With a keen eye and attention to detail along with the philosophy that food should evoke the trifecta of memory, emotion, and hunger in people, Jules Sherred is an award-nominated author, and award-winning photographer in the fields of commercial food and lifestyle photography. His cookbook CRIP UP THE KITCHEN: TOOLS, TIPS AND RECIPES FOR THE DISABLED COOK was published by TouchWood Editions in May 2023.
Based in Duncan, BC, Sherred works as a commercial food photographer and stylist, author and recipe developer, journalist, and outspoken advocate for disability and trans rights. He is an official contributor to Getty Images, a staff writer for Fstoppers news site, has been a guest speaker at photography conferences, and is an instructor in Andrew Scrivani’s food photography academy.
Sherred’s history behind the camera goes back decades, from growing up in a household that encouraged photography to being an active member in various photography clubs. His experience during that time instilled the art and science needed to be a quality photographer, but it wasn’t until 2019 when he started his website, Disabled Kitchen and Garden, that he began to develop his food photography skill.
Disabled Kitchen and Garden was born out of the need to include disabled people in the conversation around food. Through the site, Sherred’s focus was to write about his own experience as a disabled person by sharing the benefits and joys of accessible products while providing a number of tips, tricks, and recipes to make cooking and gardening easier for a variety of disabilities.
Initially Sherred took photos chronicling the cooking process for his readers, but as popularity for the site grew and the opportunity to author a cookbook presented itself, much of the past year went into developing his photography skills to a professional level. The results from that intense period of study are a veritable feast for the eyes. Photos brimming with vibrant colours and staged in a way to both showcase the skill in which the food was prepared and entice the viewer to experience the flavours the dish has to offer.
In 2022, he photographed and produced NOURISH: A CELEBRATION, an art exhibit held in the gallery at the Cowichan Valley Arts Council that celebrated local food and beverage producers, farmers, vineyards, and the restaurants that kept people fed during COVID-19 in the face of impossible circumstances, including multiple climate change disasters.
He consults on policy and legislation at multiple levels of government in regard to trans issues, has written about his personal experiences with conversion practices, and specifically advocated for improvements to legislative bans in order to encompass practices targeting trans people and identities. He has spoken at food conferences on topics that explore the intersection of food insecurity and marginalization. He is in a partnership with Cowichan Farm and Food Hub to create and deliver programming to help combat food insecurity in the Cowichan Valley. He is also a steering committee member, and a lead in research development, community consultations, and drafting the policy framework and brief for the Cowichan Food Policy project, to ensure an equity approach in all aspects of the project.
In a past life, Sherred was an online radio personality and geek culture writer who interviewed names such as Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi, BSG’s Richard Hatch, and R.A. Salvatore. He owned and managed the largest online Star Trek community, with over 75,000 members, before Google+ shut down, and has written extensively about Star Trek for several publications, as well as been interviewed by Bell Media (Canadian rights holders) radio stations, as the “Canadian expert” on the topic. He also worked on Jagmeet Singh’s NDP leadership campaign and was MP Alistair MacGregor’s campaign manager in 2019, successfully leading him to re-election in what started as a tight three-way race.
Possessing a talent and creative eye only matched by his unwavering advocacy for the needs of marginalized communities, Jules Sherred is doing so much more than simply taking photos. He’s sharing the world through his eyes and letting his subjects, inanimate or not, tell their story.
