t’s been a month
of birthdays
for food
photographer
Donna Crous- special
ones at that.
“I’ve got my
daughter’s
18th birthday
tomorrow,” she
says, “so between
trying to work and trying
to get birthday celebrations
organized, I’ve had a busy few days.”
The previous week was her eldest
daughter’s 21st birthday, and if that’s
not enough for one month, Donna
had her own birthday candles to blow
out too, but politeness prevails and
I refrain from asking how many were
on the cake. After this interview, she
will be making her daughter a lemon
and poppy seed birthday cake. It’s a
specific request because medical
and health reasons mean Donna and
her family stick to a wheat-free and
grain-free diet. In addition to that, her
youngest daughter is dairy-free, so
choosing a birthday cake is not a
straightforward affair. But, as Donna
explains, it was these dietary
restrictions that led her into the
astoundingly deep world of food
blogging and photography...
What are the dietary requirements
that you and your family follow?
We follow a Paleo diet, it’s a high-fat,
low-carb diet, so we are totally wheat-
free. That’s how my whole business
started. My youngest daughter is
dairy-free as well and had to go on adiet for medical reasons. This was
about nine years ago when we were
in South Africa. We moved to the UK
five years ago and I was being
inundated with requests for recipes.
It was always the same recipe, and
because I’d just moved here and I
had the time, I thought, ‘let me start
a blog so there’s one central place
where everyone can go and get their
recipe’. From there, the whole thing
just mushroomed to what it is today.How big is your audience now?
I get between 8000 and 10,000 hits
a month, but I don’t do that much
anymore because the photography
has taken over as a full-time
business. Plus, I have a book deal
with a local publisher, so a lot of my
newer recipes that I’m writing are
going into the book and not
straight into the blog.You started by taking snaps
on your iPhone. How did your
interest in photography develop?
I’d done paintings and art for 10
or 15 years, so the principles of
composition and the rule of thirds
all applies whether you’re painting
a picture or photograph. That gaveme a good background for
photography. Then, eight years ago,
my husband booked me into a
course at the Cape Town School of
Photography as a birthday present.What did it teach you?
It was just a six-week course to learn
the basics, but it was enough to
teach me to not rely on Auto. If you
can get yourself off Auto and onto
Manual it opens up a whole new
world of opportunities. I don’t think
I’m a very good writer, so when I
started the blog I realized very
quickly that, for my blog to be
noticed and standout, I needed
exceptional photography. I think with
my husband working with me and the
two of us bumbling our way throughI
Previous page:
Bonfire night apple
cake with caramel
running off.
Slightly messy
food makes the
viewer feel more
comfortable and
connected.Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: 105mm f/2.8
Exposure: 1/8 sec,
f/5, ISO200Below: Taking
a break with tea,
using harsher
sunlight to
play with more
defined shadows.Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8
Exposure: 1/100 sec,
f/8, ISO200Right: Heirloom
tomatoes arranged
to show the
variation of size,
colour and shapes.Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 1/10 sec,
f/5.6, ISO200If you can get yourself
RȨ$XWRDQGRQWR
Manual it opens up a
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opportunities for you
THE N-PHOTO INTERVIEW