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food photographer

Day 23 – I did not see my family much today, but I did see this on instagram…

The first sighting of the Afro-Vegan cookbook I worked on with Bryant Terry last summer…

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Aside from the photos I print for my own family and friends, I rarely see photographs I have taken in print form. So to see photos I took printed in an actual book that other people intend to purchase is still mind-blowing.

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I am grateful to all the people who have pushed me in to this field of photography that I never imagined myself in.

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While I still can’t bring myself to call myself a “food photographer,” because that title puts me with a very intimidating group of extremely talented photographers…

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Seeing as this is book number 4 that contains only photos of food (that I took)… the idea is becoming a little easier to swallow.

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Huge thanks to the wonderfully talented Afro-Vegan Dream Team: Bryant Terry, Amanda Yee, Toni Tajima, Melissa Moore, Karen Shinto, Dani Fisher and Morgan Bellinger. Look for this book in a bookstore near you April 8th, 2014.

My Best Tip-Toe Forward…

Last week I received a phone call from a well-known company asking to see my portfolio. They wanted to see still life, food and some people (because they don’t usually do much photography of people.)

While that phone call was very exciting, the problem was that no one had ever asked me to send in an actual printed portfolio before… so I didn’t have a portfolio to send.

Inspired, I started enthusiastically dragging out the hard drives and digging though the archives. Eventually I came up with a portfolio containing my most favorite 137 photos.

Luckily my talented graphic designer and trusty adviser, Tyler Young, said 137 photos might be a tad too many. So reluctantly, I whittled the portfolio down and here it is… my best (abridged) attempt to tip-toe further into the commercial world of still-life and food… with just a few people.

The Final Push…

My food photography has come a long way over the past six months.

But my Town Hall cook book days are numbered.

It is time to turn in what we have and let the editors work their magic.

Thank you Bridget, Mitch, Mary and Michael.

We make a good team.

I will miss our long days fueled by sugary espresso shots and bread.

But who knows, maybe we will get to do this together again someday.

In the second grade I learned how to spell dessert…

We were living in Korea and I was going to an American school.

I can’t remember my teacher’s name.

But I can remember the day when my teacher, whose name might have started with a G, was writing on the blackboard and explaining that a desert only has one “s.”

But a dessert has two, because you always want more dessert than desert.

She was right. I have always wanted more dessert than desert… or anything else really.

But today I learned that after spending all day photographing just five desserts, for the Town Hall cook book, eventually, even I did not want more dessert… well at least for a few hours. Knowing that I wasn’t permanently cured of my insatiable sweet tooth, I boxed up the leftovers and took them home, so I would be prepared when the cravings for more dessert returned.

Huge thanks to my very stylish and talented friend, Bridget, for making the day and process so much sweeter.

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