Aubrie Pick, celebrated Bay Area photographer, dies at 42

Aubrie Pick, a celebrated San Francisco food and lifestyle photographer known for working on acclaimed cookbooks alongside Chrissy Teigen, Tanya Holland and Kristin Cavallari, died after a brief battle with lymphoma on Thursday, Nov. 2, family members announced. She was 42.

Pick, who’s worked on Teigen’s “Cravings: Hungry for More,” and a number of ad campaigns and magazine editorials, was a bastion of culinary photography in the Bay Area and beyond — and those who knew her said that her optimistic personality shined through each image.     

“I would say she had a real sparkle to her,” Anna Roth, a food writer and friend of Pick who later moved to New York, told SFGATE. According to Roth, Pick had a unique enthusiasm for life, which was reflected in her bold, vibrant style of photography that smashed visual norms. She portrayed people and their culinary projects in a way that was messy, fun and exciting, pioneering a visual aesthetic that’s now widely adopted in the industry, Roth said. Aside from her immense talent, she was a true friend to those who knew her personally. 

Whenever Pick flew out to New York for work, she and Roth met up over “soul-cleansing” dinners, talking about their greatest fears, struggles, and hopes for the future. “And I just really appreciated that about our relationship,” Roth continued. “She always had such good wisdom and perspective.” 

Adeena Sussman, who grew up in Palo Alto, co-wrote “Cravings” and worked with Pick, described her as a talented and compassionate leader who treated everyone in the studio with respect, no matter what their role was.  

“In some ways she was a serious person, but knew how to kick back — especially over a great meal — and you always felt permission to relax into her profound emotional intelligence,” she wrote in a Nov. 4 Instagram post. At the end of each shoot, Pick and Sussman bonded over their shared taste in music and confided in one another, remaining friends for years to come, she wrote.  

According to her LinkedIn, Pick studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute and worked as a photo associate and producer before establishing her own business, where she went on to shoot projects for Food & Wine, Williams-Sonoma, and dozens of other major clients. 

“She just had this knack for naturally capturing people, especially in moments of joy and laughter,” Marcia Gagliardi, founder and publisher of the Tablehopper newsletter, told SFGATE. 

Erin Feher, a San Francisco journalist who’s worked on nearly 100 editorial projects with Pick over the past 18 years, recalled one particular assignment with Pick. At the time, they were shooting a mansion in Lake Tahoe for Habitat, the San Francisco Chronicle’s now-defunct interior design magazine. According to Feher, it was an ambitious job that would have taken other photographers days to shoot — but not Pick. She was so confident and light on her feet, she said, they wrapped it up that same day.

“And then we drove back to San Francisco at night, you know, again, like, stopping for gas station coffee so we wouldn’t fall asleep,” she said. 

“We’d work together a lot,” Feher said, “but you know, 10 hours in the car will really solidify a friendship.”

The community of journalists who spoke to SFGATE ultimately described Pick as much more than a creative collaborator — she was a compassionate friend, an optimistic spirit, and a loving mother and wife whose generosity deeply inspired San Francisco’s tight-knit community, they said.    

“She was really unafraid of going out and getting what she wanted, and encouraged everyone to do the same,” Roth said. “She was really just a really good influence.”