Experiencing a salad, like so many things in life, is something that we often take for granted… seldom giving it much thought.
In many parts of the developed world we just assume that things are going to be there for us. Food in our local supermarket. Electricity when we flip a switch. A roof over our heads to protect us from the elements. Heat for our homes. Medicine at the pharmacy.
This is not the reality that faces billions of people around the world each day.
Some time ago I began purposely experiencing a salad differently than I had in the past. I decided to forgo salad dressing. Choosing instead to focus on the taste and texture of the various ingredients that I consume.
Each food has its own place on my lunch plate. I usually consume each ingredient completely… then go on to the next… rather than mixing them together. This allows me to concentrate on their individual tastes and textures. Doing that somehow makes the tastes more intense. The textures more detailed. My appreciation for each is enhanced.
Often as I’m experiencing a salad, I think about the good fortune that I have in my life. I have food. I have shelter. I have medical care should I ever need it. I have love that I share with the special people in my life.
Experiencing a salad is something that you can do with me… but on a visual basis through macro photography.









Experiencing a salad can be a routine and common place event. It is the perspectives that we bring to life that can transform what appears to be an ordinary occurrence… into something more.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process.
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Hi Tom,
I think the world needs more articles and posts like these. As I live in the other part of the world, these are matters not easily taken for granted though sometimes, even my fellow countrymen may do so. In any case, the pandemic exposed what should’ve been glaring and obvious — that fresh, out-of-season veggies we enjoy for salads are not without fuel and other unseen costs. To each his own way of acknowledgment but I sit down and pray to the Creator to bless each and everyone involved in every meal I have. For a salad, that means the farmer who grows them, the people who transport them, the sellers at the market, I mean the whole supply chain in modern parlance. Your wonderful photography captures the vividness and detail of what we oftentimes put in our mouths for sustenance.
Oggie
http://www.lagalog.com
Hi Oggie,
Thank you for adding your perspectives to the article… always appreciated!
Tom
Hi Tom,
This is yet another version of “carpe diem”!
I love it.
Yoshi
Thanks Yoshi… I appreciate your comment!
Tom