Lack of time, trying to lose weight, not feeling hungry, or not having the ingredients available. These are some reasons to skip breakfast. None of them are valid for photographer Estelle Slegers Helsen. On the contrary, she loves a proper breakfast and rarely misses one.
Estelle began to take snaps with her mobile phone in [insert year]. Since then, she has made it a daily ritual to photograph her breakfast table, whether it is a simple setting of one bowl and a glass, an arrangement for two, or a larger table for four filled with various delights. She often enjoys her first meal at home, savoured in solitude or shared with loved ones —her partner, family, friends, or guests. When she is travelling, the improvisation starts.
In the visual diary project 'First Meal of the Day', the photographer deliberately keeps herself and others from the frame, which strips the images of familiarity and instead highlights the ritual as a form of nourishment. The breakfast is a ceremony of care and presence, the gentle transformation from rest to activity and a tribute to a daily healthy start.