Thursday, September 21, 2006
Grapes on the Vine

Mmmmm, grapes! I love the color of them.

Friday, August 25, 2006
Wild Pepper

I would tell you what kind of pepper this is, but my wife grew it from a seed and the seed was in a packet of mixed seeds. Hope they taste as good as they look. Of course, this one is particularly wild lookin'.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Tomatoes from the Garden

These are some beautiful little tomatoes from our garden. My wife has an incredible green thumb. Our biggest plant is about seven feet tall! So this is the first of many tomato dishes.

These are Pink Grape Tomatoes. They are translucent, beautiful, and delicious. The basil is from the garden too. Now we just need our own buffalo for the Mozzarella. :-D

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Chicken Salad

A couple of days ago you got to see the ingredients. Now we have the results! Food is a tricky thing to photograph. Especially something like chicken salad. It has the very real potential to come out looking like... well, something you really do not want to eat. In examining my favorite cookbooks, I have found that lighting and garnish both play a major role in making formless things interesting and appetizing.

In the not too distant future I will be starting a new project, a cookbook, with a friend who owns a great restaurant downtown. I have to practice because his food is so good I really want to do it justice!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006
...with chocolate syrup!

This is another shot from Saturday, for those of you who like a little chocolate syrup!

Apparently there is some debate about the spelling of the word "Caramel." My wife found a few arguments online for Carmel (Just in writing this I spelled it both ways, that is why the question came up.) But, Carmel does not seem to hold up in the dictionaries. And there was one particularly snotty person somewhere telling about his wife the English PHD who had never heard of a word "Carmel." Perhaps it's not English, but they should look into the names of a few cities and mountain ranges. And my favorite, north of here near the city of Carmel there is a river called the Carmel river. If that doesn't sound like a place right out if Willy-Wonka's factory you need to work on your imagination!

I can only think of what my favorite TV Chef would say... No matter how you spell it, its "Good Eats!"

Sunday, June 18, 2006
Ingredients

Another shot from yesterday's food experimentation. BTW, The tomato is supposed to be orange. The normal tomatoes in the store are bred for ease of shipping, shelf life and durability. But, sometimes I like a little flavor too. Fortunately most good stores are starting to get interesting little variants like these.

Saturday, June 17, 2006
Caramel Bowl

Today I tried to get away from my computer a bit. I love cooking and I have been finding some fun opportunities in food photography. Pity, now I need to practice! After cooking and shooting several things my wife was making something else in the kitchen that resulted in some leftover syrup in the pan. I love caramel and she suggested making some. This ended up being the most fun dish we made and it was totally spontaneous.

Monday, April 3, 2006
Yellow Bells

I love Gelson's! Their produce looks like a farmer's market. They even stack everything with the stems pointing in the same direction. Particularly nice since we went there to find subjects for some still life food photography.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Leek Soup

So if you have been around the site for a while, you know that I recently married my best friend. Well it turns out, SHE CAN COOK! (not like I did not know that already, we have been friends for ten years.) But she has been quite creative recently. This was the scene in the kitchen when she was experimenting with Leek Soup. We must be newlyweds I can still get in the way in the kitchen with my camera! :-D

Friday, March 10, 2006
Lunchtime Photo Shoot

This was actually taken before yesterday's photo of the day. (yeah, I'm a little out of order :) Before I go out on a job I like to experiment a little with different compositions and lighting. This was an especially important thing this time since I was not using my trusty AE-1. I would not trade my AE-1 for anything, but professional food photography is definitely in the realm of the medium format camera with an interchangeable Polaroid back, or a good digital camera. Without the immediate feedback it is just too hit or miss to capture the wide range of colors and textures.

Incidentally, I have some very kind friends who attended our wedding to thank for this shot. The extremely cool plate is part of a wedding gift.

Thursday, March 9, 2006
Tea Time at Savoy Truffles

Earlier this week I took some shots at Savoy Truffles on Figueroa for their promotional materials. What a great place for a photographer (especially one like me who loves to eat!)

I could have spent all day just taking pictures of their cool tea cups and tea-pots!

Everything is beautifully done there, from the interior to the presentation of the food itself. You can tell they really take pride in what they do. The owners and the employees all seem like they are happy to be there. Which is very refreshing.

Sunday, February 5, 2006
Still Life in the Bakery

From the same little bakery as yesterday's Photo Du Jour. This was a nice little arrangement on the patio. At least we had somethin' to do while we waited for our food! :-D

Saturday, July 23, 2005
One from the Pepper Patch

This is one of my little pepper plants living in a hanging basket in my back yard. One of my favorite restaurants (Los Arroyos, on Figueroa in Santa Barbara) makes, among other things, some incredible salsas. One of which is made from Habaneros, one of the hottest peppers. After getting used to eating their blazing salsa I decided I loved the flavor of this little pepper as well as the kick it gives things. So I had to start a little pepper patch in my back yard. Trouble was, I did not want my muse to get into the plants on one of her evening perimeter checks of the back yard. So they are safely tucked away well out of her reach in a hanging basket.