Kia ora and welcome. Thanks for stopping by. I’m Sophie Merkens, a creative storyteller.

What does that mean? Mostly, it means I love telling good, local, authentic stories through words and imagery. I’m interested in the things that connect us to the world around us – food, the whenua (land), people, place, seasons, adventure and the everyday joys that make life special.

My work can take many forms. I write books, magazine stories and recipes. I style and photograph food. I photograph and write about travel and cycling, from long adventures on the road to the people and places you discover along the way. I’m fascinated by epic gardeners, passionate growers, foragers, cooks and people doing interesting things with their hands. And, more broadly, I like sharing the way I see the world.

Food sits at the heart of a lot of my work, but to me it’s never just about what’s on the plate. Food is a way of connecting with the world and with each other. It’s about growing, gathering, cooking and sharing. It can hold whakapapa, identity, memory and a sense of place. It nourishes us, but it also helps nourish our communities.

That thinking has shaped my books. My first book, Grow – Wāhine Finding Connection Through Food explores the stories of women and their relationships with growing, cooking and food. I’ve had the delicious jobs of photographing the last Ripe Recipes cookbook and styling and photographing Plant-Based Goodness. My latest book, Eat Wild: A Foraging Journey Across Aotearoa (published by Penguin Random House New Zealand, 2025), took me around the country meeting hunters, gatherers, chefs, kaitiaki, foragers and fishers, exploring the wild foods that grow around us. It’s part recipe book, part travelogue and part invitation to connect to our wild kai and landscapes.

Alongside my books, I write a regular foraging and gardening column for Kiwi Gardener with recipes, as well as write freelance food, lifestyle and stories for other epic publications. I’ve also written about my own cycle-touring adventures for UK cycling magazine Boneshaker, and share a few photos from traveling slowly by bicycle here.

Working together

As a freelance writer, photographer, food stylist and recipe developer, I work across editorial, commercial and creative projects. I create written and visual storytelling for magazines, books, brands, agencies, businesses and individuals.

This might mean developing and photographing recipes, writing a feature, documenting a person or place, creating content for a campaign, or helping a business tell their story in a way that feels genuine.

It can also mean a family portrait session in natural light, capturing your vibe. (Kids hanging upside down from their favourite pōhutakawa tree or giving grandpa a big hug.)

I’m a people-oriented storyteller, and I care about making work that feels warm, curious and real. I’m particularly drawn to values-aligned projects that connect people and place, sharing authentic local stories.

Words and imagery are how I work, but connection is what I’m really trying to capture.

Sometimes you’ll find me in the city or styling food in a commercial studio. Often, you’ll find me photographing seasonal food from the garden or the wild, or cooking it over fire…

I’m currently most active in sharing mahi and snippets of daily life over on Instagram or on my weekly Substack newsletter here. Click the thumbnails below to see what I’m up to…