provocative goods.
