This Month through my Lens #1

Egg Photography | Learning the new word 'Nabokovian' | GF bread that doesn't taste of sand | Juliette Binoche cooking gourmet food

Hello! And welcome to the first monthly newsletter from Lens Soup.

My aim with these is to share the things that have caught my eye in the world of Food and Photography, and occasionally other random things that I think this Lens Soup community would love.

Early April sits in that slightly hesitant space where you are still bubbling vats of soup on a weekly basis in an attempt to comfort eat your way through the driving rain, but also grabbing every stick of Rhubarb and Asparagus that you see and holding it aloft on Instagram shouting “Look - Spring is here” like a demented Hare.

©Kirstie Young

I try to make the best of both worlds by sitting outside wearing a minimum of three layers while eating a massive, warming bowl of stew. This weekend the stew of choice was Lamb Stew with Pearl Barley and Wild Garlic from the Julius Roberts cookbook The Farm Table which totally hit that sweet spot of using bright spring ingredients but in a recipe full of cold weather warmth. It’s a great riff on a traditional Irish Stew, and a brilliant use of that handful of Wild Garlic I grab on every dog walk at this time of year. I can’t find an online version of the recipe to share I’m afraid so do treat yourself to the book, or here is an equally delicious spring recipe of his of Lamb with Wild Garlic Butter and Spring Salad to try.

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Five things that grabbed my attention this month

• Challenge

April is a month that I look for ways to kickstart some creativity, to drag myself out of my Hygge mindset and into a much brighter one. As a Food photographer I love looking at different ways to shoot those “weekly shop” type ingredients for maximum impact, so was really inspired by this piece on Egg Photography on the Pink Lady Food Photographer website.

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• Recipe.

I recently met Bristol based GlutenFree blogger Laura Strange to shoot some portraits for her new book Eat and Enjoy Gluten Free, which I hugely recommend. Her website is an absolute treasure trove for Gluten dodgers like me, especially her bread recipes.

I have tried a LOT of GF bread, and this one really hit the spot when I needed an old school soft white loaf (just add chips and tomato ketchup for that perfect Saturday lunch hangover cure!). Her cookbook seems to be half price in certain online stores at the moment, so if you are choosing to avoid gluten for whatever reason then this is definitely worth a look

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• Inspiration.

  Art Photographer Stephen Shore is someone whose work can definitely divide a crowd.

Tennessee Williams wrote about his images saying “His work is Nabokovian for me: Exposing so much, and yet leaving so
much room for your imagination to roam and do what it will."

Once I had looked up what on earth Nabokovian means (“Having a sense of the absurd” apparently) I spent a curious half hour down the digital rabbit hole looking at his version of street photography. There is a really interesting video from MoMA of the photographer talking about his work, which is a great way to spend 10 minutes if you’re interested in understanding his process.

Image from Transparencies by Stephen Shore

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• Film

  I spent a delicious 2+ hours in the cinema watching lavish foodie romance “The Taste of Things” , a deliberately slow paced love letter to unconventional romance and gastronomic pleasure. The whole film is like a choreographed dance between the camera, the cooking and the characters, and I was mesmorized.

  The opening sequence is the making of an elaborate meal in almost real time, and most of the film takes place in the kitchen or the dining room. Definitely don’t show up to this one hungry, and do take a cushion - it’s really loooong!

  Here’s the trailer to quite literally whet your appetite. I saw this in the cinema, but it’s a really limited release so if you can’t find it in your local, then it’s also available to rent on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

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• Cookbook

  I have earmarked a LOT of the recipes from talented stylist turned Cookbook author Anna Shepherd’s first cookbook “Love Vegetables”. I particularly loved the “Liveners” chapter as I’m a sucker for having a pot of intense flavour sat in the fridge ready to perk everything up. And just look at this absolute riot of a cover. (She also writing an A-Z of Veg right here on Substack, so do take a look)

• I also picked up Salt of the Earth: Secrets and Stories From a Greek Kitchen by Carolina Doriti recently. The recipes are more than just a collection of ingredients, they really dig into the story and tradition of each dish, and the photography is a real love letter to the ingredients and landscape of Greece and the Greek Islands. This is exactly how I’m hoping the food will be in Paxos when I head there this summer, but until then I’m happy to live vicariously through the pages of this sun soaked beauty of a book.

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Next week : The first in the Quick Photography Tips series.