Jake Nelson

These images are from my book Sweetbread. The name Sweetbread is a reference to two very different things. The first being the sweet smell from the Franz Bakery that fills the air of Portland’s Central Eastside. The second reference being the French delicacy “sweetbreads” - organ meat, either heart or throat, of a calf or lamb, pan seared and served as an appetizer.

I rarely took these photos as a photographer, but instead, as a farm worker, a tourist, a bar goer, an unsuccessful forager or a friend, not looking to achieve some image, instead, looking to come home with something to show for the day. The resulting work is rich, tender, perhaps unclear, but never without successful distraction from what lies beyond the flash and focus set on a postured subject.