/ V HCLE
/ IS S U E 10
For me, digital is not a tangible thing. It’s just a file. You can delete it and it’s like it was never there and then no one will ever know you took it. That always made me not care about it. With film you have a negative. It could get scratched up but that sometimes makes it better. When I was visiting my family in Chicago we went to my great-great grandpa’s house and they had old film in metal little canisters. I had the film and you could see it and it was a moment in my life. I don’t think people will ever have the same reaction to finding old digital files as they would finding that negative; being able to put the film in your pocket and it’s yours.
by yourself. It’s kind of hard for me to meet people anyways. I don’t know why but I’ve often got that I’m intimidating because I’m not really paying attention to other people. I’m always on my own so it didn’t really affect me.
Do you print your work?
What inspires a shoot?
With digital I don’t ever print. I don’t like to have anything on my walls. I just put some old family photos up. I take the negatives and just scan them to put on my blog.
I’ll look online at recipe sites or I’m really hungry and I’m like, “wow I really want some scones!” So I’ll make scones and have to find a way to photograph them. If I make it and just eat it, I honestly feel bad. I feel like I miss an opportunity. It’s often based on hunger, looking at sites or even going to a farmer’s market. I found pink pearl apples one time at the San Francisco market when my co-worker told me. The apple’s flesh is pink. You can only get them a few weeks in the summer and then you can’t find them anymore. So I bought those and had to do a photo shoot with them.
You studied photography in Sacramento at Sac State, then moved back to your hometown of Benicia to where you live now in St. Helena. Has the transition from Sacramento to St. Helena have an impact on you in anyway? I wouldn’t really say so because I find food photography… not lonely, but you’re there
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In terms of access to food, is it more accessible in St. Helena? Well, everything I photograph I make, but yes, it’s more convenient. Here, there are a lot better quality stuff. You can get amazing cheeses, etc. I can walk down the block and go to a great cheese shop.