Atlas lunch menu: Fish Tacos

Avenue Bistro & Atlas Cafe, both in the Comox Valley and owned by the lovely Sandra & Trent, are return clients of mine for which I’m incredibly grateful. I’m not even exaggerating for the purpose of this blog post - they are talented and generous and collaborative and I could eat nothing else but Atlas Cafe’s falafel for the rest of my life and be happy. Ok, and maybe bartender Christina’s smoothie to balance it out.

Initially I photographed Avenue when it first opened (2 years ago? 3?! Wow time flies!) and recently went back to take some updated shots, followed by a day at Atlas shooting food, staff, and the restaurant interior for an update of their website. I occasionally need to dust off my headshot shooting skills for some of my restaurant clients (there are actual people full of talent & creativity behind all of the delicious food that I shoot) and they need to be in the spotlight sometimes too, as much as they resist every waking second of it. The interesting part about this here though, was that we shot customers: real restaurant guests that we often ambushed prior to their lunch. Thankfully they were all wonderful sports! Here’s a few of my favourites, plus some tasty food shots too.

Christina @ Atlas garnishing a Mojito

Atlas dinner menu: steak, potatoes + seasonal veg

Avenue Bistro

Find Avenue Bistro: website •  @avenuebistro • Facebook Fan Page

Find Atlas Cafe: website

Seriously, go for the falafel! Go now!

~ j

So this was a dose (ha ha) of something different into my food and beverage shooting routine: prescription medication! However, Jane & Greg at Living Room Pharmacy were a breath of fresh air. They were recommended to me by a dear and long time client of mine, Sandra of Atlas Cafe & sister restaurant Avenue Bistro, all of which are in the Comox Valley (that’s on Vancouver Island, about mid way up, for all you city dwelling folk).

The main focus of the day was to get some shallow depth of field still-life shots of what happens behind the pharmacy counter, as well as a few lifestyle photos in and around the store. The behind the scenes shots was the fun part, because us creatives on set got to pick out the most colourful, crazy, psychedelic looking pills for the shots…like kids in a candy store (and then we got the explanation of what each one was for!).

Also on this project, and driving Living Room Pharmacy’s re-branding from their previous identity, was Perry & Mandy at Spring Advertising. I’ve been to Spring’s office, and it’s busy, let me tell you. I don’t know exactly what they’re doing, but they’re doing something right because they’ve got some great clients and neat projects on the go. Maybe it’s because they offer to go out and grab a coffee for all those waiting in their lounge chairs like they did for me (or else that kind man thought I was someone much more important than I actually am). Either way, I just hope Perry’s fancy new wheels didn’t get him a speeding ticket on the way home from our shoot that day. Perry: I, too, have new wheels now, so ha.

Find Spring: @SpringAd •  Facebook Fan Page •  website

Find Living Room Pharmacy: website

Find Atlas Cafe and Avenue Bistro: Atlas website • Avenue website • @avenue • Avenue Facebook Fan Page

~ j

MARKET by Jean-Georges has been a great place to shoot. Twice now, and last time I got black truffle pizza AND a nifty banner, so really I can’t complain. Seriously though, Chef David and Communications guru Jill are always so welcoming and professional, and with Jean-Georges’ dishes it’s hard not to have everything turn out delicious looking.

Here’s the shots for MARKET’s ‘certain sporting event’ themed menu…you’ve still got a few days to head over and try them out!

Happy Friday and last weekend of the Olympics!

~ j

Just a few days before the holidays my assistant extraordinaire and I packed the car full of gear in the wee hours of the morning and headed over to LOCAL Public Eatery to photograph some food, some drink and some people enjoying it all. Who says you can’t enjoy beer and pancakes at 8.30am? We did! (Oh, not the beer - we left that to the boys). Here are some shots from the day.

LOCAL Public Eatery (belonging to Joey Restaurants) is right on the corner of Cornwall and Yew in Kitsilano (where Malone’s used to be) and their big focus is beer. They’ve got what they call lightweight lagers, middle weight ales & brews, and their heavy weights with more flavour. Their mantra from the kitchen is common food done uncommonly well and they have tons of options for all meals of the day.

A big thank you goes out to Ashley, Chef Chris, and all those people who showed up (for beer and pancakes) that morning!

• To connect with LOCAL Public Eatery: twitter • facebook • website • location •

Luxurious dining, the best black truffle pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life, and a spectacular view is truly what you get from MARKET by Jean-Georges at the Shangri-la Hotel in downtown Vancouver. I photographed one of Justin Tisdall’s cocktails, and five dishes prepared by Executive Chef David Foot and his team for their general restaurant promotion & advertising use, as well as for a trio of breakfast, lunch and dinner images that are hanging on a banner at the Alberni Street entrance to the restaurant (below).

view of the Alberni Street entrance to MARKET

The goal of these images was simply put: up close and personal. No props, white plates & linens, make it all about the food! Here are a few of the images to get your tastebuds going…and do stop by for the black truffle pizza, I’m not even exaggerating the tiniest bit, it’s heavenly.

I’ve written about the wonderful place that is Au Petite Chavignol before; I photographed the owners being inducted into the cheese hall of fame (technically called the Guilde de Fromagers) and I hosted the 2 year anniversary for my business there with a group of about 40 friends and clients. Needless to say I recommend it to anyone looking for a hoppin’ place on the weekend, the very best mac n’ cheese, or for the best cheese in town (because their cheese shop, Les Amis du Fromage, is right next door).

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve photographed some of this fabulous cheese, a few gewurztraminers, and a full leg of a pig, just to name a few things. Here are some of the shots…I hope you enjoy.

Have you been to Pourhouse yet? My other half is scheming to steal a bar stool and imprint his name on it before returning it he loves it there so much. Ok so he’s kidding (kind of) but last week I photographed food, cocktails and the interior for them and I was thrilled because not only are they dear friends, but also because they’ve done such an impressive job at, well, everything.

© 2009 jackie connelly

Gold Fashioned. © 2009 jackie connelly

Dining area. © 2009 jackie connelly

Shortribs. © 2009 jackie connelly

Key Pourhouse players are also catching on to the social media world:

• • check out Jay Jones’ blog for a lot of the backstory to the Pourhouse getting up and running (love the story about the actual piece of wood that makes up the bar) and of course the cocktail side of things which he is known for
• • have a boo at Brian Grant’s blog to become familiar with his recent experiment into making bitters
• • also visit Chef Chris Irving’s blog
• • If you’re a tweeter, follow Jay here, and Pourhouse here

What to eat? I would suggest the Pourhouse Salad (pictured above), the Pork & Beans and the chocolate cake for dessert. Don’t leave without ordering the chocolate cake, I’m serious. My other half enjoys partaking on a variety of tasty items from the cocktail menu, and he’s told me the Grilled Cheese is pretty darn delicious.

Pourhouse Salad. © 2009 jackie connelly.

Prospector. © 2009 jackie connelly

Centennial. © 2009 jackie connelly

Congrats Jay, Brian, Chris, Nick & Jen ~ so proud of you guys. See you for dinner soon!

Campagnolo is a somewhat new restaurant just a short jaunt away from where I live, in the Main Street neighbourhood. Recently Chef Rob Belcham and I had the most efficient food photography session ever, producing some new shots for their restaurant promotions. I would officially like to welcome Campagnolo as a new food photography client, it was a pleasure.

One reason I like Campagnolo (besides the delicious fried chick peas from the appy menu) is because they’ve involved themselves with the new Main Street Farmers Market that happens every Wednesday from 3pm-7pm across the street in Thornton Park. Executive Chef Rob and Chef de Cuisine Alvin Pillay purchase from local farmers every Wednesday, from which they create a feature menu item. Combined, this definitely makes for a quaint Wednesday outing: stroll through the market and pick up some local veggies, flowers, free range and grass fed chicken, and whatever else your fridge might be lacking; then cross the street to get some inspiration from what Rob and Alvin have done with the menu for the day. How very locally minded of you.

I hope you enjoy the photos, and Campagnolo’s creations.

Here’s to tasty Summer cocktails.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Cheers,

Jackie

In May I wrote about the food event Defending Our Backyard, put on by the Island Chefs Collaborative at Fort Rodd Hill, and I wanted to share just a few shots from the event.

There was great food, amazing initiatives and groups, and of course very tasty local beer and wine (yes, my mother and I tracked down a glass to share and sampled a bit at the tail end of the event, once my work was done).

Enjoy!

Wheat from Makaria Farm in the Cowichan Valley

The folks from Ragley Organic Farm