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The Style Tales

FOOD STYLIST | FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER

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@christall.lowe

20 Lessons learned in 20 years of creative entrepreneurship💗
I just updated last years blog post to reflect 20 years in business....yes 20 years!! I can’t quite believe it. I talk about comparison, honouring your promises, throwing away your business plan, letting go, holding on, progress over perfection and totally winging it.
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Here’s how it starts....
1. There is a season for everything.
Time just keeps on marching on and it doesn't slow down for anyone. I've spent so much time thinking about stuff and planning stuff, only to never get the actual stuff done. Suddenly it's September again, and I remember that I wanted to launch my "XYZ" before Christmas....just like I wanted to the year before, and the year before that. And the ten years before that. Before you know it, fifteen years have passed. Actual!
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I think back to when I started my first business and I was a fresh faced 20 year old. ALL OF A SUDDEN, and I mean, REALLY suddenly, I'm 40. I've doubled my age, and lived half of a full human life. I think back on all the dreamt up projects and what could have been, and what I wanted to be, and sometimes I feel like I'm still working towards launch. Don't get me wrong, I've done and launched a LOT (serial overachiever here, with a faulty stop button), but there are things I've spent far too much time dreaming about doing, that I've missed the opportunity because I didn't think I was ready. Granted, some things do need time to marinate, and some things are actually better off left as dreams in your head - as the reality is not as wonderful (like my dream of opening up a whole foods eatery - it looks amazing in my dreams....) If you do happen to miss the boat while you're dreaming however, remember....
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2. There will always be other boats.
Have you ever had an idea, and a month later after "sleeping on it" 30 times you realise it's not that great, or it would be better if it was like this or like that? Sometimes in the excitement of the creative moment when we think something is AMAZING, we are blinded by our own excited-ness. Everything is rose tinted and it's hard to see the flaws.
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Continued - link in bio xx

Playing with light again. Would you believe these “streaks” are actually from the imperfections in the film that’s on my window?! It’s like a tinted film that was applied probably in the 70s, and you can’t really notice it until it casts shadows like this - I think I’ll leave it!
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Streaked light and shadow ft. homemade pesto pasta - which I actually shot a few months ago. Gotta love a good archive discovery, especially when you’re so knee deep in work you don’t have time to create fresh content 🙈
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#thestyletales #pestopasta #lightandshade

How are you feeling, Aotearoa?
It’s been a plethora of emotions this past week, as we come to terms with what’s happened to our little country - the grief, the despair, and the overwhelming sadness, along with the solidarity of our citizens, the heart warming unity, and the resolve to be kind.
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I’ll admit, I’m shaken to my core. I’m fearful, as much as I don’t want to be. I’ve seen a lot online this week and it’s not all love. But in the darkness, I choose light. And in this place of fear, I choose love.
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When my brother was tragically killed five years ago, I learnt two main things about grief. And I’m not trying to make this about me and my tragedy (forgive me if it seems like it, it’s certainly not my intention), I just believe that we can learn from the things that happen to us.
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1. That there is no right or wrong way to grieve, everyone grieves in their own way. My family and friends, we all lost the same person, yet we all had a different response. Some shut down, I broke down, some internalised, and some, like myself, aired all my grief for the world to see. My Dad kept working, but I could barely get out of bed. Grief was like an ebb and flow of pain, followed by pause. Everyone’s different.
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2. I needed people to acknowledge what had happened, and grieve with me. The enormity of my personal tragedy was so huge I thought the whole world should be stopping to mourn. Don’t ever underestimate the act of a simple acknowledgement of someone’s loss. It may be uncomfortable, but it means more to the bereft than I can describe.
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It’s okay to grieve for our fellow citizens and their families, even if you feel so far removed from it all. It’s also okay to carry on with your daily life as normal as can be in the circumstances. It’s okay to be all good, and it’s also okay to not be okay.
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And today I felt I could finally find the words to put out here. I grieve for our lost citizens. I grieve for our country and it’s lost innocence. I grieve with their families, friends and community. I’m sad for our country, and everyone who was involved in these traumatic events. I’m sad. But I choose love. And I choose light.
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Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa

Not a lot of words today. Just a quiet, genteel, sombre feeling wherever we went today. And sadness. And love. Like the “hearts all over the trees” as described by one of my boys on our walk through the park this evening. #theyareus #manaakitanga #tautoko

Everything’s peachy now that the Gram’s back online 🍑😆
Made this peachcot galette thingy (peachcot = peach crossed with apricot) using a similar method to @joshemett’s blueberry tart (it’s in his highlights) but using peachcots obvs! If there’s anything I like better than a peach, it’s a cooked peach. I think it’s the nostalgia.
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How about you? How’d you survive without the gram? I created content for IG stories 🤣🤣 including a super fast action vid of me making this thing.
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#thestyletales #peachgalette #peachpie

We’re heading into the most wonderful time of the year....Feijoa season!! 💚💚💚 I haven’t quite got enough on the tree (or rather fallen off the tree) just yet for a cake - or even for a taste - but I’ve got my eye on them every day....any day now....come on....
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#feijoa #feijoacake #autumnharvest

When I was 5 my uncle told me that the apple tree in the front yard used to be a little girl who ate the seeds in her apple and grew into a tree 🙄. I fully believed him! Okay he was a teenager (actually I think he still tells the same story as a 50+ year old) but I was so convinced it was true that I got real sad, and used to talk to the little girl tree. I’d ask her if she was okay, and was it sad/hard/lonely being a tree? I would stroke her leaves and tell her it was okay and that I’d play with her. Every time I walked past her I’d say “hello little girl, are you okay?”
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Looking back I realise now that it wasn’t even an apple tree! It was some kind of shrub which was no taller than an adult. But there you go. So impressionable! Nearly every time I eat an apple I think of that shrub! 😂
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These apples here are from the same friend who brought over the peachcots. Cox’s orange apples - a real vintage variety and perfect for cooking. Not too much bite, and a lot of crunch. This was a shot taken of my actual kitchen bench as I was making apple pie. I added a few apples and apple tree leaves for good measure but other than that, this is today’s food story. My kitchen is an original 1960s specimen in dire need of renovation, but it still churns out a good apple pie or three. And just out of shot is a sink full of dishes. Better living everyone.
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#thestyletales #applepie #coxsapples

Peachcots and admin 🧡💓✨🍑
Today’s a huge admin day. I wish I could just take pretty pictures all day and not have to worry about accounts 😂. Our lovely friend dropped off a box of peachcots (peach crossed with apricot) yesterday from her small backyard orchard, and I couldn’t resist photographing their beauty - the sun shining through my masking taped window was just spot on! Check out my stories to see what I’m talking about.
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Well the sun is shining today and I’ve got a whooooole pile of emails, quotes, accounts and website admin to get done. No better day for it. Happy Monday!
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#thestyletales #peaches #harshlight #chasingthelight

Nana B. Here she is showing me how to burn the sugar for the steamed pudding. When I went round the other day she’d just made a lovely bowl of mashed kamo kamo for lunch (with butter and salt....soooo good). She’s the queen of club sandwiches, fry bread, oven hangi, pipi sandwiches and the best boil up - always with dough boys.
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I’ve been trying to capture her as much as I can this past year. I’ve got her hand written recipes and her beautifully demonstrating the “easy” art of burning sugar on video. Photos of her and Grandad in the vege garden, by the hangi pit.
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That passion project I’ve talked about, the cook book come documentary of special things, I really want it to happen within the year. Going to photograph the kamo kamo patch tomorrow before it all dies off.
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She’s been feeding me kamo kamo since before I could walk or talk. It has to be my most favourite thing. And she’s one of the most important women in my life. And my Mama of course. Love both these women immensely.
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#internationalwomensday #iwd2019

@nero_restaurant and @hopgoodsandco Plate of Origin dish is a mouth watering masterpiece ft. @orakingsalmon and @cartwheelcheese goats curd, scampi and the freshest tomato consommé. These flavours combined will make your tastebuds sing with delight. An absolute honour to photograph, and to sample 😉 for this years @plateoforigin. This dish is available at Nero for you to enjoy now, until the 16th of March!
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#plateoforigin #cuisinemagazine

Do you ever squeal with glee into your pumpkin soup when you’re editing? Just me then?
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It was definitely me today as I edited my way through last weeks client shoot - playing with curves and moving sliders until BOOM - got it. Love that feeling. *squeal!*
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Channeling those autumn vibes with this incredible pumpkin and kumara soup with coconut cream, ginger browned butter drizzle, coriander and homemade dukkah. I think I might have to blog this one!
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#thestyletales #outtakes #pumpkinsoup #autumnstyle

“Mum if I plant this seed off my bread will it grow into a bread tree?”
“Mum why is the icing green and it tastes like grass?”
“Here Mum I picked some flowers for your photo shoot”
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A day in the life. It’s never ever the same. Nor would I want it to be. It’s a beautiful chaos, this flower flinging, child clinging, style winging, husband singing, cloth wringing life.
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And wouldn’t it be rad if bread did grow on trees 😍👌🏼
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#kidssaythedarndestthings #matchabuttercream #matchalatte

christall.lowe@gmail.com

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