Culinary Imaginings

I’m fascinated by the art of preparing food and the tools used to create it. With the number of dishes chefs prepare each day, tools and equipment take a beating. The dents, scratches, cracks and patina all create a visual feast of pattern and imperfection. It is a privilege to enter the sacred space of an chef’s kitchen. For me, I am always conjuring stories about the potential histories of/uses for the well-worn and sometimes unfamiliar tools. The resulting images are sometimes very abstract musings or if you will imaginings, while other images certainly more clearly allow the objects to speak for themselves.

Glassware

Tableware and utilitarian vessels for storage and transportation are found just about everywhere you go these days. I am drawn to photograph the glass versions I find in my travels. When I see them stacked, lined up and layered, the repetition allows me to see them in such a way they become beautiful, with playful patterns of light reflections and beautiful bokeh. And in taking the time to look upon this glass, the realization came to me, it is a wonderful way to see light. There are always interesting patterns and reflections and I, quite frankly, just find them very beautiful. Over my years photographing in the hospitality industry, many bars, many kitchens, and many culinary moments, I am always drawn to the repetition of the glasses in these places. The colors always appear brightly magical. Bits of painterly compositions, patterns that appear only when the light hits the glass and reflects, a great level of detail and yet it’s mostly unfocused. Reflections and distortions revealed through the glass create beautiful, painterly abstractions. It’s a wonderful challenge to compose and capture an image before the light changes and the magic of color and luminosity is lost.

Other draft of the first paragraph:

I’m fascinated by the art of preparing food and the tools used to create it. With the number of dishes chefs prepare each day, tools and equipment take a beating. The dents, scratches, cracks and patina all create beauty in their imperfections. I truly enjoy peering into the kitchens, tracking down these tools, and documenting their vulnerability from human treatment. The resulting images sometimes turn out very abstract, while others are more clearly about the objects themselves.