Portland photographer embraces edible chaos

Portland photographer Isabella Cassini loves food.

“If we look at how much we talk about and photograph and video food in our culture, we love food. I think photographing it and just having a lot of fun and playing with it showcases that even more and especially doing exceptionally fun things with it,” she said.

Cassini also embraces the chaos of life.

“I don’t like to shy away from the ugly parts of life, the painful parts. And oftentimes those can mean chaos,” she said. “Not that I would want to invite it in!”

Cassini combines her love of food and tolerance of chaos into her latest photography project, “Splashes, Crashes, and Smashes.”

In her studio, Cassini takes foods that we normally don’t think go well together, like raw eggs and macaroons, and smashes them against each other.

The result? A beautiful mess.

“I’d like to think that it also invites other people to explore the chaos for themselves. Everything isn’t always pretty and really, we’re just all giant messes on the inside, just like a cracked egg yolk,” she said.

To achieve this, Cassini built two ramps out of wood and plexiglass, and faced them so that when she dropped the food, they would smash together in the middle.

Meanwhile, she has her digital camera set up right in the middle to in an attempt to capture the exact moment the two foods crash together.