World foods...

A lot to fit in but thanks to good planning and great teamwork my recent shoot for Knorr/Unilever with William Murray PR went really smoothly. They needed shots to work for three different crops, including a long pan (even longer than this) and with space for copy so I found a delicious surface with graduated colour to help give a bit of variety without losing continuity.

Art Direction: Carrie Bateman, Chef: Alex Hall, Food styling: Nico Ghirlando, Photography and props styling: Sue

Macro mackerel

Just heard that my very close-up mackerel shot (Folio 2) is a winner in this year's International Color Awards. Nice...

Stop motion

I don't know why I haven't shot any stop-motion before but it suddenly seemed like a good idea. Here is a little fun thing I put together the other day. Enjoy!

One Eyeland

Chuffed to find out that three of my images were selected as Finalists in the 2015 OneEyeland Awards!
Any guesses?

Beefing it up

I've been fortunate enough to enjoy collaborating on test shoots with some of the most talented food stylists in London just recently - on my gingerbread stars Christmas card with Dagmar Vesely plus another fun day with Clare Ferguson. With the freedom to "go boldly..." we decided to shoot joints of roast beef really rare and then to play with up-market sandwich and burger ideas as a link-up with Philadelphia cream cheese.
Nothing for the faint-hearted...




And what wonderful sandwiches we enjoyed afterwards....

Twinkle twinkle

In case by some great mishap you didn't get to see my Christmas card this year (and if that's the case and you'd like to be on my mailing list you'd better let me know!), it was a great relief to me to share the decision-making as to "what to do" with fabulous food stylist Dagmar Vesely.
After playing around with various gingerbread stars ideas and arrangements this is my favourite. So Merry Christmas to you all!

A quick get-away

Grapefruit tree, Reale Alcazar, Seville
Earlier this month I finally stopped procrastinating and treated myself to a week's city-hopping in southern Spain. When I wasn't "researching the local cuisine" I had a terrific time wandering about with my treasured Sony. I still can hardly believe the quality it produces!
As you can see, I took some rain with me but, rain or sun, I would be hard put to choose between Seville, Cordoba and Granada - or their palaces! Here are a few pics of Seville for now....
Street, Seville
Nuns, Seville

Pool, Alcazar, Seville

Plaza de Espana, Seville
The Plaza de Espana is extensive. It not only looks like a film set - it is. When I was there they were filming a top-end Renault racing car which produced the most horrific noise echoing around the Plaza. You can hire a boat to go around the decorative canals of its semi-circular facade. But the Reale Alcazar and its gardens is Seville's most remarkable treasure. Water features significantly in the architecture and gardens of the area, not least in the Alcazar where they have a unique water clock which chimes profusely on the hour!

Decorative canal with ubiquitous Seville orange, Alcazar, Seville

Peacock, Alcazar. Just amused me.

There are some wonderful "proper" shops in Seville - hat shops, bathroom furniture, old-fashioned fabric shops and haberdashers and TWO traditional covered food markets. It would be easy to spend a day just window-shopping.