This Month through my Lens #6
Endless Lists, Butter-centric stories, Badass Women and Earth, Wind and Fire
Hello! And welcome back to the 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 random things that I think this Lens Soup community might love.
©Kirstie Young
The Autumn switch has been fully flicked hasn’t it? And I’ve got to be honest, I’m not hating it. I love the whole new season, new start-ness of September, full of plans and good intentions. Where January feels bleak, like someone has prematurely pulled the plug on all the fun and sparkly lights, September feels like fresh paint. I love the sense of a new slate rolling out ahead of me after a summer of no structure. I’m ready to fall into a routine.
©Kirstie Young
There is also a sense of running out of time, and needing to squeeze the living daylights out of the next couple of months before the cold and the dark encourage us to indulge in that most fabulous of Danish concepts, 1Hygge, and I’m anxious to fit in as much as possible before the (wonderful!) chaos of December followed by the hunkering down of January.
I have lists that multiply daily - Shopping Lists, Recipe lists, Life Goal lists, Books to read lists, events to book lists. Not everything will happen, but with each thing that is ticked off a sense of enormous well being comes over me that I am, finally, if only briefly, getting organised. Which, for someone as happily unorganised as I am, is a fairly novel and surprising emotion.
5 Things that grabbed my attention this month
Cookbook
Early Autumn mornings are my happy place, and Breakfast plays a big part in this. I’ve been playing around with some new ones from the Emily English Book “So Good” and am now rotating my two favourites
Porridge with Orange and Dark Chocolate - Adding 1Tbsp Cinnamon, the juice and Zest of an orange and a teaspoon of honey to your porridge and then topping with a square of Dark Chocolate. (I know. It’s outrageous)
Eggy Bread with Tomato Salsa. Savoury and sweet, the perfect ying and yang of a dish.
Book
Two very different ones on the go this month. I read the first one on a beach in Greece, which could not have been more perfect as a setting.
This is the brilliant Greek Mythology retelling of Helen of Troy’s lesser-known sister, Clytemnestra. She was a Spartan warrior, wife, devoted mother, Queen and Murderess and there are definitely Lady Macbeth vibes running through this story. It is a feminist tale set in a patriarchal society, and I absolutely loved it.
The second book is something a lot more niche and quirky. Butter by Asako Yuzuki is a Japanese novel based on the true story of a famed female chef convicted as the serial killer of lonely businessmen - but it’s so much more than that. It’s a commentary on the joy of food, and the impossible standards that Japanese women in particular are held to. It delves into hunger in all it’s forms - for food, for connection, for friendship, and for acceptance. It’s extraordinary, and more than a little unsettling, but its really engaging in a part true crime novel, part love letter to fine dining kind of way!
Film
I’m really excited about the new Kate Winslet film about Lee Miller, simply called “Lee”. Lee Miller was an absolute badass female photographer in the 1940’s. Initially famous as a fashion model, she became a photographer, apprenticing with Man Ray and making a name for herself as a surrealist artist. In an unlikely twist, she becomes a female frontline war correspondents, for British Vogue of all things. She captured the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, including Dachau and Buchenwald. She deserves to be way better known; her photography is extraordinary and hopefully this film will capture that. I heard Kate Winslet in an interview describing how the camera that she used, the very unforgiving Rolleiflex, meant that she was always looking into the eyes of the person she was photographing, as a rolleiflex is operated at chest height. That’s something a lot of good portrait photographers do, but it has stuck with me how that must have felt when those eyes belonged to a concentration camp survivor.
Rice Water - wtf?
Has anyone else become aware of the cult of drinking Rice Water. The idea that drinking the the starchy water left over after rice is cooked is the magic bullet for shiny hair, good gut bacteria, weight loss and many other things. Typing Rice Water into google is a veritable rabbit hole, and one that I went fairly far down if I’m honest. I will never be drinking a glass of this, life is far too short for that potentially germ ridden pond water, but I’m curious about the science behind this and would love to hear any of your takes on this? Natural health elixir or snake oil?
What I’m Listening to
I mean, the perfect song for this moment in the year has to be “September” by Earth Wind and Fire, right?
Do you remember
The 21st night of September?
Love was changin’ the minds of pretenders
While chasin’ the clouds away
Our hearts were ringin’
In the key that our souls were singin’
As we danced in the night, remember
How the stars stole the night away, oh, yeah
Food Festival
I’m off to Ludlow Food Festival this weekend. A solo trip in the Campervan, to meet up with mates, to eat all the delicious things, and to capture it all on camera. Do say hello if you see me around the site, I’d love to meet some of you IRL!
Coming Up
In the spirit of September being the month that I am super organised, here are a couple highlights coming up this month
A live zoom meet up. This will be a free to attend Q&A session with myself and food stylist and writer Fern Green about shooting her latest cookbook. Fern has written over 20 books, and this is the 4th one I have shot with her, so this should be a brilliant insight into the process. We want to keep the numbers limited so everyone has an opportunity to ask questions so booking will open up to paid subscribers first, and if there is space we can throw the doors open to free subscribers too.
A sneak preview and chance to book one of only 10 spots on an amazing retreat that I am teaching at next year. It is going to be epic!
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https://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/things-do/danish-culture/what-hygge
Perfectly timed as Lee has just showed up at out local cinema and I was wondering what it was about - thank you! I covet your camper...every few weeks I pour a glass of something and get on autotrader and live an imaginary other life
Have heard so many good things about butter. And also thrilled by the prospect of Lee: Winslet looks perfect for the role. And big fan of that turn into autumn too, and a little order, even if the house is now one child fewer for it!