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.

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.

Food Shoot Collaboration with Food Blogger Katie Morford from Mom's Kitchen Handbook

This week was a kick working with kid's food blogger Katie Morford from Mom's Kitchen Handbook. I have been admiring Katie's work for a while now since kid's nutrition has been somewhat of an obsession for me. My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD when she was in 4th grade and since then all I seemed to read about was how proper nutrition supports brain function and attention. Having a picky eater, this drove me crazy because my daughter just wouldn't eat all the things I knew would help her. Katie's blog and IG posts were encouraging and inspiring. I was excited when she jumped in on this project with me! 

Collaborating with Fellow Photographer David Martinez to Create Stills and Video for Beer Campaign

A recent project came my way that required stills and video. The project was with an Art Director who I had worked with in the past, who knew my style and thought that I would be a good fit for the project. When a client shows me that kind of support for my work, I will pretty much give up my first born for them. The project grew to require video as well as still work done. While I have shot video before, I felt that I wanted my main focus to be on shooting the stills for the campaign, so I looked for a videographer to partner with. My rep, Heather Elder suggested another one of her photographers as someone to collaborate with on the video portion. I have known David since we both shot for Health Magazine (he shot the yoga shots, I shot the food,) so felt that we would work well together. I like the idea of photographers working together. Here is a few snapshots of the shoot (which was so much fun! Hard work, but so much fun!) I can't share the photo we took just yet!

Starting the Morning (and New Year) Off Right!

I had a few free days at the beginning of this New Year and found some wonderful fellow collaborators (stylists) to start the year playing in the studio. Here are a few photos from our session. I always love shooting breakfast. More to come later!

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.

Just in Time for Thanksgiving-A Turkey Company Website andSocial Media Update

    "If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you." 

In my work these past few years there has been greater emphasis placed on assignments crafted specifically for social media needs. Before this, assignments would be primarily focused on Ad work, with social media as a secondary need. Things have changed, and now I seem to be shooting specifically for social media, websites that will attract pins from Pinterest. From that work the agencies will cull which images will work for Ads. Change can be good, and in this case it is. I like this direction as the social media assignments are usually broader in range- meaning larger scale - like a cookbook- so we can approach these shots in an editorial way. We can develop an overall look and feel for the body of work and we can be looser in the styling and compositions since we don't have type overlay to consider.

An example of this is a project that I recently shot for Cargill Turkey. Here is the newly updated website with the recipe photographs I shot, as well as the recent national Ad that is running in magazines like Martha Stewart Living, Eating Well, Cooking Light and Real Simple amoung others.

http://www.honeysucklewhite.com

Art on the Go

Not many things in life prove more fulfilling than discovering your own art out in the world, being put to use. Except maybe for a giant Egg McMuffin. I’m thankful to have been apart of the McDonald’s ‘On the Go” campaign. For those on the road, keep your eyes peeled for the moving McCafe! 

Coffee, My Love

One of my favorite ways to start the day is to have a rich aromatic cup of coffee. How about you?

Babycenter Re launches it's Ever Popular Fruit and Veggie Comparisons with my Photography!

Babycenter, the well known online parenting site decided to re do their extremely popular baby comparison feature. They wanted fresh, healthy looking fruit and veggie shots to illustrate how big a baby is at a certain stage of develpment. They wanted photos that their readers would want to share through social media- Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. This is one of a few social media projects I have had lately and I was excited when they contacted me. I love the idea that people would be sharing my photos- enjoying them on an ongoing basis. Also for my photos to be a part of that extremely important time in a parent's life- when they are excited to see how large their baby is at that stage- that was really cool since I have shared in the same experience waiting for my daughter to be born. 

Here are the photos on Pinterest- with already over 20,000 followers!

Thrilled that Found Folios included me in their "New and Hot" collection!

Found Folios New and Hot Collection

Paleo Cookbook Out Now!

Blogger Elana Amsterdam has become infamous for her delicious recipes that cater to the Gluten Free crowd. Now she delivers a whole cookbook about Paleo Cooking. I got the chance to photograph her healthy and appetizing dishes. To see more mouth watering cook books that I have photographed click here.

Find it at Random House   Elana's Blog   Find it on Amazon

New Work, New Website

Building a new website can be a daunting task.  My last website wasn't that old, but I decided to redo it because I liked the functionality of the new website.  I especially like the custom PDF function since we get a lot of requests for that- it is nice that a client can create their own collection of images from the website that is relevant to their project if they want to.  The challenge for me was how to personalize the website to make it more of an "experience" that reflects my me and my style.  The photos of course show that - but I am into having it be a holistic experience.  Every detail about the experience should be reflective of my vision.  So here it is.  I owe a lot to the team of folks who worked with me on the images and helped put the site together.

A California State of Mind

There were many reasons I moved out to California from the East Coast. One of them was for a fresh start. Way back when, my now husband and I decided to pull a Jack Kerouac and get rid of all our worldly possessions( I remember my animator husband cutting up his ties with a paper cutter )buy a cheapo car and drive across the country. All the while thinking that if we fancied it-we could put down roots wherever we saw fit. That is an incredibly freeing thought. We experienced a lot of interesting places, but held out until we hit California. And here we have stayed....  Every now and then we have to hit the road- breathe again- and see the sights. A few weeks ago- as a birthday present- my father flew out from the East coast and took care of my daughter for a weekend while Dana and I took a long needed (albeit mini) road trip. Here are some pics from along the way: Santa Cruz had light and poppiness that felt very William Eggleston, Big Sur had a darkness, a history that sank into your bones.

Toasted, Melted- The Love of Bread and Cheese

There is something about crusty bread and melted cheese that makes the stomach grumble and the mind start to strategize how and when one can satisfy the yearning. When can I escape what I am doing to go make one or better yet- order one from a restaurant who has just the right kind of bread and cheese and the most terrific grill for the job.

Wayfare Magazine includes my photos from Rome in their first printed edition to be sold at Anthropologie.

I am excited to see some of my photos from my trip to Rome in the first printed issue of Wayfare Magazine. When I mentioned to a friend and colleague Peggy Wong that I was taking a trip to Rome, she told me that she wanted to see my photos when I returned, and that she may want to include them in the first printed edition of Wayfare Magazine (a cool new travel mag that turns that category a bit on it's head.)

What was nice about this request was that it wasn't really an assignment. She wanted to see the photos that I would take for myself, she was especially interested in seeing what I shot for my personal series of work entitled "Bodies of Land" which is comprised of out of focus landscapes, or in this case cityscape's.

I also played a lot with Instagram for this trip since I liked the format, the accessibility to capture things at any time and the tones that were rendered with some of the filters. I am usually not a big "effects" photographer, nor do I like a lot of retouching. I liken the filters to using different types of film or printer paper.

Here is the text that accompanies the images in the magazine:

Photographer Leigh Beisch, along with her husband, father, and ten-year-old

daughter, forgo their annual trip to Cape Cod for something a little more mysterious. Here we get a light-filled glimpse into the beauty of a region teeming with old world intrigue.

We decided to rent a small apartment in Trastevere, located on the outskirts of Rome and just south of Vatican City. We booked the apartment for two weeks so we could spend one week as tourists and the next week as locals. While Rome is where scale and extraordinary monuments are on display at every turn, the color and texture of this neighborhood are what captured our hearts. Here we felt like we could experience art, not just see it. The building of our tiny rented apartment had the most amazing rustic front door that was designed to keep out invaders during the medieval period. There was also a stone staircase that was so worn with age that I could imagine a young slave girl carrying water up them thousands of years ago. Staying here instead of a hotel allowed us to let the language of the place—the people, the light, the smells—to seep in and shape our experience. The family and I enjoyed being part of the neighborhood’s everyday routines, sampling from the well-visited osterias and trattorias; shopping at the local designer clothing boutiques; and enjoying the famous Sunday flea market, Porta Portese. One place we frequented was local trattoria La Scala, where my daughter would order her favorite dish of spaghetti con burro e parmigiano, a simple dish of pasta with butter and parmigiano. One of my favorite dishes here was the tagliolini cacio e pepe con fioridi zucca e pachino, a pasta with a beautiful squash blossom layered on top, then sprinkled with parmesan and ground pepper.

SEE. I spent some time shooting for my personal work

entitled “Bodies of Land,” which is a series of abstract

landscapes that are out of focus with the subject matter

being light and color. This allows me to create a more

timeless landscape that captures the imagination.

EAT. My father and I woke up early a few mornings

to photograph. Before we headed out, we stopped

at the local Bar for morning cappuccinos and jam

filled pastries. I loved the colorful trays here

Our first morning in Rome, we headed to the Piazza di Santa Maria, where we found a beautiful fountain guarding the entrance to the Basilica of Our Lady, or Basilica di Santa Maria, one of the most ancient churches in Rome. So ancient, in fact, that it’s one of the few churches where you can see Christ depicted as a living prophet, rather than on the cross. It was here that I noticed the light streaming in through the clerestory, illuminating select statues and giving the sense of divine light. This light shaped my experience in Rome, becoming my subject matter and focal point of the trip. The photo of the portal looking out onto the wall with a row of dotted trees was at the entrance to Hadrian’s Villa, a Roman Emperor of the 2nd century AD. The wall pictured here was built to be just one mile long, which was the length of the palace and, according to our guide, the distance that the Emperor’s physician had advised him to walk every day. The morning light of this photo gives us a glimpse into what one of the Emperor’s walks might have been like. From the cobblestone streets and terracotta and maize buildings cast in deep wine hues to street windows dotted with laundry lines, Rome was richer than I had ever imagined. I loved the color of the place, and the way the light would fill ancient crevices to reveal some things and hide others. It felt as though this light held the secrets of Rome.

New Year's Resolution

Steve Jobs said "you have to work hard to get your thinking clean and make it simple."

This quote is from a book that I am reading entitled "Antifragile-Things That Gain from Disorder." The author, Nicholas Taleb uses this quote from Jobs as a way of supporting his theory that we need to get back to a more "simple and natural" system, and away from the manufactured, over predicted one that we have. He argues that the more we try to predict things, trying to control their outcome by manufacturing reality, the more fragile we become. And when the unpredictable occurs (and it always does) those systems that are fragile will not survive. He is a proponent of the "Antifragile" as he puts it- a system that doesn't try to predict, but is prepared to not just survive any shock that comes along (anything from a financial crisis to an earthquake), but actually gains strength from it. He states that Nature is Antifragile- it has weathered so many assaults and shocks and still persists. He proposes to let the simple and natural take their course. I have always been an advocate of the simple and natural. Systematically I use it as part of my personal philosophy and in my business.

So I guess my New Year's resolution is to stay strong to that conviction. Keep things organic, flowing, simple and natural.

Ingredient and recipe shots for Paleo Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam/ Ten Speed Press

Recent Awards

Typically I post this kind of thing on Facebook because I can share it quickly. It is important to let people know when you win awards- I just am not great about talking too much about it. Here are two awards I won recently-just so you know.

Photo District News Objects of Desire. I won first place in the food and still life category. My photo was placed at the front of the awards section in the November issue of PDN. The image also appeared in a gallery show during Photo Expo in NYC. Below is my new website landing page that shows the new award alongside last year's Comm Arts award.

Dieline design award. Ok the award was for the whole package design, but the photo is important - right? The babyfood company is an ongoing client of mine. They are great fun to work with - lots of good music playing while we play with some awful pretty fruits and veggies. This work is also exhibiting in a cool new exhibition space adjacent to the Louvre in Paris!  Photos below courtesy of Dieline.