An apple

I think I may have found yet another writer's block defeating exercise - find a beautiful photograph or painting - food related of course - and write about it.

Yesterday I commented that I love getting cook books for Christmas and that I would indulge myself, once the hustle and bustle of Christmas was done, with sitting down and reading - or flicking through them. One doesn't read every word in a cook book. So today I indulged and came across this stunning photograph of an apple in Belinda Jefferey's book Mix and Bake. It was so striking for me that I just had to do something with it. So simple and yet so effortlessly conveying the essence of apples. I wonder how long it took to compose it and how many shots were taken before the perfect one was chosen. And note the little beads of water on the side that just finish it off. And the leaf - which is not as fresh and new as the apple and therefore has hints of mortality about it.

There are very possibly very many decisions and choices that went into taking it. No doubt they tried different containers - different apples. They might have moved the apple about - and the others in the background too. Decided on a close up of one apple as opposed to a photo of a group of them. The lighting was no doubt crucial. Maybe there are all sorts of complicated lights that we can't see. (And I still haven't learnt how to blur the background with my new camera. I really must look into it because it is so useful for lots of things - portraits of people for example.) And why did they choose to photograph an apple anyway? Well it is the featured photograph for a chapter on cakes made with fruit, so it is logical I guess. But think about it for a moment - there could have been a whole range of other choices - from one of the cakes, to other fruits, to fruit and cake together ...

But they (who?) chose to give us a portrait of an apple. The essence of apple. At least that's what it looks like to me. I should say that the author lives in the Queensland countryside, and the book is very heavily 'homely' and nostalgic with an emphasis on simple and easy - and, of course, delicious. So there are a lot of photographs of old teapots, silverware, cutlery, etc. throughout the book. Sort of Country Women's Association stuff. Thus the picture fits into the overall feel of the book. I mean in many ways I guess an apple sums up the whole tone of the book when you think about it. As for who did the choosing - well I guess it was either the book's designer or the photographer, or the two in combination. I doubt the cook herself had much say.

Perhaps another reason I liked it is that it looks so simple that one is encouraged to have a go and take similar photographs oneself. But I'm willing to bet that when I do give it a go - as I surely will someday - that it won't be anywhere near as good. I shall get something annoying in the background, there will be reflections I don't want, it will be out of focus ... All manner of things will be wrong. And I guess that is the nature of talent isn't it - difficult, complicated things made to look easy - and you can apply that to anything.

And the whole book emphasises easy - so again, the choice of something as simple and basic as an apple is of a piece with the overall drift of the book. Which has some mouth-watering recipes in it I must say. And she did make it all sound so easy that I want to rush off and make some of them straight away. But I won't do that because we have too much food in the fridge anyway. Next week when it's all eaten, frozen or thrown away (I hope not this last one).

I liked it anyway. It gave me enormous pleasure - just the simplicity of the beauty or should I say the beauty of the simplicity? Like this poem from Kahlil Gibran:

“And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart: Your seeds shall live in my body, And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart, And your fragrance shall be my breath, And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.” Kahlil Gibran

And as a footnote - Apple the company makes a big thing of striving for perfection - and the apple has become a symbol of this. Though it does have a bite out of it - I must think about that. The apple was so seductively tempting after all that Eve ate the apple and started the whole misery of human history in the Garden of Eden.