Farm to Fork to Photo

08/29/2025

Golden hour in El Dorado Hills + good food 🌿✨

This Goat Cheese & Beet Tart with arugula was every bit as delicious as it was photogenic. Creamy goat cheese, roasted beets, and peppery arugula on flaky pastry.

Sometimes the prettiest plates are also the tastiest. 💛

📸 | California food photography | Farmers market inspired recipes

08/29/2025

Made this gorgeous tomato salad from Folsom Farmer's Market heirloom tomatoes and some tomatoes and basil from my garden. It's tomato season people!

🍅 Basic Tomato & Basil Salad

Ingredients:
4 ripe tomatoes, sliced or chopped
1 handful fresh basil leaves, torn

Instructions:
Arrange tomatoes on a plate or in a bowl.
Scatter torn basil leaves over the top.
Add a pinch of salt and drizzle of olive oil if you like a touch more flavor.

08/13/2025

🥔 Potatoes, oldies, and a box fan on high — that’s how I spent my morning.

At today’s produce party with Feeding the Foothills, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a retired fellow UCLA Bruin and a high school junior, chatting and laughing as we bagged over 600 pounds of potatoes — eight spuds at a time.

Meanwhile, other volunteers were wrangling carrots, apples, tangerines, and onions. The air smelled like fresh produce, the oldies station was in full swing, and the time flew.

They do this four times a week, and I’ll be back — because it feels good to do something that feeds your neighbors and your soul.

📍 El Dorado County | Volunteer | Community Love

08/02/2025

Why work with me? Because I know what it’s like to be on both sides of the table.

With 18 years in the restaurant industry and 5 years behind the camera, I understand that food photography is more than pretty pictures—it’s about capturing flavor, freshness, and that irresistible ‘I need to order this now’ feeling.

From local farmers to chefs to small food businesses, I love helping brands tell their story one photo at a time.

If you want photography that doesn’t just look good but sells the experience, let’s talk.

📍 Sacramento, CA | Farm to Fork Photographer
📸 Michelle Nicholson Photography

08/01/2025

Hi there!

Just a lil re-introduction. I'm Michelle. I am the photographer at Farm to Fork To Photo.

My passion for food began in my childhood growing up in a small hamlet in Ontario, in the heart of Canadian farmland. I developed a deep appreciation for farmers and the agricultural gold they produced. It instilled in me a love of the land and for the ritual of "picking the salad" for dinner from our backyard garden. It always brought a smile to my face and a rush of excitement.

To this day, I still experience that same rush of excitement every week at the farmer's market, local berry farm, or any food festival nearby. If there's fun, food, and a festival, you can count me in. Now living near Sacramento, the farm-to-fork capital of the U.S., I'm excited to witness the entire food journey, from the nearby farms to MY fork.

Capturing the beauty of food with all its colors and textures is my passion, I strive to showcase all the glorious textures and taunts of food for my clients and create engaging imagery in the process.

That's all for now.
Michelle

07/08/2024

🍑✨ Nothing beats the taste of a fresh plum crumble made with fruit straight from your own backyard or a local farmer's market! 🌿🍽️ The vibrant colors and juicy sweetness make plums a perfect ingredient for a variety of dishes. 📸 Capturing the essence of these seasonal delights is what I love most about food photography.

Want to see more of my food photography work or learn about the best way to highlight your culinary creations? Comment "Plum Perfect" below! 🍇📷

06/21/2024

**Happy First Day of Summer! ☀️🍉**

I’m so excited for all the delicious summer fruit! First up, my plum tree. 🍑 Last year, I made this plum crumble (pictured) and the family can’t wait for it again. 🍰

What’s your favorite summer fruit? Let’s celebrate the season together! 🌿💚

04/29/2024

Black, White and Tiffany Blue

My favorite color combinations. I recently photographed the Folsom National Charity League Senior Tea. The theme was "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

So much fun to shoot!!!

02/27/2024

Let's take a moment to celebrate the fabulousness of berries! 🍓🍇🍒

Berries, those tiny powerhouses of flavor and nutrition, are an absolute gift from nature. Whether you're biting into a juicy strawberry, savoring the tartness of a blackberry, or popping a plump blueberry, berries have an undeniable charm. They make every meal more vibrant and every snack more satisfying.

But their appeal isn't just about taste; it's also about the health benefits they bring to the table. Berries are nutritional powerhouses, loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Blueberries, for instance, are chock-full of vitamin C, K, and manganese. They also contain anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant that gives them their vibrant color and helps fight oxidative stress in the body. Blackberries are another great option, with a high vitamin C content and fiber, which aids digestion and supports heart health.

Now, let's talk about strawberries, the sweetheart of the berry world. 🍓 Low in calories but high in flavor, strawberries are a fantastic source of vitamin C, manganese, and fiber. They also contain polyphenols like flavonoids and ellagic acid, which boast anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting properties.

So, let's make berries a regular part of our diet!

Need visually appealing images of your food and products? I can help!

02/23/2024

Happy National Banana Bread Day

Michelle’s Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Great as a breakfast treat, snack or dessert.

I developed this version from an original Emeril Lagasse recipe. His was good but needed a few tweaks.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups flour
Dash of cinnamon
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, oil and sugar. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time. Mix until just combined.Add the bananas and mix well. Then add baking soda, salt, flour, cinnamon and mix throughly. Once it is all mixed, add the mini chocolate chips last and mix by hand.

Pour the dough into a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 50 minutes to 1 hour. Check the center with a clean knife to insure it’s done. Knife should come out clean. Cool and enjoy!

Tips
Black bananas from the freezer are the sweetest and best to use. Just defrost and dispose of the extra water.

Regular chocolate chips can work but they sink to the bottom of the pan together and make this banana bread quite messy.

02/04/2024

Wish me luck. "
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." #99

I've just entered Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year - the world's leading awards recognising the art and diversity of food photography with top prize of £5,000.