Sunday, January 25, 2009

I Honor the Twin Stars of My Day: Baking & Cooking

I had a moment the other day when I realized that I've been working as a baker for 14 years. I had no idea that my first job at the Hometown Bakery with Dan and Mary Lang in Morris, Minnesota would lead to such a wonderful career. As a visual artist I don't think it's much of a stretch for me to love the beautiful, process oriented world of pastry... at long last these two worlds have collided in a photograph of my own hands at work.

The world in which I could make a portrait of myself as a baker - in the way I love to make portraits, in the moment - does not exist. I am so often on the other side of the camera or lost in thought as I roll dough or I'm covered in a goo that has no business near a camera that I never truly imagined the power of seeing myself, my hands, at work in a photo like this. I like it.

*photo by Katy Gerdes

2 comments:

Cosmic Monkey said...

It is odd to realize what you do, what you like, what you want out of life, and that you have been kind of ignoring all the realities of life because you are following somebody else's idea of what life should, i.e. successful by standards that someone else created. I am a cook and gardener and that is what I like to do, and I like a lot of other things too, but mainly I cook, eat, garden, and enjoy the natural world.

conniewonnie13 said...

For a long time I thought I was supposed to be an "Artist" and that working as a baker was not only not a viable career choice but not even worth considering... Doing something that I love, have come to love, has been deeply rewarding in so many ways I never imagined.

"When you do the work that by your nature is your calling, you are worshiping the creator of all beings who is omnipresent, and thus you attain perfection." -Bhagavad-Gita