I am a British food and travel photographer currently living in Seattle in the glorious Pacific Northwest. Food is my joy and I love to document the stories behind our food and the people who produce it, cook it, sell it, eat it and love it as I do, not just in the US  but all over the world. Nothing makes me happier than photographing a bustling market, writing about an artisan producer, crafting a cake recipe or styling and photographing food vignettes in the studio. 

As a recovering mother and refugee from the corporate cubicle in my previous lives as an investment banker and management consultant, I recently made the transition to full-time freelance photography and writing and am now a regular contributor to Edible Seattle where I photograph and write feature articles and develop and photograph recipes for my regular seasonal cakes column. I also write and photograph a weekly travel and lifestyle column for Komo News' online magazine Seattle Refined  and am a regular contributor to Zagat's Seattle. I have a  growing list of commercial clients and my photography has appeared in Net A Porter, British Elle, the Times, and the Independent. Four of my images were shortlisted in the global 2016 Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year competition.

I am half-Italian and grew up eating my mother's wonderful Italian-inspired cooking. At the age of eleven I won a prize at school and asked for a cookbook - the start of a very expensive and dangerous obsession. I am also a certified gastronome, having won the London Evening Standard Gourmet of the Year competition back in 2002. 

I studied French and Italian at Oxford University, speak both languages fluently and aside from London and Seattle, have lived in New York, Rome, Milan and the South of France and I have travelled extensively throughout the world.

All images copyright Paola Thomas. All rights reserved.