While working on this issue, we shared our favorite photos online and asked readers to choose the best, promising to share its backstory. You chose this gorgeous image from our story about foraged cocktail ingredients. Here Marie Viljoen explains how she got the shot, and why.
Late last May I went on a burdock hunt in Brooklyn — I needed a lot for recipe-testing. Trippy with two heavy bagsful of their thick stems, plus a bunch of mugwort and curly dock (May is peak foraging time), I headed back home. On my way to the subway a massive black locust tree stopped me (3:45 p.m. says that time stamp). White flowers hung from it in perfumed bunches. Impossible to resist.
At 5:20 p.m., home in Harlem, I snapped the picture above. I wanted to catch the fragrance of the flowers while they were very fresh, so I used what was on hand: gin and white wine vinegar. I had meant to pose the jars more grandly but the light on our terrace knew better, so I pressed the shutter at once.
