My Food Lens

My Food Lens We help brands elevate their products with drool worthy photos. Her work has been featured in several food magazines around the globe.

Dyutima is an architect turned food stylist, food photographer & the first South Asian woman to run a food photography podcast. It’s called My food Lens, also the name of her food styling and photography business,

Her motto is, ‘put your best food forward’. After 15 years of studying & practicing architecture, designing healthcare facilities around the world, Dyutima found her passion in food st

yling & photography. She is a commercial and editorial photographer and has also done art direction for a gourmet magazine. Her photography style rides on powerful & energetic visual storytelling. The colour and texture of ingredients, complexity of flavors and the sheer joy of cooking, inspire her photography. Her photos instil emotions and evoke nostalgia while bringing a strong sense of movement to the frame. With an architectural background, she creates modern yet artistic compositions of food by turning a 2-dimensional photo into 3-dimension with light, and adding a 4th dimension of emotion.

My dad officially complained that I was feeding them too much salad.🤭Kale & tangerine is one of my favorite salad combin...
03/02/2026

My dad officially complained that I was feeding them too much salad.🤭

Kale & tangerine is one of my favorite salad combinations.
I made another version with endive, fennel & orange for my parents when they were here few weeks ago.☘️

After a few days, my Dad officially protested.
He said I eat & feed others way too much salad.
And while that is 100% true 🤭, I also chuckled at how roles had reversed.
As kids we thought Dad ate way too much salad.😅

Infact, My sister thinks I’m a cow.
One day I video called her.
She said hello but I couldn’t speak. My mouth was stuffed with the biggest spinach leaves with the stems sticking out.😜
No one spoke. All we heard were loud leafy crunches. My sister stared at me.
And I had made the call .. not her 😂.

So yep - after all the cancellations, life loss, tears and life shifts, my parents finally visited us last month.
And it was a trip unlike any other..❤️

Unlike past visits, we didn’t pack our days with sightseeing or picnics.
Instead, we spent time at home immersed in stories of life & our childhood.🥹

Instead of adrenaline filled activities, we chose coffee mornings & quiet sunsets.🌤️

We ate out but not as often as before.
We chose hearty homemade meals huddled around the table over heartfelt conversations.🫶🏻

We didn’t go shopping at all.
Life felt so complete that nothing more was needed.
Even the replenishment wasn’t replaced but instead bid goodbye because life felt better with less.✨

This was an emotional trip because of my Nani’s passing but also because I had changed, which changed everything, including my time with my parents.🥹

When we change on the inside, the world outside feels different when actually the only thing that’s changed is us.🌼

I left behind old ways & time with them was even more beautiful. Peaceful. Sacred.🧿

Even if it was filled with way too much salad.🤭

2026 started with life shifts.
Changed relationships.
Healing & realisations.
It started with blessings.
With life coming to a full circle - Dad handing me the torch as the salad eater of the family.☘️💪🏼

I now proudly carry the family kale .. err.. I mean.. family name.😍😜

How has 2026 started for you? 🫶🏻🫶🏻

I learnt to make this biryani from my mom.😍Low on heat but high on flavour, floating in the aromas of coriander & mint -...
16/01/2026

I learnt to make this biryani from my mom.😍
Low on heat but high on flavour, floating in the aromas of coriander & mint - it’s definitely going to be on the menu when they are here tomorrow.

Yep, tomorrow! 🥹

My parents were to visit last month & spend New Years with us but my grandma passed unexpectedly and they had to cancel the trip.

My heart broke. I cried.💔

A lost loved one. A cancelled trip. A missed chance to see my parents. And I thought December was supposed to be festive?😞

But I knew the Universe must’ve had a reason for things to turn out this way.
I surrendered to it. Surrendered to the timing. To the unfolding of life. .. or the loss of it.

And went about saying, “The Universe will make it happen when the time is right”❤️‍🩹
.. JLT, suddenly, out of the blue, few days ago I got a message from my dad that they had rebooked their tickets.
They were coming to visit us.
I began to cry. Again.
You know I cry for everything.🥹

It’s been a tough month for them. After completing all the last rites and rituals for my grandma, they need a change of energy.☘️

It’s going to be a short trip and even though 5 days seem short, when every hour is filled with love, the clock stops counting & the heart starts feeling.
Time stretches. It multiplies.✨

I’ve made this biryani many times but this time, I won’t be on the phone with mom asking for directions.😝

She’ll be in the living room sipping her coffee & I’ll be in the kitchen shouting my lungs out asking the same questions… Making her wish she was on the phone 😂

December might have been tough but January is bringing love .. and also biryani… because afterall, biryani is Love. 😍

Any biryani fans here?🤩

———〰️ I’m heartbroken 💔 〰️Waiting to see your loved one breathe their last is one of the hardest things in life. ➖➖➖➖➖My...
23/12/2025

———

〰️ I’m heartbroken 💔 〰️

Waiting to see your loved one breathe their last is one of the hardest things in life.

➖➖➖➖➖
My parents had to cancel their trip. They were to be with us next week to celebrate New Years but life had other plans. 😞

My Nani (mom’s mom), living in the same city as my parents, suffered a stroke last week.
She was rushed to the ICU.
My Dad, a Neurologist, stepped in not just as the son in law, but also as her doctor.

She was over 90 years. The stroke left nothing. The damage was irreversible. She went into a coma, for 5 unending days.

Mom was by her side all the time. Even though Nani didn’t respond, she felt mom’s presence.
Nani was sinking everyday & we knew it was only a matter of time..

No one can fight life. If we had our way, we would never let our loved ones go.🫂

Yesterday morning, mom read a prayer to Nani & stroked her forehead.
〰️ That was Nani’s last breath 〰️

I had pushed myself to go ahead with my strength session & in the middle of the training, my phone buzzed.
I couldn’t believe what I read. Ran out of the gym, crying on the phone with mom.

My grandma’s passing is the end of an era for us 🤍

I know my mom is going through way more but right now I’m dipping into what feels peaceful.
I’m still moving - not in indifference or trying to be strong. I’m moving in vulnerability. Raw emotions flowing & nourishing them. Slow, silent & self soothing.

My Nani lived wholesomely. She left peacefully, giving us enough time for acceptance so that all we felt was an appreciation for her long healthy life.

💔 I’m heartbroken but also know that .. . some departures aren’t a mourning of loss.

They are a cherishment of life
Memories brought alive
A thread of lineage
A legacy left behind
Lessons to remember
A reason to reunite
Tears that aren’t sorrow, but remnants of joy.
Leaving us celebrating what life is about .. ☘️

She lives on in our hearts for showing us what a full life looks like..

〰️ Life must be filled with nothing but love ❤️ 〰️

———————-////———-

I made this festive Dundee cake. Not 😅Hey, but my mom did, the last time she visited us over Christmas.Growing up, I lov...
18/12/2025

I made this festive Dundee cake. Not 😅
Hey, but my mom did, the last time she visited us over Christmas.

Growing up, I loved Dundee cake & coaxed my mom every Christmas to bake one.🎄

And guess what, we’ll be having a déjàvu experience, baking yet another laborious Dundee cake this year, because my parents are visiting us soon 🥹

I’m the daughter who doesn’t 📞 call that often, who doesn’t respond to messages, or take the lead to organise family vacations, the one who challenges traditions.
I’m “the rebel”.🫢

But I’m also the daughter who turns into a child whenever the parents visit. The one who cares about love more than the norms.
The one who never forgets the sacrifices the parents made all those growing up, and remembers that everytime she says grace.💕

She knows dad & she hold different opinions on life, but unlike debating like before, she creates space for his thoughts, accepting his views with a smile.🫶🏻

There’s an excitement that builds up every time the parents visit.
I slip into being that baby daughter
& then a slip into proud mode to show them the “grown up” life we’ve built.☘️

Parents visits aren’t just visits.
These are portals between the past & present - a wave of nostalgia steadied by what exists today.💫

Whether it’s getting mom to bake a dundee cake, or quibbling with dad for old times sake, I relive every bit of my childhood in their presence, not just turning myself into a child again but making them feel like parents again.✨

I might not be the daughter who calls, but I’m the daughter who recalls ..❤️

What’s your plan for this December?❄️

A friend baked this banana bundt cake for me & I poured my pear moscato sauce on it.That gesture of love made me so happ...
12/11/2025

A friend baked this banana bundt cake for me & I poured my pear moscato sauce on it.
That gesture of love made me so happy, I cried 🥺.
Now I know why.

It’s my Birthday tomorrow 🎈🥳🎂

This year, it really feels like that .. Birth - Day
——- a rebirth of sorts 💫💫

Have you ever looked back at your last birthday or same time last year & thought, “I’m not the same person I used to be.”

I’m feeling it & you know why, because of the one word we add to birthday - Happy.😯

If I asked what makes you truly happy?
Not just surface-level, but really lights up your soul?✨

For the longest time, I couldn’t answer this question😕.

I thought celebrating with friends & family, fancy dinners, big surprises or taking a vacation made me happy.

Yes, they made me happy but deep down was I looking for situations, people & places to make me happy?

Actually, True happiness is simple but we complicate it.
We complicate it by hinging our feelings on other people, the restaurant or the holiday.😕

That’s why it’s a hit or miss. ..because we look on the outside for something that’s inside.❗️

When I look at my last birthday, I feel I’m no longer the girl I used to be - discovering that happiness is not received but a frequency we carry in us.⚡️🥰

Today, I can answer what makes me truly happy - “Yes, good dinners & yes, social time but only that connects me back to myself.”

This birthday is a Rebirth - realising that the pursuit of happiness is actually the pursuit of you. 💪🏼😍

If it’s too expensive, too flashy, too noisy - that is happiness too complicated.🫢

True happiness is simple & it enters when we stop looking for it on the outside.
It’s hidden inside us.
It comes as everything we don’t expect.
It comes as peace, calm, trust & love.🫶🏻

Feeling calm even in the noise around you.
Feeling joy that moistens your eyes.
Feeling such peace that you hear the sound of your own heartbeat.✨

Because just like true love, there’s true happiness.
You’ll know when it’s the one.❤️

Here’s to a “Happy” rebirth-day 🥂 🎂🥂

06/11/2025

I worked so hard on that pitch, a dream I held for 4 long years, that I almost knew I would get it.

In fact, in the days waiting to hear back, I continued to work on the project. I didn’t stop even when I didn’t know the results.✍🏼

I felt it in my core. Something was telling me it was done.
Why else would the universe inspire me to continue working on it despite no confirmation?

I moved like I was in it. I worked like I had got it.. until I heard that I didn’t.

It was shattering. My heart broke.💔

But sometimes we need silence to hear what the universe wants to say & darkness to see what it wants us to see.🌑

In that state of loss, what I heard shook me.

The universe said,
“You weren’t brought this far to fail.
All that work wasn’t for nothing. It had a purpose - one that would be revealed with time.”

✨ I was told ..
“For now, you need to wade through thick, deep waters.
You won’t be able to look down into the dark murky water, nor will you be able to see the path ahead through the fog... It will be slippery but you need to put one foot in front of the other trusting that we got you.
Can you do that?
Because if you can, you’ll be glad you did.
I give you my word.”

When something we work hard on doesn’t meet success, we need to remember -
We weren’t brought this far to fail.
That destination wasn’t final.🍁

If you’re working through the loss of hope, dreams or a project, continue the work & move even in uncertainty... because when the winds change & the fog clears..☘️
what will be revealed will be worth every tear, every dark moment & every brave step you took.🫶🏻
Because ..
You weren’t brought this far to fail ❤️

30/10/2025

After last week’s heartbreaking news..
. on Sunday, I had just finished journaling the next chapter of my life. ✍🏼
I closed my notebook & a piece of paper fell out.
I read it & began to cry.

It was a note from 2011.

14 years ago the boyfriend had sent me a bouquet of flowers 💐 at a challenging time in life.
He had sent them to my office when I was working in Richmond, Virginia.
That bouquet had a note with sweet uplifting words.☘️

For 14 years that note stayed in that book.
I had no idea it was there.
I was writing in the book for the past week but the note didn’t budge. Didn’t appear.

But right when I had finished writing everything about my path ahead, ever so nonchalantly, the note slipped out of the book & fell on the floor.

I was shocked. I began to cry.

To be sitting with the husband - the one who sent it, and reading the words I needed to hear in that moment - This was not a coincidence.

During a setback, we feel angry at life & question our worth, but call it a coincidence, miracle, or a message from the divine - The universe always shows up for us.
We are supported.🫂

That note made its way to me after 14 years and exactly when I needed it.
Had I found it a few weeks earlier, I would not have cared much but this timing was impeccable.
It was divine timing.✨

Right when you think you’re lost, the universe will find a way to tell you that you are on the right Path.

The universe will send you a sign
Not a moment earlier, not a moment later
Not at a time you want it
But right when you need it
Because that’s when receiving it will make the biggest difference in your life.❤️

09/10/2025

Her Rise Above

If you’re in Singapore, you can support these rockstars by choosing their Diwali creations as gifts this year.⚡️

You’ll feel a high-five in your heart too cuz I don’t know one person who doesn’t feel happy when they help others.❤️

The catalogue link is here or simply DM me.⚡️

https://her-rise-above.myshopify.com/collections/all

These Diwali sweets are made by women who finished their 14 hour work shift, went home, cooked, cleaned, fed their famil...
09/10/2025

These Diwali sweets are made by women who finished their 14 hour work shift, went home, cooked, cleaned, fed their families, and when the day ended, put on their aprons for these.💪🏼😍

My husband is huge on volunteering & being of service to others. He spent many birthdays in old age facilities serving food to the elderly & offering them birthday treats.🫶🏻

Everytime he asked me to join. I refused. I couldn’t be there unless it was from my heart. I believed that volunteering wasn’t for me.😒

But after starting the photography business, I casually got involved with a charity rise above that supports women with small home-based businesses.📸

Year after year, I volunteered my time & skills to photograph their product catalogues. I never had to try too hard. It came from the heart.♥️

🥹 But few weeks ago..

I was at volunteer event. Busy stuffing my face with brownies when
I saw my name being flashed on the screen. Whaa 😱

A long-term service award for volunteering 🥺🏆
I cry for everything. 🥲 My tears were ready when this was flashed -

- Volunteering for over 5 years
- Photographed over 150 products
- Catalogues brought in ~$100k in sales
- Impacted 43 women & their families by showcasing their products with professional photography.

How did I ever believe volunteering wasn’t for me?
I was being of service to others by living a life of alignment because it always felt natural, from the heart. Being of service anchored my photography in purpose. ⚓️

If you help someone cross the street, does it swell you with pride?
If you donate to a charity, does it give you meaning?
If you hug a homeless child, does it melt your heart?
Mine does.🥺

It’s not vanity or ego, it’s the dopamine released in our brain when we serve others.
Seeing those hardworking women thrive, is a high-five to my heart.🙌🏼

If you’re in Singapore, you can support these rockstars by choosing their Diwali creations as gifts this year.⚡️
You’ll feel a high-five in your heart too cuz I don’t know one person who doesn’t feel happy when they help others.❤️

The catalogue link is here or simply DM me.⚡️

https://her-rise-above.myshopify.com/collections/all

Her Rise Above

I’ll be on this side crying, realising that being of service, is for me.🥹🥰❤️

Can I please tempt you with this Guinness stout brownie with walnuts and dark chocolate chunks? 😛For the last 2 months, ...
19/09/2025

Can I please tempt you with this Guinness stout brownie with walnuts and dark chocolate chunks? 😛

For the last 2 months, from the swimming championship to business deadlines, I was working on some solid projects that were to be completed by this week.😨

You know how others get to their goals while gracefully doing it all .. . they create beautiful photos, post regularly on Instagram, stay busy with client work, spend happy quality time with family & still hit big goals.🥰

Here’s how I do it gracefully too (not 🥸) -

I don’t create beautiful photos or post on Instagram. I turn down most client projects and completely retract from social life.

For home chores & meal times, I show up for the family like a meerkat making a guest appearance out of the burrow & then go right back in.🐰
I don’t call my parents as often, and my friends begin to wonder if I’ve moved town.

I put swimming on hold & walk around like a zombie because I’m blinded by my goal.
I don’t even try doing anything else because I know I can’t.

And once I hit the deadline, I emerge.
I call my mom & text friends in a sheepish tone - let everyone know I’m alive.🫣

Yep, if the goal is short term, needs a push for a few weeks or months - don’t try to do it all.
Things can wait. Focus where you need your full energy. Eat, sleep and live that one goal - and watch how you smash it.💪🏼

Whether you’re writing a book, setting up a blog, launching a course or simply coming up with a pitching schedule - retract from everything else in your life and give your 100% to your goal, even if it’s just for a few days.

The world will still be where you left it, but you would’ve moved far ahead. You’ll be so proud of yourself, free from the idea of doing it all.😍

What’s full to the brim has no room for more.. so create that space — & watch the magic.✨

I know I’ve been “ungracefully” away, but now you know why.
But I’m back now, that too with this delicious Guinness brownie.
Even if that sweet treat doesn’t do it for ya, I’m sure my powerful thought is worth some brownie points.😝

Which one would you choose - the brownie or the thought? You can pick both 😜

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