Every few months or so, I set aside a day and force myself to wade through and archive the many photographs I’ve taken both for clients and my personal portfolio; marking for deletion the images with the obvious blurs, drips and plops of sauces gone awry, crumbs in all the wrong places, and the “what was I thinking?” pics that were most likely done when my creative mojo just wasn’t jo-o-ing… ever have days like that?
So this morning I find myself in front of the computer, staring at the list of files I’ve yet to go through… sipping my coffee and wishing I could just go play for the day and watch a movie or read a book from my growing stack of “some day.” But I try to remain focused and as I continue on down the list, one file catches my eye, “2012_03_keep it simple.” From the title, I had no idea what images it contained as my files typically include the name of the food or product in the images, such as 201205_guacamole, 201208_tequila_trio, 201211_eclairs, etc.
I opened the file and there were shots of macarons on a white pedestal with a soft pink background. I recognized the macaroons as they had been left over from an assignment I shot for Sacramento Magazine last spring. But the images in this file were so simply arranged compared to the way I typically style food and a set, and I caught myself thinking, “Did I shoot these?”
I posted this image to my Facebook page earlier this morning and thinking of how to describe the picture, this came to mind, “Some of my favorite images are those that are simple, uncluttered and yet provoke thoughts of the perfect bite!”
And then my mind began to wander about how life imitates art or art imitates life. I thought back to some of the fun assignments I’ve had over the past year, and when I took this seris of photographs, my work was just beginning to get noticed and my life both personally and professionally was still calm, and well, simple so to speak.
When one is trying to be creative, it is easy to get caught up in the chaos and clutter and it may at times, be difficult to envision the clear picture. But if we are able to clear away the clutter and minimize the chaos, art as in life…can serve up the perfect bite!
okay now back to the file edits and hopefully I won’t come across any more photographs that lead me to having such profound thoughts!!!
