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.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Purple Nightshade

It's a common flower around here, but I never knew it had so many names. This one was in a nursery in Carmel Valley.

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, 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'.

Friday, July 28, 2006
Backlit Tomato Blossom

When I am busy and I just want to take a few pictures to relax I head into the back yard. These days that usually means taking pictures of tomatoes. But that's ok with me! They really are beautiful, especially when the light is just right.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Tomato Worm Assassin

This is how we take care of tomato worms around here!

We really like birds in our yard anyway and it appears these guys really like tomato worms. We try to encourage them as much as possible.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Pink Grape

Our tomatoes are doing great! This is a Pink Grape Tomato and they are delicious.

We had a 'bout with tomato worms and other things trying to eat them. We are trying to keep them organic and in doing this we are getting a real appreciation for how hard organic farmers must have to work. Fortunately, we found crawling rosemary to deter the snails, cut pantyhose around the pots and tied up around the plant to keep other creepy crawlies out and something special for the tomato worms! Check back tomorrow and I'll show you how we handle them.

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!

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 10, 2006
Tomato Blossom

This one is called "Mr. Stripey"!

No! I don't name my plants...

Ok, well yeah, maybe I do.

But, not this one, he came with that name! Really! And, when this beautiful blossom turns into the HUGE tomato I know it will, you will see why!

Wednesday, June 7, 2006
First Tomato of the Season!

I am sooo excited, this year is our second attempt to grow tomatoes in our small back yard. And I think my wife has figured out the secret as you can see. This guy is beautiful and smells perfect! (smell is one of THE most important things in picking a good tomato IMO) It is a "Pink Grape Tomato" it is only about an inch long, which is about how big it is supposed to be. And as you can see there are more on the way.

Sunday, June 4, 2006
Peach... err Tomato Fuzz

The sun was beautiful this evening. My wife and I were playing with our plants in the back yard when she pointed out a few new buds on this tomato plant. (the little round things in the upper right)

I'm so excited! I just love tomatoes Most of the ones you get in the store are tasteless. But this plant passes the first test, it smells just like my grandfathers garden. (that is the way I pick a good tomato) It was my job to help him find the ripe tomatoes on his plants when I was visiting.

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.

Thursday, March 30, 2006
Backlit Stars

These beautiful little flowers are going wild around here right now. No wonder, it is one of the rainiest Marches EVER. They said on the news today that there has been record snow on the mountains in California, as much as 16 FEET!

As with so many of my nice nature shots, this one is credited to The Hound, during a nice hound walk.

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 :)

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.

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.