I’m changing things up today to show you some of the work I completed in 2014 beyond what I posted on this blog and Craftsy. The beginning of last year was when my freelance career really started. I have been very fortunate to work with some amazing companies who have helped make my job incredibly rewarding and fun. I absolutely love what I do!

These jobs have really pushed my creative side as both a photographer and recipe developer.

Now let’s get on to the work!

My first project with Greens Plus was for product photography. They were rebranding all of their bars and needed new photos of the boxes and then the bars.

I took individual photos of all 11 boxes and then some group shots for the different categories they have for their bars. This was one of the group shots.

After the product photography was complete it was time to photograph the bars. They let me have a lot of creative freedom with the bar and ingredient photos. I used the main ingredients in each bar (4-5 ingredients) and styled them in a few different ways for each of the 11 bars.

This was messy and fun.

And delicious. I can’t tell you how many of these bars and ingredients I ate.

I’m working on another new project with Greens Plus that I’ll tell you about soon. For many of these projects I have to wait weeks or months to talk about them if a new product is involved or they’re waiting for a certain season to release a recipe.

Another company I worked for last year was, Ancient Harvest. I completed 2 seasonal projects for them that highlighted their products in all different ways (breakfast, dinner, dessert, snacks, etc.). The recipes and photos were used for media events, on their recipe database, and for other marketing purposes.

Below was a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts using their quinoa flour. One of the most exciting parts of working with AH was helping them define their photography style. We landed on a rustic, slightly moody feel, but still nice and bright.

Another recipe with Ancient Harvest for Quinoa Tortilla Chip Crusted Onion Rings.

I took about 3-4 different shots for each recipe.

This shot was for an Apple Pear Quinoa Bake. I highly recommend you try it!

A few other recipes I created for Ancient Harvest that you may be interested in: Vegetarian Quinoa Lentil Loaf, Linguine with Roasted Butternut Squash Sauce and Crispy Sage, Rosemary Sweet Potato Quinoa Patties, Pesto Caprese Pasta Salad.

I’ve just started working on project #3 with Ancient Harvest featuring their new bean and quinoa pastas!

Next up!

I worked on a few freelance projects for Simply Organic this past year. This is an an example of a project I completed in October but it just went live for Valentine’s Day.

I was tasked with creating a granola recipe using cinnamon + cardamom and I have to say this is my favorite granola recipe ever. It also lasts for months in the fridge!

Homemade Granola with Cinnamon, Cardamom + Maple

The second Valentine’s Day recipe was for a crepe recipe featuring their dried rosemary. The rosemary was balanced with orange zest and they’re topped with an easy pomegranate syrup.

Orange Rosemary Crepes with Pomegranate Syrup (not GF)

And the last project I’m going to highlight today was for the savory granola bar company, Slow Food for Fast Lives. They make 4 different savory bars and wanted the ingredients highlighted in bowls with a clean, white background.

I had a blast styling these shots! (They’re not updated on their site just yet.)

Here are a few from the shoot…

So that was just a small peek into what my freelance work looked like in 2014. I worked with a handful of other companies on similar types of projects and am excited to continue on the same path in 2015.

Beyond recipe development, food photography, and product photography, I was also able to do some photography teaching this year. Earthbound Farm flew me to CA to teach a few of their staff members all about food photography and editing in Lightroom. I did the same thing locally for Small Planet Foods. Pretty rad!

I can’t really describe the feeling seeing my photography on websites, product packaging (coming soon!!!), coupons, marketing materials, etc. It still doesn’t feel real. It was almost exactly 6 years ago when Chris bought our first “fancy camera,” and I completely wrote off learning how to use it. I told him there were way too many buttons!

Ohhh, how things can change.

I’ll try to give an update on my freelance work few times a year if you’re interested in seeing it!

Happy Wednesday!

Ashley

3 Grain Breakfast Porridge

gluten-free, vegan // serves 1

1 heaping cup pre-cooked 3 grain blend

1/3 – 1/2 cup nut milk

optional toppings: apple, walnuts, cinnamon, full fat coconut milk, cinnamon, maple syrup

Place cooked grains in a small pot with 1/3 cup milk over medium heat. Stir once in awhile until hot. Add more milk if desired. Serve and top as desired.

I highly recommend a good drizzle of full fat coconut milk, cinnamon, and maple syrup.