Meet Lisa Nichols

We recently connected with Lisa Nichols and have shared our conversation below.

Lisa, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I have to say I got my resilience from a couple of sources, first from my mother, Sandy. She was an amazing mother and made our childhood creative and vibrant. We grew up in rural Vermont, and when we were little, my parents had a huge garden. My Mom would have us help in the planting and care of the large garden, sometimes to our opposition. Then she would make amazing things from the bounty of the plantings: jams and relishes, fresh yogurt with raspberries, and pickles, both sweet and tangy. She’d bake bread and make granola for us. Have us create Christmas ornaments from scratch and sew our Halloween costumes and clothes. It was a busy bustling and creative home for a good amount of time.
Then as happens, we had a major change in our lives and my Mom had to take on all the responsibility of raising myself and my two siblings. It was hard and took her out of the home more. We were older and could care for ourselves more, but we could see the toll working more out of the home took on her. But she never stopped. She worked long and hard at two jobs starting at 8 am and sometimes not getting home until 10 pm for many years. She did what she had to do to care for us with no hesitation and to great sacrifice on her part.
As a result of this example, we learned that we had to provide for ourselves, be self-reliant, and go for what we wanted and needed. We all started working as soon as we could, partly to help alleviate the burden on her. For me, I wanted to buy cool clothes, and my job at a local clothing store not only provided money but a great employee discount! We never felt we lacked anything material and had my Mom’s fierce and deep love around us.
I find the other source of resilience from within. I want to be a successful photographer because I love what I do so much. I love exploring the food industry and the people behind it. I have no solid idea where it comes from, but I suspect it is tied to those childhood days in Vermont watching my Mom craft a loaf of braided bread by hand. Seeing her decorate storybook gingerbread cookies that were Martha Stewart-worthy way before Martha Stewart was a thing. Food photography combines my roots in the kitchen with my Mom with my love of storytelling and image making. That means the world to me and keeps me easily going.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a food photographer. I specialize in working with people in the food and hospitality industry creating images of what they do so well.
The people in the food service industry are some of the hardest-working people I have ever met. They spend years perfecting their craft, which is a combination of creativity and science, to feed others. They are deeply passionate and endlessly innovative. The process of making a dish intrigues me and capturing the steps to a soup or a cocktail can be one of the most interesting things to witness.
In my role, I work primarily with restaurants who have me come in to capture their dishes and drinks. I photograph the process, the plating, and the final product to be used on websites, social media, and marketing materials. I’ll also create portraits of the chef, owners, and staff to put faces to the restaurant and the architecture of the space.
While I work primarily with restaurants a good part of my work is with publications. I work freelance for magazines all over Connecticut as well as media outlets that are published nationwide. The first cover I got for a magazine was a moment I will never forget.
I’ve also recently achieved a milestone (and dream) of shooting cookbooks for chefs and restaurants. That was something I’ve always wanted to do and wasn’t sure how to make it happen. It’s an amazing process to shoot for recipes that will be printed and bound into as book. I hope to do many more in my career.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

One of the most important qualities I think I possess that has helped me on my path is internal drive and passion. I so love what I do and want to “do” what I do, that it drives me every day to do what I need to to get there.

In photography, things have changed a lot since I was in college. The change from film to digital was a huge step, although the fundamentals of photography haven’t changed, the possibilities of what can be achieved with editing software are huge. I am not a super slick type of photographer, I like the gritty and raw look of things. But I am endlessly amazed at the technology available to us as photographers. Because of this, I have to keep learning. I think that is essential to anyone who wants to reach their goals. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes because that is where the learning takes place.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

There is a lot of competition in the world. We are not so unique that others don’t want the same things we do. There are plenty of people who can do things very similar to what I do. However, I have found, part of the individual photographer always comes through in the work we do. I know some photographers whose work I can identify as soon as I see part of the image scroll up in my feed. That is the ultimate achievement for any photographer or artist.

However, we all can’t learn in isolation. Some photographers feel the need to gate-keep and not share with anyone how they achieve what they do. That’s fine and their choice. To me, I find that comes from a place of scarcity and fear. I prefer to think there is enough for us all to find our place and shine. I think community is more important than competition. And I can be very competitive! But I have had some photographers give me advice, both technical and career, that has helped me grow and I would gladly return the favor to anyone who asked me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.breadbeastphotographer.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bread_and_beast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breadandbeastphotographer
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-nichols-b852b160/

Image Credits

All images are mine, Lisa Nichols of Bread & Beast Food Photography