Feeling Optimistic with a Fresh New Website

Nothing makes you feel more excited than to share new work. As a photographer, sharing my work is both exciting and challenging. I strive to bring a fresh perspective of beauty to a world flooded with imagery.

It is for that reason am incredibly excited to share with you my new website. Every element is carefully considered as part of translating photos into powerful statements.

The way this website functions allows me to show, interactively, what my work is all about. Not just the different subject matter that I can shoot or the lighting. It shares a mindful approach to what I care about. Explaining what drives me and what my passion is. This website features foods and moods from sweets to drinks to what is on the table. There are also collections of fine art work, motion, and some of my favorite moments behind the scenes.

Through this new website, I get to share my commercial work, my tear sheets, my studio, my social media and also my personal work, a series of abstract landscapes.


My hope is that it becomes clear that the way I approach my work is through intuition. Passion for food, wellness, art and social causes fuels what I do. Imagery is powerful, it can change the way that you view the world around you. Through exploring this website I hope it leaves you feeling as encouraged and optimisitc as I do.

Vision Through Editorial Collaboration

Trends are everywhere, and sometimes we aren't even aware of how they are impacting our lives. A crucial aspect of being a food photographer is keeping up with trends. That's why it is always such a pleasure to work with relevant publications that explore new ideas.

My ongoing collaboration with the national healthy eating publication Eating Well has been another way my team has stayed on top of new trends. Eating Well strives to stay on top of food and style trends in the food world and reflect them in its pages. Working with this team is inspiring, and some of the stories I've shot for them have won James Beard Awards. It has been an honor to have been assigned some of their cover photographs, which are always fun to do! These covers feature a variety of foods and exemplify a sense of wellness. I love the challenge of finding the right perspective to bring to these covers and the range of content I've worked with. 

The most recent issue of Eating Well was so relevant for me. The whole issue is about California, where I live, work, eat and cook for my family. And the story I got to photograph celebrates the amazing California Avocado! Especially relevant since it is a favorite food in my family, Eva's friends requesting it for breakfast when they stay over. I love it as a delicious way of getting our Omega 3's which are so good for brain health. Plus avocados are so visually appealing! 

Foods and Moods, Foraged Aromatics for Holiday Infused Cocktails that Heal the Body and Soul

The San Francisco Bay area was home to the Miwok Indians. These people lived off the land, foraging for ingredients that grew wild to both nourish and heal them. Come fall time, the prevalent ingredients were mostly berry like, dark in color, inky and red. Also prevalent were healing and scented leaves and things like rose hips, the remnants of beautiful wild roses. Dan, our food stylist,  spends a lot of time hiking around the Bay Area and is familiar with these local "crops". He has been an admirer of the abundance out there and embraced the challenge to create cocktails that used these ancient ingredients that the ancestors of the region used to nourish and heal.

 

Wine Country Ingredients "Foods and Moods"

A focus on just a few of the incredible ingredients that have the power to heal us and nourish us- all which are grown locally here in our Northern California Wine regions - both Sonoma and Napa! A visual treat for me to shoot! I think that just looking at these beauties heals the soul.

Foods and Moods- Pineapple!

This year I wanted to start a project that reflects a challenge to myself to explore new ways to use my photography + passion for food to help deepen peoples connections to the foods that not only nourish and nurture, but also heal us. Growing up with my mother fighting breast cancer for over 30 years meant being exposed to alot of talk of healing foods and nutrition. It is probably why she lived so long with cancer, due to her proactive attitude and diligence to nutrition. So you can see that healing foods is something very special to me. I also seem to have spent my career shooting for magazines and brands that revolve around healthy food and lifestyle. Each project has exposed me to how powerful ingredients are in helping our bodies heal and be healthy.

For my first study on “Foods and Moods”, I partnered with twin sisters and talented chefs Mary Barber and Sara Whiteford, aka Mary and Sara  (www.maryandsara.com). Besides our mutual love of making a storied image, they also have learned along the way to make and eat foods that help the body heal. And we love Turmeric.  And pineapple — not only for its taste, texture and flavor but because it is also a serotonin-rich food that helps promote optimism. For this project we wanted to focus on foods that promoted good mood and optimism in conjunction with my friend Riley John Donnell’s movement UMEWE ( you me we) and “Into Yellow” which is a platform and specific tone of yellow he has created in conjunction with Pantone to promote optimism as well.  http://www.intoyellow.com.  

Paella! A Mediterranean Diet Inspired Video Collaboration

The Mediterranean Diet has been credited with contributing to longevity, healthy heart and brains. Research has shown that it can protect against heart disease, depression, cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia, Alzheimers and Parkenson's all while eating delicious unprocessed foods and sipping a glass of wine ( in moderation).  I learned of this diet early on and grew to love the flavors of this region. One of my favorite cookbooks to photograph was one called Saffron Shores by the wonderful Joyce Goldstein who is such an expert on this region's cooking.

"Paella! Mediterranean Healthy" is a video collaboration with fellow photographer and PD Clinton Perry and was inspired by the quick, easy and fun dish that captures all the flavors and health benefits of the region. I also admit that I was a bit influenced by my recent trip to Puglia, Italy.

Paella! mediterranean healthy from Leigh Beisch on Vimeo.