Food Photography | Butter Croissants

Food Photography | Butter Croissants

One of my favourite parts of a recent trip to France including Paris was the abundance of bakeries and access to fresh bread and of course croissants almost everywhere I walked. In my own neighbourhood of Toronto Riverdale I walk Danforth Ave very frequently and always wished I could find the kind of bakery present in France close to my house. So as it turns out I walk by Dough Bakery very frequently and I never saw much in the window from the street to catch my eye until when recently I decided to poke my head in. What I found was not only a great variety of fresh breads and baked goods but one of my favourites, butter croissants. So today on my dog food run I stopped in and picked up a couple of these tasty beauties (and a loaf of bread) and had to photograph them. I just love the texture and the slight sheen you see on them as shown in the accompanying photos. Hope you enjoy. 

Oh the texture!

The Telltale Crab Shape of a Delicious Croissant

And Behind the Scenes of the Photos

This is again another renaissance of my blog and I intend to post more of my personal and professional shoots along with a behind the scenes shot or two. Feel free to ask any questions about my lighting, my gear or my techniques.

Toronto Food Drink and Product Photography by Fulcrum Imaging Studio. Photographer and Owner Robert Greatrix. rob@fulcrumimaging.com or 647-408-6354.


As always my photos are copyrighted, sharing is cool but only with full credit  and a link back as long as its not for commercial purposes otherwise ask first.

Food Photography | A Taste of the Danforth

Toronto Food Photography by Fulcrum Imaging Studio

A quick trip to the Krino's Taste of the Danforth street festival for some Chicken Souvlaki and some Greek Poutine along with some photos to capture the atmosphere of the yearly event. "The Taste" shuts down Danforth Ave around Toronto's Greektown allowing visitors to get a taste of Greek and Mediterranean (and more) Cuisine from local restaurants and street vendors. If you don't like crowds this isn't the place for you as thousands come for the food and carnival-like atmosphere. Enjoy the photos.

Greek Poutine Can't say no to Fries and Feta :-)

George from my Favourite Local Butcher. Ella Meats

For all your food photography needs from Advertising to Restaurant and Bars and Food Events, we will do our best to deliver a quote that will work for you. 

All Images Copyright 2015 Robert Greatrix and Fulcrum Imaging. 

Day in the Studio | Pasta Shoot

Toronto Food Photography by Fulcrum Imaging Studio

On the menu for dinner last night was a delicious pasta dish featuring Ginger Garlic and Lemon marinated Chicken Breast over a Pesto Spaghetti base along with a mix of farmer's market and fresh from my garden Tomatoes and Basil. I hope you enjoy the food photography and will check out the Fulcrum Imaging website for our full portfolio.

Overhead Perspective

Getting in Close

Third Perspective

We look forward to our next assignment and hearing from you for all your food (and more) photography needs.

#food #savourtheflavour #fulcrumimaging #lenstoweb #cooking #foodblog #foodphotography

Food Photography | A Day With a Chef

As part of a recent trip to France, a stay in Dijon was part of the itinerary. My wife Marie, to my surprise had arranged for us to join chef/eduator/author Alex Miles for a "Day with a Chef" cooking adventure. You can find out all about Alex here http://www.i-food-france.com. I can only say what a great unique experience it was.

It all started when Alex stopped by our apartment we had rented in the morning and we got a great guided tour of Dijon as we walked through historic city. Dijon certainly was a feast for the senses. 

Walking through the historic centre of Dijon. 

After a quick coffee at a cafe on Place Francois Rude we set off to explore the market and gather some fresh meat and produce for our meal we were going to prepare. I  am going to save many of my market photos for another post but the Farmers Market in Dijon was an experience of sight and scent all it's own and Alex knew his way around like a cat stalking a mouse, procuring produce from select vendors that were most local and would compliment our meal.

Just Another Day at the Cafe :-)

Inside the Dijon Farmers Market

Chef Alex at the Dijon Farmers Market.

Here we also picked out our protein for the day, fresh rabbit. We also selected two styles of fresh bacon from one of the vendors for the Rabbit braise. After the market it was on to a wine store we had discovered independently the day before, La Route des Vins, where we picked up a great bottle of Burgundy to compliment our meal. An excellent and expansive selection of wines and very helpful staff, the Route des Vins was the ideal place to get some Burgundies. Website here http://www.la-routedesvins.com.

Boulangerie

Of Course with Alex Being a former Pastry Chef and me a Food Photographer we had to see some of Dijon's best treats in the area too.

Another stop on route to Alex's apartment to get some bread ( a few stops to look at pastries) and we were set to cook. Alex had a beautiful place close to the market and it was such a joy to cook in his home and meet his wife as well. One can't help but marvel at his kitchen and it's bright red professional range (which I neglected to photograph)! After a glass of Kir, a great local drink of white wine and creme de cassis, we got down to making our meal. Of course Alex the great host he was had some of his terrines handy just to whet the appetite. (not that extra food was needed!)

Alex's Home Made Terrines perfect with the fresh bread.

We began by prepping dessert which was beautiful apricot and vanilla custard tart. I won't say much the picture speaks for itself.

May as Well Show Dessert First!

Next on the prep list was our rabbit which we browned with some of the bacon and then slow braised to give a perfect tenderness. Also on the menu was medley of fresh local vegetables and mushrooms, including some very unique field Asparagus which I had never seen before. 

These wild Asparagus had such vibrant color and delicate structure to match a rich taste that was totally unique to us. 

Dishing up a fresh vegetable medley for the first course. Delicious!

First course plated and ready to go topped with some freshly baked puff pastry. 

There did come a point where I decided to forego photography in favour of savouring the experience, but I did manage a shot of our table with rabbit. It was such a pleasure to sit with Alex and his wife for our mid day feast. The conversations were as equally enjoyable as the gourmet food. 

Getting ready to enjoy the rabbit, with some unique to the area, naturally buttery mini potatoes and of course a Dijon mustard sauce for the rabbit. 

The Apricot tart was the perfect finish to the meal but...... if that wasn't enough Alex had a cheese board with about 7 local selections and some dessert samples from a previous day's pastry lesson!

 A complete cheese board after everything else! My love of cheese is second to none and I sampled all, but needless to say a nap was in order after the walk back to our rental. 

The Personal Touch, thanks Chef Alex. I hope our paths cross again.

So if you ever find yourself in Dijon, save a day and book a session with Chef Alex, you won't be disappointed, it was a feast for all the senses and a great adventure exploring a great city.


Robert is a Toronto based photographer specializing in Food, Beverage and Product work. His business is called Fulcrum Imaging and he is available for freelance work both home and abroad. His portfolio is available at www.fulcumimaging.com.


As usual our images are copyrighted . We love to have our work shared with credit but using our content for your own gain or profit is not cool.

Copyright 2015 Fulcrum Imaging and Robert Greatrix Photography.

Food Photography | Showing Off New Work

Food Photography | Showing Off New Work

The last few months we at Fulcrum Imaging have been busy shooting delicious new food drink and product self assignments, meeting great people and continuing to learn both in the studio and in the kitchen. I am sure you will agree our work has improved measurably over the past year and we want to showcase the best of our recent images. We have also updated our website with a new look and we love to show it off, so stop by www.fulcrumimaging.com to see what we have to offer and in the meantime enjoy the sampling below.

Food Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

We love burgers! And we ground our own mix of beef and pork shoulder to make this one. 

Product Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

Lighting is important for any product and we continually try new ideas to bring out the best in any item. And Bourbon is a favourite.

Food and Beverage Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

Our portfolio was lacking some drink photography so we teamed up with talented stylist Marianne Wren http://foodstylist.org to create this summer look lemonade.

Food Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

What more needs to be said, muffins don't last long in the studio as you can see. 

Product and Beverage Photography | Fulcrum Imaging

I'm a wine lover, so I chose to do a shot that would challenge my lighting skills. And what better way to celebrate a successful creation than with a glass of Vino. 

 It looks like spring is on its way and we still have spots left in March and April so book your food product or corporate shoots soon for the summer season. Call or email we would love to talk to you and discuss how we can help solve your problems, 647-408-6354 or rob@fulcrumimaging.com.

Cheers




As usual our images are copyrighted . We love sharing with credit but using our work for your own gain or profit is not cool.

Commercial Photography | The Rewards of an Interesting Assignment

Commercial Photography | The Rewards of an Interesting Assignment 

Recently, I had the opportunity to partner with BrandActive, www.brandactive.com,  a brand implementation firm based in Toronto and Fletcher Allen Partners (now University of Vermont Health Network) in Vermont and New York to create a piece to illustrate their recent brand change to the University of Vermont Health Network. The focus of the project was to be a sign installation at the Fanny Allen Campus in Colchester. In the past I have produced works with a combination of time lapse photography and still images; but, for this project, we ventured into video capture as well.

Part of the new look sign(s) was a granite base; and in the video, we wanted to incorporate the connection to the local-sourced granite and feature the geographic areas serviced by the University of Vermont Health Network in Vermont and New York State. You can view the video here: http://youtu.be/_-kcOqvUQck

Visiting the granite crafters, Rock of Ages, in Barre, Vermont was particularly interesting; and I got a great inside look at an industry that we don't often see and something I wanted to share. The amazing part was the mix of modern technology with the traditional hand crafting methods. My host, Amanda, was wealth of information about the processes and the history of Granite production which is the foundation of the Barre area. Enjoy the photos and brief tour.

Computer controlled saws handle the time consuming cutting process. 

Here a pneumatic drill bores holes in this massive block of stone to be split for the sign base. 

The block is split like this by using a series of wedges and shims shown driven into the drilled holes. The split line is scored with a chisel to ensure a clean break. After this, the block is shaped to its final dimensions.

The surfaces of the granite pieces are still shaped by hand using various chisels and hammers to chip away stone to the desired shape and texture. You can see some of this in the video. 

Working a little backwards this image shows a block of raw granite being hoisted out the quarry. 

A wide angle landscape shot shows the Rock of Ages quarry and the tall derricks used to hoist the granite out of the pit. If you notice the pattern and colour (unique to Barre Vt) of the granite on the face you might recognize it from a scene in the Star Trek movie where a young James Tiberius Kirk drives a corvette over a cliff. 

Hope you enjoy the photo tour and the video. The video was shot on a Sony A-99 and many of the photos were shot with a Sony A7 using a variety of Sony and Sigma lenses.

Please remember Fulcrum Imaging is now booking photo shoots for March and April, be sure to visit our website at www.fulcrumimaging.com to see the new look and recent work.

Landscape Photography/ Using Long Exposure Photography Exploring Niagara Falls

Landscape Photography/ Using Long Exposure Photography Exploring

 Niagara Falls

 I was in the Niagara region recently and had the opportunity to do some Landscape Photography and Urban Landscape Photography. I love exploring, so naturally I like this style of photography. Niagara Falls in the winter is a totally different place than in summer at the height of tourist season. All times of year offer some great photography but winter tends to attract less people allowing a photographer to shoot relatively freely from the better vantage points without throngs of tourists and other photographers. And of course the falls look totally different with the ice and snow. Since I was out and about both before sunrise and in the evening I took advantage of lower light to stretch my exposures upwards to 30 seconds. 

During my shooting I did discover some new things and remembered some things forgotten. One was during my night shooting outing. The falls are lit by a multitude of spotlights and I am not sure if its unique to winter with ice and snow but the lights have a very noticeable dark spot at the centre as you can see in the following picture.

My solution in this case was to overexpose slightly and do some major dodging and burning, then convert to Black and White using Nik Silver Efex pro. This view is a rather common and iconic vantage point. 

This photo was taken in the morning before sunrise and was my first exposure of the day. The colours were quite dramatic and warm at this time. 

Another shot, below, was taken in the am a little later than the previous and although the processing was toned to give a different look the light had also changed dramatically. This was a lesson relearned; the winter season doesn't give a long window of opportunity for great light. 

And probably about ten minutes or less later, the dramatic saturated look above, was almost gone replaced by a blue even light below. I chose to include the viewing station in this shot just to do something different and give the shot some foreground interest. I think the inclusion tells more of a story. 

After shooting the falls at night in the first shot, I ventured up the Clifton Hill tourist area and caught the bright lights and a blurred spinning Ferris Wheel using long exposure. I love the dynamic sense of movement captured. As you can see, in the winter, this often busy area is almost deserted with the exception of a few car light trails going through the frame.

If you like my photography and want to see more of my professional work please check out my website www.fulcrumimaging.com. It has just been redesigned so it may be worth a second look too. All of my photography is copyrighted and can be licensed or sold as prints. Please contact us for more information.