an oldie but a goodie...

Valentine's Day has never really been a big fan of mine, but when my friend Kelly and I had talked about putting a new promotional piece together, there was no better theme or time that we could think of to showcase our ideas.

Several years ago,  Kelly Arsenault and I had worked together in a big Toronto photo studio, that's how we became friends.  She was a prop/room set stylist to the studio and I was an assistant to one of the photographers there.  Since then, she's gone to do her own thing, still styling and set designing and I've gone on to do my own thing in Photography.  While we haven't had too many opportunities to work together since, the friendship remained and a collaboration was born.    

Being in this creative industry, you can't rely on your current work or clients forever, (as much as you'd love to) like I said in an earlier post, this industry is fickle.  What we have to do from time to time, is a "Creative", which is usually a collaboration of people who create something out of imagination and a little brainstorming.  A group effort of putting a creative idea down, and creating something that you can all walk away with for your own promotional purposes  or just to get the creative juices flowing again. 

Anywhoo, with all of our ideas, we had decided on a candy shop theme and the process begun.  Kelly started to shop, and I got the gear and studio ready.   She did an awesome job of sourcing out some cool things for the shot, most of which we were begged for or borrowed, unfortunately (or fortunately!) we had to buy the candies :) Being a Creative, no one is paying us to do this, so we had to be careful not to get too carried away. It's usually all worth it in the end but being a hard year for most, we had to watch our pennies.   

So in the dead of winter, this little candy shop was born out of my studio, a few pieces of wood, some very pink candy and cake and 2 very exhausted girls with a couple of creative brains behind it all. It was fun to put together and to work with my friend Kelly again.   I know we both wished we had more time to play around with it all and see what else we could  create with what we had, but our time was done.   

Happy with the end results, it served it's purpose and now I want to rebroadcast our efforts and with it wish a Happy Day to  you all, whatever day it may be!

xo

Books Out!

Although I've been at this photography thing for a while now, I still get a kick out of seeing pictures that I've taken on the racks of your local grocer, magazine shop etc.  I've been shooting for a few of the local editorials for quite some time, and very happy to being doing so,  but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't always striving for more.   Being a 'freelance' anything these days is fickle, and at this point in my life and career, I want to go with my gut, my instincts, and not what is 'safe' (as some of my friends like to put it) as there's nothing really "safe" anymore in this industry anyway.  I got into this business because I love it, not the business part of it (although I'm starting to get the hang of that part), but I love the evolution of it.  I love what I do, and lately I've been working towards a few other career goals, one being Cookbooks!  Who doesn't love a good cookbook?  I myself, own many of them!  I use them as inspiration when I'm not feeling inspired, but I had always set my heart on photographing one, one day... 

I came one step closer to my dream last month when I hit my local bookstore and found not one but two cookbooks on the top shelf and in them, some of my photo's.  I had to pull out my handy iPhone and take a couple of discreet shots.  

First was the Best of Clean Eating book.  That was pretty cool, I didn't even know it was out already!  I had been shooting for this magazine for years now and this book was a collaboration of some of the best recipes over the years (hence "Best Of") so it wasn't anything new for me, but I still couldn't help but bear a grin :)


Then I spotted the one I was waiting for.  The Three Chefs. Although I had only shot the candid shots of the chefs in this book, I was still proud to see it.

The three chefs, Michael Bonacini, Massimo Capra, and Jason Parsons were a delight to work with both in the St.Lawrence Market kitchen and while on set during a taping of the Cityline TV show.  First was the St.Lawrence Market where this zany troupe cooked up several of their favorite meals for me as my finger turned raw from taking photo after photo to capture their impressive skills.  Trina (my Uber Assistant) and I tried to taste test as many of the plates that came flying our way but these guys were so quick at their skill and although I was quick at mine, there were three of them.  Enough said.

Then over to Cityline Television show the next day while they entertained the rest of Canada and I had the pleasure of capturing more of the fun. As I flipped through the book a little closer, I found one (maybe more) of the food shots I had taken that day at St.Lawrence Mkt had made it into the book as well!  Even closer...

So here we are several months later and I finally get to see the finished product! Seeing the two books merely side by side put that extra hop in my step that day.   

Last weekend, a day off took me to Niagara on the Lake with some friends to celebrate a birthday.  One  winery that we visited was the Peller Estates where Chef Jason Parsons cooks.  It was really cool to see the giant poster and display of the Three Chefs book in the winery! I saw Jason bustling around in the restaurant and I popped my head in to say a quick 'hi' as he graciously took a few minutes to chat.  During our visit at Peller, we toured the outdoors where they had a some ice wine tastings along with giant marshmallow's and fire pits!  We were like a bunch of kids roasting our marshmallows  over the open fire and eating these tasty treats.  This recipe for icewine marshmallow's is actually in the book (pg. 238)! Yumm!

While the work that I have in both the Best of Clean Eating and The Three Chefs might not be entirely the type of work that I had hoped to have in a cookbook, it's definitely one step closer!   I'm working closely with the great crew at Madison Press Books and we have a few projects brewing. 

What can I say, I'm a hopeful optimist!  Sure the last few years were rough, they were for most of us around the world!  But I'm not ready to give up nor am I ready to give in!  I'm working hard, I've got some big plans, not really following any rules (rules have never really motivated me).  Fingers crossed that one day soon I can share with you the next achievement in my career.