I read a lot of food blogs. Some I visit for a minute or two, while others I can hardly bear to tear myself away. With the latter, I explore deeper and deeper into their archives, marvelling all the time at the quality and consistency of their work.
Sydney food blog, Cook Republic, is one of those blogs I can happily spend hours on. Sneh’s work has a striking aesthetic – it’s lovely but edgy, not pretty. And her photography is nothing short of spectacular.
Sneh is one of the judges for the upcoming Eat Drink Blog 3 photography competition open to all Australian food bloggers. So with the recent announcement of the photography competition I thought it was a great time to ask Sneh a few questions.
Sneh, you’re a modern renaissance woman. You do so many things – graphic and web design, recipe development, styling, photography – and you do them all so well. When people ask you what you do, how do you define yourself?
A very interesting question, Christina, one that I have pondered over myself several times. I usually tell people that I am a designer and writer. I follow that up by saying that I also do photography and styling. But for the most part, I am first and foremost a designer.
Where did your passion for design come from? Who are your design heroes and your greatest influences?
I have been creating art since I was a child. Even when I was ten years old, I was doing pastel portraits, charcoal sketches and dry paint street art. My dad used to create fantastic portrait sketches and beautiful hand lettering. I remember going through his artwork, completely in awe of what was on the pages. I wanted to emulate him. When I was at uni, I discovered the wondrous world of digital art and web design. Walter Disney has always been my design hero for a very long time. Some of the best children’s illustrators from a long time ago to modern day have been my biggest design influences.
