I am wrapping up this month’s exploration of patterns with a play session. When young, we are admonished to not play with our food. Aside from the occasional volcano of mashed potatoes and gravy lava I mostly adhered to this rule. But now that I am grown, I have thrown that reprimand out and taken to playing with my food. My idea of “playing with food” these days is styling and taking pictures. My latest subject – citrus, was chosen for the patterns created when cut in a cross-section.
A grapefruit,
a mineola tangelo,
and a mandarin tangerine
are my citrus of choice.
I gathered leaves and cilantro from the yard and had a great time cutting and arranging. The smell – refreshing, and a fun way to kick-off a Saturday for this backyard sister. Citrus still on my mind I had a vision of delving deeper into the pattern created in the segments. So, I rigged up a photo box using an opaque plastic storage bin turned on its side and a clip-on desk light allowing me to place the light facing up inside the box. After slicing the citrus thinner I set them on the box over the light.
The back light allows the segments making up the segments to be visible. What joy! I was made even happier by the adjustment in Photoshop of filling the background with white thus removing any distractions and allowing the fruit slice to stand alone.
These patterns are intriguing to me as well as inspirational. I may create a backdrop based on them.
It reminds me of a stained glass window.
These subjects make a great snack too!
Enjoy!
~ Susan
backyard sisters 
Susan – “A Great Snack”, that can kill you, at least if your read some medication warnings – But then that’s perhaps the beauty of internet advice – anyone can say anything! Comedians get better results when they know their audience.
Vince, you bring up a point I didn’t consider even though my husband is one of those who is taking a medication which interacts with grapefruit and he has eliminated it from his diet. I simply meant to suggest the average person can eat the “citrus subject” rather than throw it out and thus not waste it. However, I am hoping that our audience is intelligent enough to know to avoid citrus if taking medication requiring them to do this. At some point, we are all responsible for our own food choices.
As I was scrolling down the page and admiring the beautiful patterns in the sliced fruit I too thought of stained glass. So intricate the patterns. Thank you for sharing.
Thank-you!
And, Sue, these subjects also make your Dad’s mouth water. What a wonderful imagination you have — your photo box invention is superb, brilliant. Love, Dad and Mom