WHAT JULES SHERRED DOES
With a keen eye and attention to detail along with the philosophy that food should evoke the trifecta of memory, emotion, and hunger in people, Jules Sherred is an award-winning photographer in the fields of commercial food and lifestyle photography. His cookbook Crip Up the Kitchen: Tools, Tips and Recipes for the Disabled Cook is due to be published by TouchWood Edition in Spring 2023.
Based in Duncan, BC, Sherred works as a photographer, writer, journalist, and outspoken advocate for disability and trans rights. He is an official contributor to Getty Images, a staff writer for Fstoppers news site, an instructor for professional photographers looking to expand their skills, and a recipe developer.
Sherred’s history behind the camera goes back decades, from growing up in a household that encouraged photography to being an active member in various photography clubs. His experience during that time instilled the art and science needed to be a quality photographer, but it wasn’t until 2019 when he started his web site, Disabled Kitchen and Garden, that he began to develop his food photography skill.
Disabled Kitchen and Garden was born out of the need to include disabled people in the conversation around food. Through the site, Sherred’s focus was to write about his own experience as a disabled person by sharing the benefits and joys of accessible products while providing a number of tips, tricks, and recipes to make cooking and gardening easier for a variety of disabilities.
Initially Sherred took photos chronicling the cooking process for his readers, but as popularity for the site grew and the opportunity to author a cookbook presented itself, much of the past year went into developing his photography skills to a professional level. The results from that intense period of study are a veritable feast for the eyes. Photos brimming with vibrant colours and staged in a way to both showcase the skill in which the food was prepared and entice the viewer to experience the flavours the dish has to offer.
Possessing a talent and creative eye only matched by his unwavering advocacy for the needs of marginalized communities, Jules Sherred is doing so much more than simply taking photos. He’s sharing the world through his eyes and letting his subjects, inanimate or not, tell their story.