Emily Heller's new portfolio, Shelf Life, contains photographs that are so sophisticated, luminous, elegant and arresting. I marvel at how these everyday objects are brought to a whole different level thru the use of light, composition and color. In Emily's words...

"These photographs expose the ironies and contradictions of our relationship to food through exploring the tension between moderation and indulgence, the natural and industrial, the ordinary and the unsettlingly strange. A conflict exists between the seductiveness of the photograph and the banality of the object. There are no bright colors, no earthy textures but we still recognize our own eating habits in the forms. The objects continue to be desirable, enticing, and luxurious despite the fact that it is the antithesis of food photography. Eating is a visual experience but what happens when it no longer looks appetizing or is even recognizable as food? How can we reconcile our continuing hunger and desire for more?"