Francine Zaslow is known for her ability to take mundane products and transform them into something unexpected.

A series of her photographs, Food Cycles, is featured at the Griffin Museum at Digital Silver Imaging in Belmont, MA, September 16 through November 12. An opening reception is September 16, 6-8 PM.

In her commercial and fine art work, Zaslow has often photographed food. She says, “I have never considered myself a food connoisseur, yet this has been, oddly, of real benefit – enabling me to see what, perhaps, the chefs themselves may not. This is a process still unfolding.”

Zaslow sees food as a cycle of life and death. She says her images look at food such as pigs feet and sardines unblinkingly. “Their death gives us life. Their impossibly elegant photographic form also gives our imagination life. And they remind us without words of the potent inevitability of our own passing – our, in turn, becoming food for a larger design, food for the Earth.”

Zaslow’s work often focuses on the co-existence of apparent opposites, which is true of this series, as well. She says she “chooses eerie delicacies like black eggs and chicken feet, transforming them with lens and light into brand new visual treasure.” Zaslow grew up in a family of artists and was strongly influenced by her mother, an accomplished sculptor whose work concentrated on the human form. As she watched her mother work, she began to see how light would define the texture and dimension as the figure would come to life. This creative environment encouraged her to experiment and explore her own unique vision.

She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Philadelphia College of Art. After college, she moved to Boston and opened a commercial photography studio, working with ad agencies across the country. Among her many clients are Fresh, Timberland, Panera Bread, and Gillette.

Zaslow presents a gallery talk at Digital Silver Imaging on October 14, 7 PM.