FOOD, PLACE, AND THE STORIES BETWEEN
Photography + Writing
Culinary + Creative Production
I’m Heidi — a Hawaii-based photographer, writer, chef and creative producer working at the intersection of food, lifestyle, and hospitality.
My work is rooted in a lifelong love of food, an appreciation for the people behind it, and a belief that the best stories engage all the senses.
I create thoughtful and evocative food, imagery, and written storytelling for brands, publications, and people with a story worth sharing. From food photography and styling to travel features, brand narratives, and creative production, I bring a collaborative approach to projects that celebrate food, place, people, and the experiences that connect them.
Available for editorial assignments, commissioned photography, brand collaborations, and creative & culinary production throughout Hawaii and beyond.
Food & Drink
A campaign for a neighborhood bar ready to make food part of the story:
The need: A local bar expanding its menu, wanting food to become a larger part of the experience — not an afterthought to drinks and socializing.
The concept: “Don’t Forget To Eat” became the inspiration for a playful, high-energy campaign pairing the bold orange backdrop of the courtyard, expressive portraits, and crave-worthy food imagery.
My role: Creative direction, concept development, visual planning, food styling, photography, campaign execution — from initial idea through final image delivery and print installation.
Creative Direction
Developed campaign concept, visual language & shot plan, guiding the project from idea to execution.
Photography + Styling
Styled food & beverages, directed talent and balanced lighting & composition to create bold, personality-driven imagery.
Final Delivery
Curated hero images, refined final edits, and oversaw printing & installation so that the campaign translated seamlessly from social content to oversized wall art.
Travel & Editorial Storytelling
It was a journey from Hawaii to the West Coast, then on to the East Coast and back, built around food, drink, family, and the sort of adventures that make for a good story later.
I touched down in San Francisco for a whirlwind couple of days of gratefully gobbling up one iconic menu after another before heading north toward Loomis to celebrate my mom’s 80th birthday. This would be a food-centric road trip, and I was in search of local ingredients along the way.
There is something satisfying about leaving the interstate, following narrower and quieter roads, eventually finding yourself at the end of a gravel driveway, knowing there is a story and some cheese awaiting you, and getting a glimpse into a day in the life of two award-winning cheesemakers doesn’t come along every day, unless of course, you’re willing to take some detours, which of course, I was.
It’s 111 miles from San Francisco to Loomis, 190 if you add a stop at Toluma Farms & Tomales Farmstead Creamery in Marin County along the way, and why wouldn’t you? Because what’s a road trip if not part of the experience, rather than simply the distance between two places? Besides, when you're planning to create a stunning grazing table for your mother’s birthday party, why buy cheese at the market when you can go directly -ok, slightly off the path- to the source, even if it adds an hour (or two) to your ETA.
Not far from the bustle of San Francisco, Tomales Bay feels like a different world. The landscape opens its arms, the pace softens, and pastoral roads wind past oyster farms and protected coastline.
At Toluma Farms, raised garden beds, pastures, the milking parlor and the creamery make up a working agricultural landscape where a gorgeous selection of cheeses awaits for sampling, and a tour of the farm reveals that these people revere not only great cheese, but also have great respect for the land and the animals in their care.
Here, the story doesn’t begin at the tasting table. It began much earlier, out on the land. The farm sits on the ancestral homeland of the Coast Miwok people, a reminder that the relationship between land and food reaches back far beyond this farm and this generation.
Jenna Coughlin and Nick Campbell are artisan cheesemakers who are passionate about sustainable and humane agriculture, working closely with nature in holistic & biodynamic ways to create a product that is infused with love and intention, and it shows.
I got back on the road to Loomis with a cooler bag full of beautiful cheeses destined for my mother’s birthday grazing table and an awareness that the trip would soon pick up speed again, with more food adventures ahead. But on this sunny autumn afternoon, the detour had given me exactly what I had hoped to find: something delicious to share, and a reminder that sometimes the best parts of a journey happen when you take the long way.
Stories Im Chasing…
I’m drawn to the places where food becomes memories, where farmers become historians, where bars become neighborhood living rooms, and where a meal says something about the place it came from.
Have a story worth sharing? Let’s talk!
