Los Angeles-based photographer Patrick Fraser has an extensive list of clients on his website, from Atlantic Records to Rolling Stone, from Fast Company to Wells Fargo. Even more extensive is the list of people Fraser has photographed (roughly 460), which is why his latest personal project, “Salad Days,” is surprising. “I wanted to make a still life series as I always shoot people, and wanted to show a long time progression in still photography,” Fraser told PDN via email. “This idea just came to me and I knew I wanted to shoot a subject that was colorful and alive and beautiful. Also in classic art tradition the fruit has been painted for centuries in the ‘kitchen sink’ realism, and my concept of aging added a stark reality to the perfect beauty of the still life fruit scene.” Fraser and prop stylist Maggie Ward arranged the produce to resemble things like funny faces, animals and trees, then Fraser photographed the fruits and vegetables in both ripe and rotten states. The fresh images were photographed on plates using a Sinar X 4×5 Large Format Field Camera (the Sinar company is now owned by Bron Elektronik and Foba AG) with color negative film. Fraser left all of the set ups alone for six months and re-photographed them with the same strobe lighting set up. “I just love how it shows what once was so perfect can decompose to such a dark rotten place. Ultimately I was just making a metaphor for life and time passing in a simple photographic essay.”