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Food for Thought
As a society, we adore food. Food is nourishment for the body, mind, and soul. It is as essential to life as breathing, and a great deal of our memories revolve around food. We spend a lot of time trying to decide what to eat, and where to eat it. Food is an integral part of our rituals, traditions and relationships. Women especially equate cooking and baking food as an extension of their love for family. With the holidays coming, isn’t it time to make some great memories about your family and food? If that is not enough to convince you, just imagine how much fun you could have photographing a subject that actually holds still for five minutes. Here are some examples to get you thinking of how to get more food into your layouts: Hey Mikey!
Every family has one: a picky eater, the kid who is notorious for turning up his nose at everything and anything new. Record that long list of dislikes, as well as the much-appreciated favorites. How has that picky eater evolved as a teenager, and as an adult? The Chef Extraordinaire
Certainly every family has an esteemed chef. Most of the time we call her Mom, but occasionally there are others who are culinary geniuses. You will want to record their favorite recipes and the process involved in the journey to Grandma’s famous fudge. Recording these recipes for future generations is vital to continuing family food traditions. Documenting your relationship to the chef is critical. The Outsider
What about that person who can’t cook? You know, that adult who should never even attempt to boil water. Documenting all the creative ways they have found to avoid cooking can be educational and entertaining. The Addict
Be sure to catch that family member, friend or co-worker sneaking a fix of their must-have food addiction. Chocolate usually ranks high on the list, and several scrapbooking companies now have patterned paper depicting chocolate kisses and bars. There are also papers with other well-known, must-have candies and sweets. Out to Lunch
One of the best phrases in the English language is: “Let’s go out to eat.” Let’s face it, the busier life gets the more time we spend eating out in restaurants. Restaurants provide great atmosphere and ambiance. Plus, food prepared by professionals is, well, professional looking! Chefs have long known that presentation is everything as they tempt us to try foods we otherwise would not have. What are your families’ favorite places to dine, and why? What does everyone like to order at a favorite restaurant? Is it a Friday night tradition to go for pizza or ice cream? The Food and Memory Connection
Pictures of food put us in the mood. It’s true that photos of food connect us to our senses, which in turn triggers fond memories. Using your sense of sight, you can draw on your memory of smell, taste, touch, texture, and possibly sound. Having hard evidence in photos of Aunt Katherine’s cookies will help you remember the details about your time with her. Smelling cinnamon will forever be associated with Christmas morning for me, and seeing pictures of cinnamon rolls never fails to trigger that same memory. A Love/Hate Relationship
Make sure you get some pictures of your family eating their favorite fare. This is just one aspect of what makes us all unique. Some of us have a love/hate relationship with food. Don’t forget to record food allergies, and the interesting stories of discovery that always accompany them. First-time food experiences (good and bad) for children make great scrapbook pages as well. The Maid Dilemma
Who has to clean up the mess? Cooking inevitably ends in cleaning. Be sure to get your family in their natural form: being messy. Snap a shot of spilled ketchup or cereal, that infamous spaghetti stain that is now a part of your carpet’s history, and the Jell-O war that broke out in 2004. Document and enjoy the process of making dinner one night from start to finish, with photos detailing each step along the way. Just don’t forget to include clean-up duty.  So, what food should you start photographing? The answer is anything and everything. However, there are some foods that are more interesting to shoot. Here are just a few:
- Pictures of vegetables from the garden, or just brought in from the store have a pastoral magnificence. Groceries and the never-ending shopping list that are so much a part of our daily lives also make great layouts.
- Photos of baked goods always seem to turn out well. Some timeless examples include cookies, brownies, muffins, cupcakes, whole or solitary pieces of cake, slices of pie, and donuts. (See example 1.)
- Pictures of Halloween candy will be interesting to look at 10 to 20 years from now, to compare what was popular when your children were young and to document how the packaging might change.
- Photos of ethnic or American fast food are great examples of contemporary pop art. Everyone can relate to a picture of McDonalds french fries. Take some pictures of food that might be quirky too. In the 2nd example layout, I’ve documented how sharing sushi has brought my husband and I closer together, even though we don’t always agree on which rolls to order.
Just be sure to try out lots of different angles and viewpoints when photographing food. Shadows are, as always, the biggest obstacle, so lighting placement is important. When possible, shoot without a flash. If you are at a loss for a page design, pull out your cooking magazines and/or your recipe books with photos. They specialize in making food the appetizing focal point. Perhaps you are more in the mood to visit the fridge now than to scrapbook, but take your camera along. You might find something or someone interesting in the kitchen, worthy of a mouthwatering and heartfelt scrapbooking page.
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