Friday, September 23, 2011
Toro de Oro Pepper Reflection

The Golden Bull pepper... or Toro de Oro. This amazing beauty is from the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market. I picked it out on State Street this Tuesday for a photo shoot for a couple of upcoming Fine Art food photography shows. One show will be part of First Thursdays in Santa Barbara. The show will be displayed at the office of Casa Magazine in downtown Santa Barbara and the reception will be First Thursday (of course) the sixth of October at 5 to 8pm and is open to the public. Hope to see you there!

Thursday, September 22, 2011
Listada de Gandia Reflection

A beautiful Heirloom Eggplant from the Santa Barbara Farmers Market. This beauty was purchased for my upcoming food photography art show, part of First Thursdays in Santa Barbara. The show will be displayed at the office of Casa Magazine in downtown Santa Barbara and the reception will be First Thursday (of course) the sixth of October at 5 to 8pm and is open to the public. Casa will also be having a Flan contest judging at the same time.

Sunday, April 24, 2011
Dinner at La Purisima

Although our Santa Barbara Mission has a wonderful historic tour with some authentic artifacts, there is nothing quite like spending some time in a mission where they have painstakingly restored and recreated on a large scale what the day to day life must have been like when the missions were the full communities they were designed to be. La Purisima offers the space and flexibility to almost step into the past. It is a wonderful experience.

Friday, September 18, 2009
Santa Ynez Valley Grapes

I've been working on trying to get an image that captures the feel of the Santa Ynez Valley. Of course, vineyards are a big part of that area of California these days. Especially after a rather popular movie about the area a few years ago. But wine is not the only thing they are known for. This weekend Solvang is having their Danish Days festival. If you've never eaten an Aebleskiver that alone could be worth the trip. Of course, I prefer just making my own and avoiding the crowds. Then again, maybe I'll brave the sand castle festival in Santa Barbara this weekend. Could be a busy weekend!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Mission Sunset Fog

Click on the main image for a larger view.

Once again we are having a fire in the area. Fortunately for us here in the city it's a little further away this time. Of course that's not much consolation to the over-worked firefighters on the front lines.

As always, the fire is making for some nice sunsets. And I had a project specifically looking for a nice wide straight shot of the mission. This looked like my opportunity, but I thought the fog was going to roll in too thick to get the photo. In the end the fog swirled right behind the mission with the beautiful colors of the sunset making for an amazing backdrop.

Friday, September 5, 2008
Curvy Pepper

So we are trying to eat a little better. We stopped at the Farmers' market today to see if they had any good fruit. (The grocery stores have been a little weak lately.) We found some good peaches and strawberries then we found the cool peppers. My wife and I were looking for really interesting ones which caught the eye of one of the guys behind the counter. He started telling us that people even used to take these really nice black and white photos of these kinds of peppers. Like he was reading my mind. Well, except for the black and white part. But maybe tomorrow!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Peppers and Garlic

Time for a little more food photography! Yet another of those self promotion projects that always gets bumpped by other things.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Hot Espresso

Ahhh more food! (or more specifically drink) It was all I could do to finish this before I go get some coffee myself! (Another of the wonderful things my wife introduced me to.)

Well, these were two of the first experimentations with this style for a series of ads and a website. Generally, I'm pretty happy with it. It's nice to be the designer as well as the photographer. It helps get the exact image you're looking for.

Monday, October 22, 2007
Garlic Reflections

In addition to my local Santa Barbara images site I am in the process of doing some self promotion work for my commercial food & restaurant photography. I've always loved photography and I REALLY love food, so I guess it was only a matter of time 'til I made the connection!

Ohhh I just LOVE Garlic!!

Sunday, September 16, 2007
Fresh from the Garden

This was taken a couple hours before yesterday's photo of the day. This was the scene in the middle of the table that inspired the three hour photo shoot.

The cool purple garlic bulb is from a recent trip to Gilroy for their Garlic Festival, but most of the others are fresh from the garden.

Saturday, September 15, 2007
Habanero Reflection

I noticed this pepper as I was sitting at the dining room table this morning with my wife and bird. (His cage is in the corner of the dining room. He likes to be right in the middle of the action.)

We have a huge pile of peppers and tomatoes on the table from our plants in the back yard. My wife has been pointing out the cool ones to me for a couple of weeks, and I finally couldn't wait any longer it was time for a photo shoot!

About three hours later this was one of my favorite shots. But I can't take all the credit, I have a great Art Director & food stylist! The cool black tray was my wife's idea.

Friday, April 13, 2007
Stripey Season

Oh I'm so excited! It's tomato time again! (yeah I know I need a hobby! oh yeah, I have my camera!) This is one of our "Mister Stripey" tomatoes from last year. But it is time to start looking for this years varieties. A couple weeks ago we had to search all the nurseries to find only common tomato varieties, but they are out in full force now and I have lost count of how many we have.

Of course, one of our favorites is still around from last year. It is a big mass of vines that seems to be very happy and produced fruit all year even through our mild frosts here. (It was nestled against the wall under our living room window and, luckily for him, they didn't seem to have anything like insulation in the 70s when the homes in this area were built. :-)

Friday, December 1, 2006
Coffee on the Hoof

Or more specifically, "Espresso." One of the wonderful things my wife introduced me to!

This is a little bit of my experimentation into self promotional shots for food photography. The christmas card season can't last for ever after all. :-D

Thursday, September 21, 2006
Grapes on the Vine

Mmmmm, grapes! I love the color of them.

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!

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 17, 2006
Playin' With My Food (AKA This Little Piggy)

I am really enjoying the food photography thing. Two of my favorite things, how could it be wrong!?

It doesn't hurt that we have a variety of very cool props around. This little piggy has been on our cool stone table for a while and I decided that it was time for his photo shoot! ('Course, the coffee table is not usually that clean :)

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