While ducking into Powell's bookstore trying to escape Portland's first actually-cold-winter day, I noticed a food styling book on a shelf in the Pearl Room. The Pearl Room tends to be my go-to spot when at Powell's--- for those who have never been, it's the Art & Rare Books room and usually has a new artists' installation showing. Coincidentally, it also houses the mycology section for those of us in the PNW who want to brush up on our mushroom identification skills. If for nothing else, it's worth checking out the current artist on display. Today, though, I'm glad I picked up this book because it led me to discover Justin B. Paris' photography.
What initially caught my eye was a photograph of what looks like churros drizzled with melted chocolate lying on a newspaper which is clearly open to the crossword section. Appealing to the playful pragmatist in me, I loved that he chose to photograph this tasty fried treat on top of a crossword page as if you were sitting in your Sunday jammies at the kitchen table and a plate of churros just happened to fall on the newspaper while you were half-enjoying the weekly puzzle. It's as if to say, you weren't enjoying that puzzle as much as you are now enjoying these delicious churros.
Looking further into his website, a noticeable eye for textures and patterns is apparent. Some of his best images, I think, are those that highlight the varying textures of each element in the image--I like how you can see the blistering skin of a char-grilled pepper and the squeezed pulp of a lime both, equally, in such great detail. His style ranges from playful, such as his "Symbiosis" project that marries two opposing images together (sometimes by a single string), to dreamy (like we see in his image of the morel and chanterelle mushrooms and his quirky-but-realistic portraits of carrots). He is sometimes simplistic, other times chaotic, but always seemingly with a vision. I know nothing more about him than the images of his work that I have seen just today, but thanks to the mysterious Justin B. Paris for inspiring me while I stayed warm in the City of Books and Roses; Bridges and Bikes; Creatives and bomb-ass food.