I've been working on a social issue project about food waste and the amount of food that gets thrown out all the time. Did you know that in Canada alone, we throw out $27 BILLION worth of food EACH year?! 1/3 of food produced in the world for human consumption is thrown out every year, and according to research, those numbers are only rising.

I didn't really believe it until I saw it for myself. We live in such a culture of waste and overconsumption.

I've got to meet some really cool people who've made conscious decisions to reduce their impact of waste in the world. One of these decisions include dumpster diving. It's an intentional lifestyle and until I saw it, I didn't realize just how much good food gets wasted just because it's bruised or dented.

Today, I drove around to different dumpsters just to see what I'd find. I didn't really know what to expect but what I saw is pretty disturbing.

To quote one of the cool people I've met through this project, she says "world hunger is not a problem of quantity, it's a matter of distribution." Boy is she right.

This was all just from ONE place and on ONE day. 

In News class today we were given an option to shoot either a portrait of someone or a feature and have it filed and to our teacher within an hour and a half.

It was a bit stressful at first because I had no idea what to shoot. I wanted to do it well but I didn't know where to began.

I started driving into the county and drove by the Shelter Valley Farms on Highway 62 in Belleville. I turned around because I saw a greenhouse that sheltered some plants and looked like it gave great natural light. I asked to take a photo and although at first she was hesitant, they ended up being really friendly.

I played around a bit moving her around. I tried framing her with some plants and the doorway. They even had this cool greenhouse structure that looked a bit like a jungle gym!

I ended up using this photo of her though.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. 04/11/2014 - Lisa Elliott poses with floral decor outside of Shelter Valley Farms in Belleville, Ont., on Tuesday, Nov. 04, 2014. Shelter Valley Farms brings produce to the Belleville Market in the summer and floral arrangements during the winter and spring. Elliott has been working there since summer 2013. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

I liked that she was surrounded by the floral decor they use for arrangements in the winter time. An after thought though, I'd probably close up my aperture just a little bit so that you would be able to make out more of the floral props behind her. As well, I'd use my flash for a little bit of fill flash on her face!

For such a quick assignment though, I'm happy with the photo I produced :)