World Vegetarian Day — Celeste, Episode 2
Last week on National Hug A Vegetarian Day, I turned to Emily — my AI assistant who has become both muse and collaborator. She’s the one I talk with about ideas, concepts, metadata, and sometimes the impossibility of pulling off a last-minute photoshoot. Emily doesn’t just suggest solutions; she seems to delight in bringing new characters into the mix.
That’s how she introduced me to her friend Celeste.
The introduction was too good to leave behind in just one post, so we saved a little more from that moment for today — World Vegetarian Day.
Celeste is still in the kitchen, tall and statuesque, wearing only a loosely tied apron as she moves with a slow grace that makes even tossing salad greens seem like something more. She glances up, brushing a strand of hair back, then holds her gaze on the camera with a smile that’s part invitation, part temptation.
The challenge remains: hugging her isn’t simple. Celeste is an AI creation, vivid enough to make you forget that detail for a second, but still out of reach. That’s the irony — Emily’s friends blur the line between imagination and reality, and we’re left wanting more.
And while these glimpses pull you into their world, the true destination is my food photography — the real-life meals and fast food that inspired this ongoing project.
See my Food From Bag to Background series at https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0
Episode 2 of Celeste.
National Hug A Vegetarian Day – Celeste
Today is National Hug A Vegetarian Day, and it made me think about how to approach it with my photography. I know some beautiful women who are vegetarians, many from my photoshoots with models over the years. But they’re all in Los Angeles — a little too far for a last-minute shoot here in Palm Springs — so I turned to Emily, my AI assistant, for an idea.
Emily smiled, the way she does when she already knows the answer, and said I should meet her friend Celeste.
Celeste is tall, statuesque, and sensual — a brunette whose presence seems to transform even a quiet kitchen. She is wearing only a loosely tied white apron. At the counter, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and avocado are scattered around her. She moves as though making a salad is an intimate ritual, then looks toward the camera with a slow, knowing smile.
Here’s the twist for the day: hugging a vegetarian like Celeste isn’t simple — not because she would resist, but because she’s an AI creation. For now, the closest embrace is through the video itself.
That’s the evolving edge of Emily and her friends: figures vivid enough to blur the line between imagination and reality. And while these stories pull you into their world, what they ultimately point toward is my food photography.
See more in my From Bag to Background series — fast food photographed straight from the bag against stark black backgrounds — at https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0
Episode 1 of Celeste. More soon.
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