about pete

hello! my name is pete, and i like to bake stuff. bread, cakes, pies, deep fried cakes and pies…

me
i’m a 24-year-old living in washington dc and working in northern virginia. simply put, most of my income goes to flour, sugar and butter.

why i bake
i’ve grown up around delicious baked goods my entire life. there was never a birthday that was unaccompanied by a homemade cake. christmas meant between 10 and 20 different types of cookies. even with 3 other siblings, there were plenty of batter-dripping beaters to be licked. food always brought my family together, and the joy i felt in the kitchen as a kid has translated into a determination to tackle any delicious recipe i see. i love the sense of accomplishment i feel when i take cake out of the oven, but what i love even more is getting to share what i bake with people i love.

how i take pictures
i use a canon powershot a540 exclusively. it’s just a little point and shoot 6 mega pixel camera, but it seems to get the job done. as i’ve never had any formal camera experience, i’m still learning how to use it. most of my pictures are taken on the auto setting without a tripod and then tweaked a bit in photoshop. my basic approach is to take literally millions of pictures and pick the one or two that actually come out decent.

the little i do know about food photography is that the flash is often too harsh for food. natural light has been my friend since i’ve started taking pictures, but it’s not always easy to capture it. i work until the evening most days so getting good shots often means rushing home after work and quickly baking and photographing while the gettin’s still good.

this photo (one of my favorites) was taken right as the sun was setting. apples are incredible at capturing light.

what else do i do?
great question, thanks for asking. besides baking and cooking, in my free time i am teaching myself how to paint. i’ve been drawing since i was a kid, but painting is still new and exciting to me.