Meet Cherry Li | Food Photographer and Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cherry Li and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cherry, how do you think about risk?
I was very risk averse as a child of immigrant parents. I remember in middle school I even wrote an essay about assessing all risks and making decisions only if I know for absolutely certain that I wouldn’t regret them. It all changed when I started taking theater class in high school. From improv practice in class to competing at state-wide thespian festivals, theater gave me a safe container to take more and more risk without me realizing. In my 3rd year, my theater teacher pointed out that the one thing that our academically-focused magnet school did not prepare kids for was risk-taking, and without taking risks, we wouldn’t know where we could go, what we could do, or who we could be; her goal was to get us more comfortable taking more risks. In that moment I understood that she had already accomplished that with me–over my three years in her class, my relationship to risk had changed from a source of potential regret to a source of new possibilities. By my senior year, it was easy for me to choose to go to art school and pursue a career in photography. Since then, I haven’t really thought much about risk. What could be perceived as “risky” e.g. moving continents, I simply saw as experiences I wanted to have. Instead of focusing on “risk”, which emphasizes the potentially undesirable outcome, I think about what I want to experience and make choices that lead me there.

What was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’m fortunate to feel that the path to starting my own photography business was pretty simple. There was never a moment when I had to “take a leap of faith”. From when I discovered photography at the age of 13, I followed too pretty clear steps and made every decision to support the practice of my craft, which included learning as much as I could, taking small gigs from friends and their families, pursuing a BFA in photography in college, moving to Paris to pursue a freelance career, moving to Beijing to do my art work, starting a commercial food photography and video studio in Hong Kong, and now, after moving to the edge of the Rockies, starting an online course for food photography.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Everything I produce is first about the concept—how I think about the subject—and everything is built around that. Through refining and reworking a concept, I get to engage with and experience more. For example, even if the concept is as simple as showcasing the freshness of lettuce, I might observe what quality and angle of light delineate the lettuce in a way that gives life to a leaf, and through this close observation, notice that freshness could be translated as aliveness, and how could I illustrate aliveness? Visual movement. By creating visual movement using techniques available to me, I am visually connecting to an aliveness that I had not experienced before the shoot. That idea of connecting first to the concept is the most important thing I want to teach people taking my course, because all the technique is to support that.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We are really spoiled for nature here! We might also go up to Evergreen Lake, Eldorado Canyon or Isabelle Lake. For food, I would take them to El Consomé de Morelos II for quesabirrias for brunch, then Cultura Chocolate for an afternoon chocolate, Hop Alley Chinese for dinner and Little Man ice cream afterwards. The next day we’d go to Havana St for Ethiopian, South Federal for Vietnamese, and Old Town Hotpot in Aurora.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Jodi Improta for my daring to risk. Mona Kuhn for the inspiration to see so much beauty in mundane human relationships. Roland Young for challenging all my ideas.

My sister for doing all the business that I abhor. My dad’s sister who raised him who raised me.

Cindy Li https://uprootteas.com management consultant turned founder of a tea company that is committed to equity and sustainability, and the best sister, roommate, and collaborator I could wish for.

Bidisha SK Mamata http://bidisha-online.blogspot.com/p/biog.html author and journalist, the most astute commentator I know on human rights, social justice, and arts and culture, and the most loyal and supportive friend.

Virginia Sin virginiasin.com art director turned ceramic artist and business owner, an endless source of inspiration since we were roommates in college.

Sheila Tejada https://www.sheilatejada.com my best friend and creative soul sister since high school.

Website: http://cherryfoodstudios.com/ http://cherryli.net/

Instagram: cherryfoodphoto