The River Hodder – the view from The Inn at Whitewell
A chance to think differently about food photography.
After spending countless hours learning the mechanics of food photography, it was time to dig deeper; exactly how do I define myself as a food photographer, and specifically, how do I use my landscape to shape my creative process.
My 2023 revival of food photography has already taken me in a new and exciting direction. Since restarting my passion in January last year, I have been purely teaching myself; watching You Tube videos and troubleshooting every time I came across a problem.
Last year I embarked I had the pleasure of a 1:1 with the renowned food photographer, Andrew Scrivani; famed for his successful partnership as food photographer for the New York Times. He has a wealth of experience and wisdom which is reflected in his work: look at his work and it just speaks. I want my photography to speak.
We began the conversation of geography. How where we have lived or live, where we are from, our heritage, our culture and the landscape around us, defines the work we produce from a camera, and I suppose, our identity.
This immediately made me look at the work I produce very differently; driving me to think in a way I have never thought before. This was exactly what I needed and the reason why I approached a world class food photographer to help me achieve my end goal: to be a food photographer. (Since I began this blog post last June, sadly work and home life have meant that I have been unable to pursue my sessions with Andrew. However, just that one session made a huge impression, remaining in my conscience and nudging me every time I plan to take a photo. Powerful and extremely valuable)
So, back to the task in hand, how do I begin to write the definition of me and how can my landscape help me? Simple. Just look out of your window.
What you know is on your doorstep.
Delving deep into my inner self to help me improve my photography and find my photography identity, led me to an obvious place, a place that has forever been in my DNA: home. I live in the county of Lancashire in the North West of England, a green and beautiful county with gentle rolling hills dotted with quaint villages, bustling market towns and views that fill your heart with joy. The coastal towns and villages to the West of the county provides the rich and fertile land to grow some of the best produce in the country. The food I love to buy, cook and photograph. This is clue one in my identity quest.
And then there’s the rolling hills, the rambling rivers and the serene streams that are the county’s identity. The hills covered in beautiful trees, heather, gorse and ferns. Greens of all shades and as you walk amongst this landscape it gives you a sense of peace and serenity. Venture 5 miles from my front door to the Forest of Bowland, an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I adore walking across the fells, climbing stiles, leaping over muddy bogs, reaching a trig point with the wind blasting you from every direction with the reward of the most breath taking view. Clue two in my identity quest.
The countryside is in my veins
I have lived here all my life, driving around the country lanes with my Dad in his milk tanker, visiting the small market towns dotted near my home, walking the fells with my husband and children, and dining on a picnic blanket beside the meandering brooks that weave among the fells. The landscape has seeped into my veins shaping who I have become today, and who I hope to become as a food photographer.
The sights, sounds, smells and experiences have made me become someone who cares about the place where they come from and someone who is proud of their roots. It’s these experiences that I want to be able to translate and communicate through my food photography hoping to show others just what my small part of the world has to offer, especially with regards to the food my county produces.
Enlightenment from a project about colour.
Andrew set me a piece of homework in order to help me understand, not only how I photograph, but also to help me improve as a photographer. Little did I realise that there is a lot more to a food photograph than what you place on the plate. It was at this point where I began to understand that, even though I don’t see myself like this, really I am a creative who wants to convey how delicious a certain type of food is which will hopefully lead the viewer to eating and enjoying the food.
The focus of my first piece of homework was to examine how photographers consider all the elements in a photograph. I took featuring my chosen element: colour. This seemed the natural choice for me as I am surrounded by the colour green, even in the depths of winter, green is everywhere I look. What as a photographer am I trying to say? How this focus becomes a tool in our tool bag.
I wandered around the graveyard of the church in the historic village of Ribchester with just my phone and simply observed the light and the tones of green. How many times must I have walked through areas simply packed with green and only now have I noticed the tones, the vibrancy, the transparency and luminosity that is emitted by the one colour: green. And when I ignored all else, I realised how beautiful green was.
These were just some of the images I captured –
Our green and pleasant land.
England, as the hymn goes, is the green and pleasant land which is loved by so many and has been the cornerstone of inspiration for writers, painters, artists, and photographers for centuries. With such an incredible amount of rain fall annually, it provides produce growers with the perfect conditions to grow fantastic fruit and vegetables.
Did you know here in the North West we get on average 98mm of rainfall in July? Even as I write this post, it’s pouring down with rain.
But all this makes sense and this allows the people of the UK to enjoy fresh produce every day of the week, whether it be from your local supermarket (who are working hard to support British Farmers) or your local farm shop who deal directly with the growers in their area.
As a food photographer, I realised that I had everything I needed right here on my doorstep, just waiting to be photographed; the landscape, the produce, the people. Working together harmoniously to communicate our love of food and where it grows.
Once upon a time, we, as a nation, were able to feed ourselves from what we grew on the land, to what we caught in the sea that surrounds our tiny island. We’re a nation of avid allotment owners, vegetable patches in our gardens or on our window ledges, all striving for the ideal life of growing your own and being somewhere near to self-sufficient.
Of course, the need is even greater today, not only because of of our 67 million population, but also because we all recognise just how precious our planet it. The need to protect it and that we can no longer be complacent about the food miles our food travels.
If you’re interested in the miles your food travels, take at look at some of the products in your fridge or larder and calculate their mileage with this site – it really is quite staggering just how far every day foods such as bananas travel to make it to our fruit bowl.
Eat the produce grown in our soil
I, like so many others, try to buy British. Even better, I try to buy locally grown fruit and vegetables when they are in season. It is far more satisfying to buy vegetables grown in my own county, than those grown in Kenya or other such destinations.
It just feels far more aligned when cooking with the seasons; it’s natural and in rhythm with the position of the sun in the sky. Tomatoes as the sun blazes down on our faces in the garden. Kale and cabbage as we huddle around the fire on a cold winter’s night.
Even better is to cook and eat vegetables grown by a passionate gardener. In my pursuit of this goal and for the purposes of my creative development, I visited a lady who also lives in Ribchester, to photograph some of the vegetables she’s been growing this season.
In the short amount of time I was there, I was simply lost among the crops; the beautiful Ribble Valley fells in the distance and not a sound to be heard. I examined and observed the swedes tucked beneath the green foliage; I crouched low to see the beauty beneath, all the time observing the morning sunlight trickling across the leaves and showing the wonder of Mother Nature.
The translucent greens of peas dangling in their pod; the darker, longer jagged leaves of the swedes swaying in the gentle breeze. It was heaven.
Heaven on my doorstep.
Back to green…
Which brings me back to my homework and green. My home nestles beneath the green Bowland Fells. Nationally recognised as an area of ‘Outstanding National Beauty’ with protection measures in place to ensure it remains so. They are the fells I see when I open my blind in the morning, dotted with fir trees and forest, cows and sheep. They are quite literally a 360 degree panorama to my home. How could I not be influenced, subconsciously or otherwise?
And yet, if I were to venture 17 miles to the west of my home town, I would see a similar, yet different landscape. The coastal flats of Tarleton, Blackpool, Lytham St Annes, places I also love to see, and places that feed me with their rich and fertile lands. It may not be the green fells of Bowland, but it is still green, still pleasant and still my homeland.
And so, I decided to translate this beauty and vision of green into my creative work of food photography; choosing green, British grown crops and attempting to look at them as an artistic form, seeking out their beauty and trying to show this through the eye of the lens. A challenge without a doubt, but one I am very, very keen to embrace and try my hardest to succeed at.
Green food photography
Nutritious bean dip made with butter beans, garlic, rocket, watercress & seasoning
Delicious basil pesto made with fresh basil, garlic, rapeseed oil & seasoning.
The exquisite Romanesco cauliflower.
Courgette & potato soup
Broccoli and green beans.
If I were to translate the colour green, in all its forms, it would mean happiness and joy. Happiness as I walk amongst it, happiness as I photograph it and happiness as I cook with it. I’m thankful to Andrew for challenging how I think and how I see the world in which I live. I’m also thankful that I live in a place so green and I strive to use everything I’ve learnt from this project to be a better photographer and cook.
Which colour brings you happiness? Have a lovely day.
Laura xx