In the last couple of years I've picked up our camera and really started playing with it. I love taking photos. There's so much beauty in my immediate surroundings - in the kitchen or elsewhere in our home and in the garden - I don't have to travel very far to find interesting things to photograph.
My subject matter is still life; food, flowers and, of course, the cats, who are not always still, although they do nap a lot. I'll notice the way the morning light streams in on Parsnip as she's perched on the window seat and I have to grab the camera and capture it.
If I'm doing a blog post about how to make a favourite dish I always include photos of food. However, I often take photos of food for reasons beyond practicality.
Sometimes I'm making dinner or about to have an afternoon snack and I'm struck by a colour combination or how nice something looks in a wooden bowl. Like when I was making salad for dinner the other night and I just had to take a picture. And then I had to share it on social media. I just counted, and more than a quarter of my Instagram feed is photos of food.
These days, sharing photos of food is a universal pastime: Instagram and Facebook are full of pictures of what people had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or their morning cup of coffee. I enjoy seeing these photos.
Others find it annoying. I get it; people who take pictures of everything they eat can be annoying. I too get a chuckle out of all the jokes and complaints about people who can't eat before they take a picture of their meal or how some only order food they know will look good on Instagram. It's true and it's funny.
Maybe it's just my nature but I love seeing photos of what people are eating. It's inspiring and fun, and it tells me a lot about who those people are. "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.”
Those annoyed by the whole practice of Instagramming everything you eat say it's a form of social posturing or showing off, the goal being to strike up envy in other people. "Look at me, see how healthy I eat, see what an amazing cook/mother I am!!!"
Instead, I like to think of taking and posting pictures of the food you're preparing or about to eat as the modern version of saying grace.
I see personal value in sharing the simple moments and pleasures in life. Although, it's true, sometimes I am proud of something I made. Like these truffles: I mean, they are so delicious, nourishing and pretty, especially when lit like that. It's hard for me to not share what I love.
I would also add that taking pictures of food helps you connect with your food. I have never quite appreciated the beauty of a butterhead lettuce until I took this photograph. Maybe it follows that sharing this photo will have the same effect on the viewer.
I'm so glad I insisted my friend Geoff hold this platter of fish fritters he just cooked up next the window so I could get a good picture. Now, whenever I see that photo, I am vividly reminded of just how delicious those fitters were and I have a more essential memory of that lovely afternoon. Better than if, dare I say, I had taken a picture of everyone who was there.
But perhaps most importantly, taking photos of food is a way to improve my photography. Food is a great subject, never putting on a special face or asking me to not take or post a photo to Instagram because the angle is not flattering.