Scones with jam and cream
Fancy something with your tea/coffee to take the edge off your hunger?
Image created as part of a recent commercial food photography shoot
I’m a fruit myself. Scone preference I mean, not meaning I’m a “fruitcake”, although “some people say”…
How about you? What’s your preference, plain or fruit?
TTFN
If you’re new here, you can get notification of new posts delivered to your email inbox by subscribing below (rarely more than 2 a week at most)
Favourite images of 2011 pt2
So to kick off the second part of last year’s review I’ll start with something non-human and just as with photographing humans, it’s the focus on the eyes that counts. For July, from a PR photography commission meet Fudge, a 6-week old Tawny owl:
Another PR commission for August but more of an editorial feel to it. If you knew how long it took to match the t-shirt with the background…. It’s Ireland Olympic walker Robbie Heffernan:
For September meet my lovely assistant Claire Sands. Actually that should be “Claire’s hands”. Setting up during a commercial photography shoot at Dungarvan Brewing Company:
October’s choice is editorial food photography and chilli chow main with chicken:
November is editorial PR photography and features an image from a live performance in a Cork record store by The Coronas to launch their new album. While I had them there and signing stuff after the performance I could have bought their CD and got it signed. Far too complicated. I forgot and had to buy it later on iTunes. D’oh! It gets played a lot though
December’s choice is a bit of a cheat (it’s a 2 for 1 offer!) as it’s a combined image of chocolate-chip cookies from a commercial food photography shoot:
That’s it for 2011′s review then. If things go to plan there’ll be some very different images in next year’s review. Don’t be a stranger until then though. Subscribe to email updates below, join me on Twitter or follow on Facebook
Which of the images above would you give a thumbs-up to? Any favourite?
Please let me know in the comments below
TTFN
Favourite images of 2011 pt1
Ever start something and then get half way through and wish you hadn’t?
I had this “brilliant” idea of picking one image per month from last year to post as a summary of 2011. Oh boy. It turned out to be far harder than I imagined. Some months I really struggled to narrow down the selection to less than three, but with the aid of a brutal slash & burn technique I managed it and I now offer you the following as my choices:
For January I’m starting with an image from an editorial interiors shoot:
The home is a converted church in Co Kerry and this image of part of the kitchen makes the cut purely because I love the colours. It’s also a demonstration of how HDR can be used to create a “proper” image. HDR isn’t just to create landscapes with purple fields and green skies!
February’s image is again editorial for the home supplement of a Sunday newspaper. The main subject is at the piano, but it was my idea of including his daughter and allowing her dance away that allowed me create something I was really pleased with:
My choice for March is a switch to a commercial image and was actually one of the most fun images to create of the whole year and features Margaret Smith of Umnumnum cookery school and the “wok chuck”. First person to ask if it’s done with “photoshop” gets a slap. No it isn’t. It was created as a shot like that:
For April I’ve selected a commercial PR image and it features Diarmaid from Expresso Ads and the huge coffee cup that was included is the Irish version of the tv programme Dragon’s Den;
May was a difficult choice as there were a lot of contenders, however the historic visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland and in particular Cork meant there was only going to be one winner:
Finishing up the first half of 2011 with June’s image which is PR photography again and features a legend of the silver screen, Maureen O’Hara:
That’s it for part 1. Part 2′s images from July to December coming along soon
Now it’s your turn – which of those is your favourite? (none is also a valid comment!). Share your choice in the comments below
TTFN
HNY and all that jazz
First of all, may I wish you a Happy New Year!
I’m all set for this to be a kick-arse year, so 2012 you’d better get on board or get the f**k out of the way
My goals for the year are set, written down, printed and pinned to the wall right next to the iMac screen. There’s some fairly ambitious stuff in there this year, but no point in making things too easy is there? At least by the end of the year I can then review progress, unlike last year where I’m not sure if I was a Pass, a Fail, or a Stay Behind After Class
The next two blog posts will cover my favourite images from last year, with the limitation that I restricted myself to picking one per month, not my 12 favourites overall (which would have made my life much easier to be honest!)
Really stoked (that’s me being totally hip) about some personal projects I have in the pipeline (oh, I used Totally, that makes me double hip). *disclosure: I’m probably more like hip-replacement than hip*
Delighted to show off my new logo (it’s at the top right of the blog) but it’s also here for your convenience:
It was designed by Jonathan Leahy Maharaj from a very wooly brief (to say the least) that I gave him, but it had to be capable of being used as a full logo and also condense to something near-square to be suitable for social media avatars so that’s the main on the left and the avatar on the right. I’m delighted with it
To celebrate I even ordered some new business cards to show it off:
Are business cards a thing of the past really?
So back to the post title – HNY is obviously Happy New year, and the “all that jazz” bit? Well I’ll leave you with Miss Catherine Zeta Jones:
TTFN
What’s your opinion on business cards nowadays? Do we still need them or not? Lastly, who understands (or not) the reason for the lines in the new logo? Hit me up in the comments or on Twitter / Facebook
Traditional Christmas lunch
I guess we are safely far enough into December to bring you this:
I hope that some or all of the above come your way over the festive period, and that they turn out as tasty as those items were, even though shooting them back in October (I think it was) was very strange.
I’m out of here for a while now as is the norm around this time, so I’ll see you sometime in January
I wish you and yours the best for the holiday season. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that you get whatever it was you wished for on Xmas day and that next year will be happy and healthy for you
TTFN
Raspberry ripple meringues
These meringues shot for a commercial client are the lightest, most melt in the mouth-est I’ve ever tasted
Obviously I meant that I believe them to be the lightest, most melt in the mouth-est. I wouldn’t know *of course*
Commercial food photography – it’s sweet *chuckle*
TTFN
Subscribe to email updates on new posts here:
Food feature: Nash 19
So here’s the second editorial food feature I’m bringing you and this one features Nash 19 restaurant which recently celebrated it’s 19th birthday
Starting with Roast cod on new season pumpkin with caper and sultana butter:
While I generally wouldn’t be taking images of “ingredients” I was just in the door of the restaurant when a delivery of fish arrived, fresh from the English Market (all of about 200m away) and I just couldn’t resist:
So a couple of Food In Prep images:
Portrait of Chef Pam Kelly:
A couple more Food In Prep images:
It was very difficult to pick the Sense Of Place image, but I went for this one in the end:
There are plenty more images from each shoot in the Irish Food Photography Features section of my website
Food In The Process Of Being Eaten is always a challenge, but I love images of activity with hands:
Last up, it was difficult to pick the “Hero” signature dish image, so I used the roast cod one at the top of the post as one choice, but the main contender is probably a Tapas plate which is the cornerstone of Nash 19′s menu, the Good Food Ireland producers’ plate:
So generally I will be posting about 5 images but I went to town a bit on this one
Here’s a slideshow of more of the shoot:
TTFN
Subscribe by email if you would like to be notified of new posts:
Biscotti
Few things go as well with coffee as these:
Only one thing makes them taste even better:
What could be better than food photography? Creating food images for a commercial client and then consuming the product, that’s what!!
TTFN
Subscribe below to receive email notifications on new posts:
Shooting a menu
Images created to launch a new calorie-count menu for health conscious diners at the Clarion Hotel Cork’s Asian Cuisine Restaurant Kudos:
TTFN
Get notification of new blog posts direct to your inbox by subscribing below:
Flying angel
This angel can not only fly, but can float too:
It’s time once again for the Irish Wheelchair Association’s Angel-pin day and this year we were lucky enough to have the support of gymnast Jillian Kearns who really can fly:
Disclaimer: she can’t really fly. I was only kidding.
It seems that there is a trend developing here where we have the support from kindly sports people. Last year I went for a high-key approach with Cork Footballer & Hurler Eoin Cadogan:
The year before it was very low-key again with Cork Ladies Football player Nollaig Cleary:
A big thank you to Jillian for her support and the “team” of Margaret (Umnumnum) Smith (guest stylist!), Brown Thomas Cork, Thos from IWA (lighting assistant), and Claudia from Cork Face Painting (make-up).
Angel pin-”day” is actually all week, but the main day with volunteers selling the pins on the streets is Friday 11th.
TTFN
