Think that title is a little out there? Or totally intriguing? Wait till you see the food photography. And it won the book a pretty big compliment.

This year’s James Beard Award (coined “the Oscars of the food world”) for best cookbook photography went to the The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, by Heston Blumenthal. The photographer is Dominic Davies from the Netherlands. You can see images from the book at the link above, as well as some of Davies’ other work.

So…now that you’ve looked at the cookbook photography…what do you think? Obviously it knocked the socks off the Beard Award judges; did it knock your socks off too?

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.

This week’s What’s Your Favorite? points to ethnic foods: Chinese, Irish, Japanese, Turkish, Jamaican, Indian, Thai, Welsh…what’s your favorite ethnic food?

Mine definitely used to be Chinese, but lately I’ve been wanting to experiment with foods from my Irish heritage so I’ve been researching lots of soup, stew, meat and potatoes recipes. I’ve also come across some interesting Irish food blogs.

So…what’s your favorite ethnic food? Leave a comment and let us know!

This is the first post in a a regular occurring blog series that is based on common questions I get from my clients. The idea is that if one person is asking this question, there are probably others out there that want to know the answer too. The current question is one that comes from many clients often in the pre-production meetings when we are throwing around ideas as to the style, colours, overall feel…”but what about the props?” they ask.

The cheese shot here is a perfect example to use to answer this question regarding props; specifically how do you choose props, how do you know what props to add and how many, and placement.

In my experience choosing props can’t be done unless you know what style/theme/visual feel you are trying to create with your photo. In this shot you can see the props used were simple but kept in line with the rustic, country-like style of the main star of the shot: the cheese. First, we have grapes. I used some grapes in both the mid and background; I picked through two piles of grapes at the market and carried them to the check-out like they were my most prized possession (this is key; and ask the cashier to be careful! If you don’t, before you know it your carefully selected prop, food or otherwise, will be squashed in the bottom of a shopping bag). *Styling tip: freeze your grapes ahead of time so they appear dark, crisp and round. Saggy, wrinkly grapes don’t look good.

The next prop is the cutting board – it’s nothing special, but it’s simple and light colored. I didn’t want to use a dark board,  I wanted the overall feel of the shot to be visually light and didn’t want the surface to take your eye away from that front piece of cheese.

Finally, the cheese knife. I will admit this cheese knife inspired this shot; I love the checkered pattern down the side of the blade and the wooden handles are perfectly worn in. What can be tricky about falling in love with a prop though, is sometimes you have to just get over it and remove it from a shot if it’s simply not working; don’t sacrifice the shot just because of a prop you love – make that shot work without it and find another shot to use that prop in later. This knife was also tricky in terms of placement – I had it every which way before deciding this looked best. The best thing to do in this case is just play around with it and review each shot (ideally on a computer screen, not just on your camera’s LCD) before deciding on the final placement.

Overall, you must remember that props are just that: supporting pieces that visually add to the main focus without being distracting. Visual trends today definitely lean towards the less is more mantra, but I encourage you to explore, try different options and set-ups and find what is visually appealing to you.

For this dose of creative vision, we begin the week with a favorite summer treat (or, a year round treat when you live 3 blocks from Mario’s Gelato like we do): strawberry ice cream. But don’t be fooled, this is not the edible kind. Well, technically it is edible, but I don’t think it would taste very good and I’m certain it would give you a week-long stomach ache. What you’re looking at here is fake ice cream, and it’s what is used most of the time when food photographers are shooting ice cream, unless it’s an ad for the product itself, then their job gets a whole lot harder as it has to be the real thing.

Vision here was simple, and fully inspired by the vintage green glass sundae dishes: old school ice cream parlour. Back-lit with natural light was a must to highlight the top of the scoop and shine through the glass dishes, and reflectors were needed to bounce that backlight onto the front of the set-up (one large white reflector camera left, another camera right, basically forming a 90 degree angle, with my camera poking in between).  As you’ll see below, I tried out different things with the strawberry garnish and cookie props on the table surface, but settled on 2 round jelly-centered cookies with a strawberry fan for garnish.

The beauty of the fake stuff is that (a) it doesn’t melt, (b) with the right scoop it ‘barks’ better than the real thing ~ I’ll get to that in a minute, and (c) it keeps in your cupboard forever.

Here is the recipe that I use for fake ice cream:

• 1/2 cup corn syrup (such as Karo or White Lily)

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)

• lots and lots of icing sugar, at least a 1lb bag

*for colour: fruit (here I used frozen strawberries to get the little seeds in my final shot), cocoa or food colouring (just remember, a little goes a long way).

To make:  First, in a mixer or with a hand blender (or even by hand) mix your corn syrup and vegetable shortening together. Then slowly add your icing sugar in small doses and continue stirring. You’ll know you’ve added enough icing sugar when the consistency is dry and fairly stiff, but too much will make it crumbly.  You’ll know it’s just right because those cracks the scoop of ice cream gets when you scoop it out is called ‘barking’, and is key to making fake ice cream look great.  Fill the contents of your bowl into sealed ziploc bags and stash in the freezer overnight. In the morning you should have a rather hard ziploc bag of fake ice cream. Stores well in fridge. * I will also suggest a stainless steel ice cream scoop with the release lever, I like mine made by Good Grips.

Have you got a different recipe? Used something else that worked well? Leave a comment and share it with everyone.

Happy scooping!

~ j

Got a hankerin’ for some good Italian meal, but the though of boiling pasta in your own kitchen leaves much to be desired? Wander down to Glowbal Restaurant Group’s latest hot spot Trattoria Italian Kitchen on West 4th at Burrard to sample any of Chef Jeremy’s dishes. Totally affordable and great for sharing (part of their menu is based around large pasta and seafood share-platters), I’m sure you’ll have a great night out.

You can also check out what we shot for them on their website, Trattoria Italian Kitchen.

all photos © 2008 Jackie Connelly Photography

Got a hankerin’ for some good Italian meal, but the though of boiling pasta in your own kitchen leaves much to be desired? Wander down to Glowbal Restaurant Group’s latest hot spot Trattoria Italian Kitchen on West 4th at Burrard to sample any of Chef Jeremy’s dishes. Totally affordable and great for sharing (part of their menu is based around large pasta and seafood share-platters), I’m sure you’ll have a great night out.

You can also check out what we shot for them on their website, Trattoria Italian Kitchen.

all photos © 2008 Jackie Connelly Photography

A short while ago we showed you some photos we shot for Albion Fisheries line of Bayside seafood products found in most grocery stores in Western Canada, and we were lucky enough to work with them again. The shots here are from our most recent shoot for their new line of sustainable seafood products, Calypso. All the dishes you see here were prepared styled by the talented Scot Roger, and we had Guy Dean of Albion completing our collaborative team.

Enjoy!

© 2008 Jackie Connelly Photography

© 2008 Jackie Connelly Photography

Fabulous clients of mine, the folks at the Cannery Seafood Restaurant, are offering an amazing deal on a 3 course menu prepared for you by Chef Wayne Sych and his team. They’re calling it Sunday Night Dinner by the Sea and your menu choices, for a mere $38, are:

Lobster Bisque, brandy cream
~ or ~
Vine Ripened Tomato Salad
bocconcini cheese, extra virgin olive oil,
balsamic syrup

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Grilled Tiger Prawn Brochette
sweet Chipotle glaze, cilantro emulsion,
pumpkin seed concassé
~ or ~
Wild Sockeye Salmon
Sake miso marinade, sesame daikon butter

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Belgium Chocolate Truffle Cake
preserved raspberry coulis
~ or ~
Fresh Local Berries
golden brandy snap and “crème Chantilly”

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I don’t know about you but I’m hungry…I would go for the tomato & bocconcini salad, the wild sockeye salmon (anyone that knows me can confirm I could eat salmon for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for the rest of my life and be happy), and the fresh local berries.

We had the pleasure of photographing several of Waynes creations earlier this month (photos below) and from what I tasted there, I am highly recommending you make your way down to the Cannery any Sunday you’re craving seafood.

I think I had the most relaxed, successful working day last week. Food Stylist extraordinarie Scot Roger (his introduction will be posted in the coming week) and I worked with Guy Dean, VP Import/Export for Albion Fisheries, Western Canada’s largest seafood distributor.

The day consisted of talking travel (we all had travel plans over the summer including China, Korea and Tofino), surfing (one of us actually knew what they were talking about, having competed and been published), and of course a little food chit chat here and there. The funny thing was it wasn’t until lunch that we figured out we are all from Vancouver Island..such a small world.

Ok, names and job titles aside, here are some of the photos from our shoot that day. Look for these on the packages of Bayside seafood products in your local grocery store soon. And check out our website for more photos from the shoot. Enjoy!