juicy and luscious, these seeds are glorious

cut-open pom, originally uploaded by shaunaforce.

Look at that richness. Whenever I look at foods closely, I’m astonished by them.

I’ve been planning a post on pomegranates for days, after going on a photographic spree this weekend with pomegranates. When light spills in from the skylights, I grab the camera and start taking photographs of every food in my kitchen. And this week, a plump pomegranate lay at the bottom of my organics produce box. How could I resist? Even if it did mean hobbling and hopping on one foot to take the shot.

I’ve been constrained from writing fully by the need to finish writing evaluations for school. Essentially, this means turning in my grades. I don’t want to talk about it. That’s school. I just need to finish them before I can go back to my lovely world of food blogging, fully.

But I had to pause to put up this little notice: I’ve won a photography competition! Every month, one food blogger hosts Does My Blog Look Good in This? An international round-up of food bloggers’ favorite shots from the previous month. This month, Aun from the inimitable Chubby Hubby is hosting. And I was thrilled to find out this morning that my photograph won the Originality category! Whoo-hoo!

Now, I don’t mean to crow. And I’m not. More, I’m astonished. Six months ago, you could never have told me that taking photographs of food would be one of my top passions. But it is. I love the close observation, the dancing with light, the quiet concentration. I love how taking photographs with my little digital camera forces me to really look at the world, akin to the way that writing does, but different. I wrote about it here, and my love for it has only grown since then.

But more than that, I’m thrilled for the contents of this site. Societally, people tend to think of a gluten-free diet as drab, pre-packaged, and destined for a pallid life. But it doesn’t have to be like that. I have found (and I’ve been sharing it with you here for months now) that a gluten-free diet has yielded deep creativity in the kitchen, paying attention to food in ways I never did before, and the best meals I have ever eaten. And the joys of this blog. So I’m thrilled that a gluten-free photograph won part of this competition. I hope that it inspires you.

Now, back to writing evaluations. More on pomegranates soon.