Portfolio

I have a huge passion for developing recipes and then preparing and cooking them and bringing them to life on my blog. But I am equally as passionate about food styling and food photography! All of my recipes you see on my blog are styled and photographed by: yours truly...

I have kind of an obsession with props for my foodie shots, making regular visits to the thrift store for interesting finds - whether its a small dish, a utensil or an old cutting board. I also feature many of our vintage furniture pieces in the background or as a table top on which to photograph my dishes.

Because of my background in interior design, colour is very important to me and this translates directly into my passion for creating colourful dishes as well. I especially love the intense colour in this edamame succotash - nature doesn't make mistakes.

Sometimes its better to keep the background neutral when your subject is so full of colour, but there really are no hard and fast rules.

I love the way the light casts a shadow on this plate. The blackberry sorbet in its tuile bowl looks almost ethereal...

...and depending on which camera angle and lighting I use, the shadows can be minimized or eliminated altogether.

White or neutral coloured dishes are best because they take a back stage to the star of the show: the FOOD of course!

I have a collection of fabric samples I received from one of my fabric suppliers. I will often use these as well as fabrics I have found on my travels along with personal table linens and various textured place mats in my shots.

Most food is better photographed at room temperature (there are exceptions, like frozen foods or whipped cream to name a few). Steam hovering over the dish and condensation on glassware aren't the camera's best friends...
   

I love both of these shots of my White Chocolate Blueberry Mousse cups. I chose to go with a mono-chromatic look relating to the colour of the blueberries. Now look at how the nut brittle and mint leaf pop against the blue!

This shot of my Strawberry Angel Food Cake Roll was challenging, because of the hot summer weather. I really wanted to use natural lighting, so my set was outside on our back deck, in the shade, but I had to work fast before the whipping cream melted!

When photographing foods with melted cheese, there is a small window to get just the right shot. You neither want the dish to be steaming hot, as the shot will be blurry, nor do you want the cheese to coagulate. At just the right temperature, this was tricky, but it worked!

In the summer I like to photograph my food in our back yard. I particularly love a green background for my summer inspired recipes...

When featuring salads, I find it best to take photos without the dressing - the food will look so much fresher and more appetizing.

I love the natural moody lighting I get through our dining room window and thus take many of my food shots in this room.

Sometimes a white background is all you need, as in this shot of my Cold Pea Soup Shots...

Our vintage-style stainless toaster has been featured many times in my 'Sunday Morning' series of recipes...

My props will often include pieces that set a particular mood - like this 'Zen' shot of my Chilled Avocado, Lime and Cilantro Soup. 

Seems I was developing a trend of framing all of my shots with coordinating colours (the designer in me). Now I prefer to leave the shots unframed. There is no right or wrong its really just a personal preference.

Believe it or not, I use fake fruit in some of my shots! These apples are far from real!

If you can get your hands on some coloured glass vessels, they can make the shot look amazing when they are backlit by natural light (a window).

I remember taking this shot all too well...there was a lot of food to prep and stage. Getting all of the dishes just right, balancing out the colours in the frame whilst trying to keep the bugs away (this was taken on our back deck outside and I work solo - no assistant to swat them away) was a huge challenge. But that's what I love - a good challenge!

Photographing ice cream is a challenge, especially when I have to use artificial lighting! In this shot, I had the pie on the plate while I styled around it, set up my camera and lighting and then...plopped the scoop of ice cream on the pie at the very last minute and clicked away!

I do all of my own photo editing. I recently started adding banners and different fun fonts to my images. I just love playing around with the images to get the exact final result I want for my blog posts. The world is our oyster...!