Kawaii Bento Bowl with Bunny and Baby Chick Rice Balls for O Organics

I got to make and shoot this fun bowl of veggies and rice balls for O Organics. The prompt was to make something cute and kawaii that was also achievable for anyone to make at home without any specialized tools. Bento bowls with cute animal rice balls were one of my first “food art” creations on my Instagram account (I first started making them for my niece) so I loved having an excuse to revisit this idea.

I used all O Organics products to make this. One cool product that they have is a “rainbow baby carrots” bag with different colors of baby carrots and that really made it easy to add color to the bowl. Scroll to the end of this post for notes on how I assembled the whole bowl.

Here are the photos from the shoot!

Here are instructions for how you can recreate this whimsical (and healthy) bowl for yourself at home:

How to make a veggie bento bowl with bunny and chick rice balls

How to make a bunny rice ball

Use a single serving microwavable rice bowl and microwave according to package instructions, or make your own white rice.

Wet hands to avoid sticking and form one large ball for the bunny head and 2 small balls for the paws.

Use a white baby carrot and cut in half lengthwise for the ears.

Cut eyes and mouth from a piece of red lettuce (which is actually a dark purple color).

How to Make Baby Chick Rice Balls

Mix some of the microwaved rice with curry powder to get the desired shade of yellow. Wet hands and form rice into two balls.

Cut beak and feet out of orange carrot slices.

Cut eyes out of a piece of red lettuce.

How to Make the tomato hearts

Cut grape tomatoes in half at a diagonal and rotate to form a heart shape. (This works best with longer shaped grape tomatoes, otherwise you will have to use 2/3 of two separate tomatoes)

How to Make the flower "sushi"

Use a vegetable peeler on persian cucumbers to form thin ribbons.

Layer 2 cucumber ribbons together to form a longer ribbon (overlap at least 1 inch) and then roll it into a circle.

Gently press some of the microwaved rice into the cucumber circle.

Cut slices of baby carrot in various colors from. Press these gently into the surface of the rice to form flowers.

Assembling the bento bowl

Fill the base of the bowl with salad greens.

Arrange the bunny and chicks to one side of the bowl. Arrange the flower sushi on the other side.

Fill bigger gaps with the tomato hearts. Fill any smaller gaps with extra lettuce or carrots cut into the shape of flowers.

Halloween Fun for O Organics

I was commissioned to style and shoot some Halloween content for Albertsons (the grocery store company that also owns Safeway) featuring their O Organics line. This was my second time being hired by Albertsons to make and capture food art for them, and I love working with them because they ask me to include more human elements the photos (for example, hands-in-frame shots) than I usually include in the content on my own account and this challenges me to set up scenes differently and try different camera angles than my standard flatlay style that I’ve become known for.

For this shoot, they also asked me if it would be possible to add a spooky foggy effect to some of the photos. Actually, they originally asked if it was possible for me to use dry ice in the photoshoot. However, I was nervous about the idea of shooting this dynamic element whose movement I wouldn’t fully be able to control—this is why I am a food photographer and not an event photographer! So instead, I asked them if they would be okay with me editing the spooky fog/mist effect into the photos and fortunately, they trusted me to do what I thought was best to achieve that mysterious Halloween vibe!

I had recently learned about the AI editing tools on Canva from my friend Anisa, The Wonky Stove. I learned how to use the Magic Edit feature from this post of hers. (I’ve since learned that I got very lucky with timing and this was a feature I was able to try for free at the time but is now behind their Pro subscription paywall.) I was able to upload my un-magical photos I’d shot, select the areas where I wanted to add spooky fog, and type a prompt to describe what I wanted to add to the photo. The AI is still in its early stages here (which I am definitely ok with!) so it didn’t immediately produce a result I wanted and instead changed up way too much of the photo. But I was able to use what I got out of the tool to then edit together the AI-altered photo and the original photo to produce exactly what I wanted. I imagine this is what movie editors do, but just at a way smaller scale. Conclusion: it was still very necessary for a skilled human (me!) to produce these photos so robots haven’t taken over my job just yet.

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Here are the before-and-afters of the photos where I used this process.

Without AI

with AI

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Without AI

With AI

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Here are some other photos from the shoot. Fun fact: I used black electrical tape over my nails in these hands-in-frame shots to look like I had black nail polish on!

Photoshoot for La Playa Hotel

La Playa Hotel is a bespoke luxury hotel in the dreamy Carmel-by-the-Sea. They recently underwent some major renovations and back in March, I was hired to shoot photos that captured their new look, as well as new menu items at the restaurant and bar on their property, Bud’s, for them to use on their social media. I have been working with the hospitality group that owns La Playa since pretty early on in my photography career (before the pandemic) and it is always so meaningful to be asked back by old clients because it means they were truly happy with my work.

For this shoot, their marketing team wanted to focus on little details and interesting vignettes that make staying here feel like an elegant and uniquely luxe experience. I noticed a motif of deep greens and a “modern coastal retreat” meets “old glamour” vibe and I held these themes in my mind as I approached the shoot. These days, I don’t do many on-site shoots, but I had so much fun sourcing props for this one and the team is always so lovely to work with.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the work I did for La Playa Hotel and Bud’s.

Photoshoot for Hanabi Cakes

Hanabi is a local bakery that makes really lovely Asian-style cakes that are so adorable and not too sweet. They offered to gift me some cakes in exchange for sharing some photos of them in my Instagram stories. I usually only agree to do this if it is a restaurant or product that I already love, or if the company agrees to send me the sample obligation-free, meaning I do not have to post anything about them if I don’t end up liking it. However, I had heard good things about Hanabi and wanted to help a local Asian-run business!

I ended up really genuinely liking the cakes. They are tiny and perfect for my household because we like to end the evening with a little sweet treat but are not hugely into cake. I also ended up really liking the photos I took; this romantic/hygge tea party vibe is my favorite kind of theme to style and photograph, and sadly I don’t get to do it very often!

Photoshoots for La Playa Carmel and Brophy's Tavern

Last month, I went down to Carmel and shot some photos for a returning client, Classic Hotels & Resorts; they have two lovely properties in Carmel-by-the-Sea: La Playa Carmel and Hotel Carmel. When I shoot at a restaurant, I always try to capture their unique vibe and I love it when this results in a look and feel that is a bit different from what can be seen on my own Instagram account or blog. I am really happy with how the photos from these shoots came out, so I thought I would share some of my favorites here.