Love is Everywhere!

February is filled with citrus and sunshine out here in California. We also look forward to the cherry blossoms boasting their beauty on trees all around town. So reds, pinks and sweetness seems appropriate for this month and for Valentine's day! We got to shoot a fun cover for a national food magazine that featured the bold colors and juiciness of blood oranges fashioned into hearts. Here is a fun little GIF showing our progression!

Here are some fun facts about blood oranges:

1. Blood oranges have been shown to improve cardiovascular health- they are good for your HEART!

 2. Blood Oranges have anthocyanins in them. That is the stuff that makes blueberries blue and raspberries red- so you get the benefits of two fruits in one!

3. Blood oranges are sweet but they have less sugar than regular oranges.                                               

Love, Donuts and Butterflies- oh and whippings- Just in Time for Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day. Being a person who is fixated on truth and originality, I always find myself wanting to reveal the origins of everything. Peek beneath the surface. Wanting to know why are things this way. I wanted to know the origins of Valentine's Day. Not just the Hallmark Card version of the holiday.  I discovered that between Feb 13-15 the Ancient Romans used to celebrate a feast of Lupercalia.  The men would whip women with slain animal hides (lovely!). The women considered the whipping to make them fertile.  The celebration included matchmaking by drawing names from a jar which led to "coupling" for the duration of the festival.

The name Valentine is thought to have come from the Roman executions of two men named Valentine on Feb. 14 of different years. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the Celebration of St Valentine's day.

I chose to honor the day slightly differently- with color. Love of color and whimsy. Here goes- Donuts done differently. Drenched in color. Happy Valentine's Day- no whipping or execution. Just color!

All images are ©2018 Leigh Beisch.  Permission is required to copy or use any of these images.

Creating Work for Valentine's Day

As a photographer, you have to be a visual problem solver, but also a creative one too.  Whenever Valentine's day rolls around, as a food photographer I try to resist the typical Valentine's day subject matter. I try to think about what a day like this means, both visually and conceptually, and how that would take form in a still life image.


Valentine's day is a day to celebrate love.  It has a curious history that started with Christian Martyrdom and then evolved into a day that celebrated romantic love during 18th century England when courtly love flourished and it was common to lavish affection with gifts of flowers, sweets and greeting cards.

I was struck recently by a speech during Harvard Graduation in which a poem by Raymond Carver was read.  It is a poem that asks what is the most important thing in life- and answers- to feel BELOVED. I think we all recognize how important it is for humans and animals to feel that they are loved. Sometimes we harden ourselves to this need and say it isn't that important, or we forget how much we need it. Valentine's day is a day to remember that need. To appreciate the love that you both give and receive. And I'm not talking just about the love you are feeling for the decadent chocolatey goodness in this photo!