There’s something to be said for the wandering soul. There are more sleepless nights than is considered normal, but there are also those times when you realize this journey, as long and as hard as it’s been; sometimes pays off. Call me lucky or maybe stupid, but I have come to terms with my own mortality and really, whatever happens, I will be okay with it. Scared and maybe terrified but ultimately, there’s not much I get really surprised by anymore.
I’m talking about faith of course. Faith that somehow times will be good again and the place you end up in, is a good one. Filled with prosperity and new chances. New horizons or possibilities. The resulting feeling has a positive effect when used as an elixir for past failures and losses. But it’s intoxicating. You tend to become more insular and unaffected by change. Or maybe we are just as affected by change but get over it quicker. Maybe that’s the faith talking. What I mean is that I have what seems like a cat’s ability to live through many narrow scrapes. I seem to land on my feet more than, let’s say chance, would predict.
I am back in a kitchen. Not a restaurant but a 44 year old Italian Bakery with three generations of family baking traditional recipes. I am cooking traditional meals, sauces, making fresh pies and helping to develop a savory side to the bakery. The heat, the smell of fresh pastry and breads, and that smell of wine reducing in onions, celery, garlic and leek. Man, I’m flooded with memories of cooking and touring.
On the road for famous rock stars or in restaurants, the smells and the techniques are the same. The camaraderie of a well-oiled kitchen team is like no other I have ever experienced. It really is like Anthony Bourdain said the kitchen brigades remined him of a group of pirates. I can relate to that, but things have changed. Now, the phones snapping daily social media #foodie posts trying to promote the business lie on every bench. Underexposed shots of a product with how good “we” make it and how #yummy it is. I want to try my hand at some food photography but I am waiting for a place to store my stuff from Vancouver which has my lighting in it.
And I love food. And I miss photography.
A young woman who works part-time at the bakery is also a budding model. When I told her I was a photographer, she already knew of my work. That felt good, and I acknowledge the egotistical boost. Needless to say, we will be shooting together very soon. When I am reunited with my editing computer, I can start working with people again. I have done a few portraits which I like but I can’t edit them. That’s good practice and reminiscent of my photography when I shot analogue.
For now, I am wallowing in the food culture around me and making the most of working in a bakery. There’s a huge amount of creativity behind a good cook. Incorporating savory flavors into various bread products uses the same creative brain space as conceptual nude photography. Flavor becomes like light. Reading the light and using it to enhance the subject is akin to tasting the flavor and using it to enhance the main subject of the dish. The color palette is used and the presentation must be appealing. Ultimately, pleasure-is-pleasure to our brains whether it is sourced from taste or vision. Maybe there’s a future for edible photographs.
So, that’s a short update and I am shooting again very soon and I may just review it here.
Thanks for your time.