Inside Look: What’s On Your Fork?

Have you ever gotten a bit carried away on a new project?

I know I have.

But that doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.

In fact, getting carried away on a wave on enthusiasm and creativity often leads to the creation of some of my favorite materials!

Take these fork photo resources, for example.

Forks!

I was experimenting with forks holding different foods and I… well… got carried away. I had just made a new photo studio with strobe lights and all kinds of props. As I played with each one, I saw styrofoam and stuck a fork in it.

The rest is history.

The timing was extra fortuitous for this particular round of inspiration because it turns out that the theme for National Nutrition Month 2017 is “Put Your Best Fork Forward!” These materials — which I have been creating since this summer when I was working on my food photo portfolio — will be perfect for that celebration.

Lettuce

Here’s a collection of the fork lessons in different formats. Which will appeal most to your clients?

Display Resources:

Prizes:

And here’s a closer look at my artist’s statement, which captures why and how I do what I do…

The concept of my work is that I create art with food and then photograph it in an evocative and dramatic manner. I am drawn to working with fruits and vegetables. The first reason is because my business is dedicated to nutrition education and the promotion of foods that are nutrient dense, high in fiber and low in added fat, sugar, and salt (three evils of processed food in the Western world). The second reason is because I love finding fruits and vegetables in farmers’ markets and coming home with them and exploring new and creative ways to photograph them. My experience as a pastry chef leads me to want to arrange my subjects in a very artistic manner and to create salads and many other types of dishes that appear decadent even though they are healthful.

The materials that I use consist of fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein foods that are fresh, in season, and available in local markets. I have a variety of props and backdrops as well as a light table. I have a full sensor Nikon D800 camera, strobe lights, and a natural light studio, also known as my dining room, which has a taller table for my shoots.

My process consists of researching and shopping in local food markets to purchase items from local farmers and food producers. I create a scene and shoot it different ways in my studio. This makes my shots more compiled than found and they have a theme for the viewer. They might be based on Mediterranean foods, phytochemicals, food groups, or just one seasonal ingredient like berries. The outcome is an artistic photograph that is inspirational to the viewer. It is a celebration of food as it nourishes the body!

By Judy Doherty, AOS, BS, PC II

As a special treat today, I want to share the printable handout that accompanies the Wise Choices Poster. Take a look!

wisechoicesposterhandout

And here are a few of the fork resources that you can get today!