Food + Family · Julia Busuttil Nishimura

I live in Melbourne with my husband Nori, our eight-month-old son, Haruki, and our cat Momoko. I’m constantly in the kitchen cooking, preserving or baking. I share my recipes over at OSTRO and am always planning new dishes or preparing for upcoming workshops. I also teach Italian and in my spare time curate an online shop of Japanese homewares called Minami with Nori.

I started documenting my cooking when I lived in Italy six years ago – it was really food heaven and I loved taking photographs of the food I would create in my tiny apartment. Although I’ve always been enamoured with food styling and have poured over cookbooks and food magazines since I was really young, it was Italy that sparked my love for food and the desire to document and share it. At first, I shot everything on film, as I had a lot of time to invest in the whole process. I started shooting with an Olympus camera last year when I moved away from film and into digital photography.

The food I love to cook is seasonal and simple, with lots of textures and comforting flavours. For me, food needs to sustain but should also please the senses – it should always be a visual feast. My favourite meals to prepare are the ones where we’re all in the kitchen for hours together – it’s a real joy! I tend not to mess around with the flavours too much, and prefer to see and taste the food for what it should be.

While I’ve always been snap happy, since having Haruki, my camera has become an extension of myself. Everyday he changes, learning something new, and I never want to miss a thing, so am always trying to catch those special moments. I particularly love capturing moments between Nori and Haruki – the way they look at each other is like nothing else!

I loved using the Olympus PEN-F camera for these shots – it was even more compact than my usual Olympus and was comfortable to use. The ability to change lenses was useful for different situations. For my food and family shots, I like to use a 45mm 1.8 prime lens – great for capturing the fine details!

For this series, I was inspired by the notion of home. For me, home is my family and my food. It is where our lives are right now, and it is lovely. My happiest days are spent here with Nori and Haru, cooking, chatting, eating, gardening and just being us, a new little family! Now that I spend more time at home, I take great pleasure in appreciating the small and quiet moments.

For the true camera enthusiast. The Masterpiece : Olympus PEN F.