Just got the fall issue of Biztech Magazine in the mail, which contains a portrait of Paul Valentino I took earlier this summer.

Paul runs vCommunity Trust, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help people complete IT certifications who wouldn’t be able to afford the training otherwise. Great guy, addressing a real need in the tech world.

One of the great things about studio food photography is the chance to collaborate with people across disciplines: food as art, image as art. A couple months ago I had another opportunity to play with Rachel Sherwood on some personal work.

My colleague Nate Ryan was nice enough to swing by and film a little behind the scenes of the day, and I think he did a good job of conveying how a food shot comes together: the experimentation with composition, ingredients, and propping, then the careful preparation of the ‘hero’ dish and capture of the final shot.

Behind the Scenes: Chicken with Rachel from Chris Bohnhoff on Vimeo.

Thanks to Rachel and Nate for the chance to create together.

When I arrive at a location shoot and I’m greeted with cookies and coffee, I can pretty much guarantee it’s gonna be a good day. Same story with donuts, come to think of it…

I arrived at the home of Pat and David Barker last week for the Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation and immediately felt like family. We talked (over cookies) for a good 20 minutes before the topic of our shoot even came up, swapping stories of the babies in our lives (their two week old great granddaughter, my seven month old son), and about their passion for helping homeless youth, which grew out of Pat’s tenure as a high school science teacher, when she discovered how prevalent teenage homelessness is.

I saw this picture as I was packing up after the bulk of our shoot, and had to unpack and take another minute to capture it. I’m so glad I did.

The work I do with nonprofits is so important to my professional life. Not only do I get to meet people who do amazing, selfless work, and help tell compelling stories that the public desperately needs to hear, but also I invariably leave nonprofit projects reinvigorated, both in terms of my photography and my faith in the basic goodness of humanity. I’m in the very lucky position of meeting amazing people like the Barkers on a regular basis. It’s the number one reason I’m a photographer.

It’s been ridiculously, unseasonably warm in Minneapolis this month. Like, tulip bulbs sprouting because they think it’s Spring kind of warm. So it’s fitting that this week I drew a nice hydroponic English cucumber from the Heartland Market produce bin this morning. The cucumber just doesn’t seem like a wintertime vegetable: the green, the crispness, the juiciness. It’s a little taste of a warmer time, now to be enjoyed year-round.

I go through long stretches when I forget how good cabbage is. Probably because when it’s warm outside I generally eat it is as slaw, and that gets boring. Then the snow falls, and the CSA dumps five cabbages on us, and I rediscover the sweet joy of braised cabbage. This year’s discovery has been this easy one-dish meal:

Large dice any combination of sweet potatoes, rutabaga, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, onions, and fennel so that you’ve got a nice layer on the bottom of a dutch oven. Toss with olive oil and salt & pepper, and bake at 450 for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, take a few of your favorite sausages, slice, and brown.

After 30 minutes of roasting the veggies, add the sausage and 2 cups of chicken broth, and roast for another 15 minutes. Bam!

As with so many vegetables, cabbage is so beautiful because of the textural contrasts – the smooth, almost waxy outer leaves, and the amazing layers that emerge when you cut in to it. Good stuff.