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.  

Inspired by Instagram

Instagram has become important to me. Not only do I keep in touch with friends, family, clients and colleagues, I have been able to create a virtual online gallery of things that inspire me. I follow brands whose product or advertising I like, I follow people who are passionate about food, I follow artists, galleries and even malls that have compelling imagery. So I peek at it a few times a day and get inspired by what is out there. One thing that I have been drawn to are the fantastic, layered breakfast bowls that are so prevalent (at least on my feed.) The colors and textures just make eating breakfast look fun, and as someone who tends to not always have the time for breakfast, this is big. So, inspired by the playfulness, the beauty and the natural healthiness of these bowls, we decided to create a few fun ones.

Sharing Some New Published Work

When a client you have worked with for a number of years leaves the company you are shooting for (in this case a publishing client) it is a concern that the person who replaces them will want to work with new people. I am always thrilled to be given the opportunity to continue the relationship with the new client. In fact, my team embraces the opportunity to approach the assignments under a different directive. This is what happened recently and below is some work that we did for a cool new client who has a wonderful sense of food.