Leek Soup – Dina Avila, Photographer

I’m stuck in the depths of Lacuna. It arrived in the mail two weeks ago, a surprise package from a beautiful and generous friend. Lacuna is one of those books you think about throughout the day. Not only do my thoughts wander to the characters, but Barbara Kingsolver’s prose gently dance in my mind as if the words were sliding down silk. The hero in Lacuna spends some time in Mexico with Frida and Diego. Two of my favorite artist. Have you ever seen a Frida Kahlo or Diego Rivera painting in real life? It will stop you in your tracks. Passionate, raw, moving. Much like Kingsolver’s portrayal of her characters. Especially Frida.

Food is also a character thus far in the book. A minor character, to be sure, but with a noticeable presence. At least to someone who spends a lot of time thinking about food.

I sometimes wonder how a character develops in an author’s mind. I imagine the initial personality is birthed and then it just runs off on it’s own from there. Kind of like children, I think.

Photography, and often cooking, is the same. I find I usually have a preconceived idea of how I want to photograph something, and I inevitably always end up somewhere else altogether.

I initially planned to work an Indian or Middle Eastern angle with Coconut Bliss. I wanted to reflect the original vibe I got from the packaging with bright, red, decorated bowls for the ice cream to rest in. Instead, I found I reached for the more delicate colors in my cupboard. Soft blues and whites, with a splash of red here and there. When you taste Coconut Bliss, you expect and explosion of coconut in your mouth, instead, while the presence of coconut is pleasantly the predominant flavor, I find it is gentle on the palate carrying just a hint of agave sweetness, with the essence of vanilla , or whichever flavor you’ve chosen, lingering on your tongue. By the way, that includes all  three of the ingredients for their Vanilla Island.

I would imagine that is what true bliss is: gentle, sincere, kind happiness. Served on a tiny silver spoon :)

I decided to photograph Coconut Bliss for two reasons, one it’s yummy and it was an excuse to have some in the freezer. Two, I wanted a bit more practice making pictures of ice cream. Ice cream can be trying to photograph. Fortunately, I work with natural light unless the shoot calls for lights, so the melt rate was a bit slower. Unfortunately, I only bought two pints of Coconut Bliss. Meaning right when I was starting to warm up and the ideas started flowing, the shoot was pretty much over. Once the ice cream starts to soften, you lose that beautiful ice cream texture and it looks, well, like melting ice cream.

I guess I just need to go pick up more Coconut Bliss!

Cheers!