Chef « Melinda Holland Photography

06/21/2010

Vegan Chef Charmaine Daniels

Filed under: Food,People,Portraits — Tags: bulgar wheat, Charmaine, Chef, cook, cooking, cucumber, Daniels, lemon, mint, parsley, tabbouleh, tabouli, tomato, vegan — Melinda @ 9:32 pm

Havin’ Fun in the Kitch-Un!

Vegan chef Charmaine Daniels and I had a great time tooling around the kitchen last Wednesday. Thanks to Jim & Donna for providing a FABULOUS location for this shoot. Bright, airy, scenic, clean. Great specs for a food shoot.

I love photographing food, Charmaine loves to cook, and we both love to eat good, tasty, colorful food–and it just so happens to be super healthy and vegan. Just look at her. She’s fit and gorgeous!

Be watching for more photos as she whips up a super fresh and tasty tabbouleh/tabouli…(However it’s spelled…I found about 9 thousand different spellings on Google…)

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A few of the ingredients.

Check out the size of this knife.

Choppin’ up fresh parsley, green onion and mint. The aromas were wonderful. Especially the mint.

By the way, I love how the green onion reflects off the knife in the middle photo. So shiny…

The dish is starting to come together. Beautiful! I never tire of these complementary colors in food.

Cucumbers…

Dicing a cucumber

Adding the cucumbers, fresh lemon juice and bulgur wheat (bulgur was soaked in water, then drained).

Drizzling some delicious extra-virgin olive oil into the mix.

Look at Charmaine! Isn’t she the cutest chef?!

Then it was out to the balcony for a lovely alfresco portrait.

The wind was mighty and blowing her hair all over the place, but we managed to get some nice shots. I do love the spontaneous look of this portrait.Thanks for joining me on this food journey. Hope you enjoyed it. Until next time….

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01/18/2010

Chef Chris Goossen

Filed under: Food,People — Tags: Chef, Chris, Goossen — Melinda @ 9:42 pm

Chef Goossen - TCW

I was just beside myself with the beautiful food styling of Chef Chris Goossen this past December. When shooting food, a great food stylist makes all the difference and I must say that Chef Goossen has incredible skills when it comes to food. Not only can he whip up a fantastic tasting gourmet meal, he makes it look incredible on the way out to the table.

Chef Goossen, thank you for working with such care on the following dishes. Your artistry and skill is very much appreciated!

Roasted Tomato Soup, Wild Arugula Salad, Arancini

Tuscan Hummos with Pizza Bread, Grilled Italian Sausage with White Beans and Escarole, Berkshire Pork Chops with Homemade Apple Sauce, Proscuitto Crostini with Brown Butter and Sage

Look at the carefully placed pieces! Oh the perfection! And those PERFECT grill marks!

See how the cheese is melted just so on the Crostini! The sheer beauty of every dish is MAGNIFICENT!

Chef Goossen prepares a beautiful table for a holiday party in Dec 2009

- Chef Goossen preparing a beautiful spread for a holiday party -

Below: Two of my favorite shots from the table above. I love good cheese and fruit!

This was my first experience with the science of pairing dried fruits with cheese and the melding of flavors was DIVINE!!!

Brie

Cheese Plate

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11/11/2009

Chef Marvin & Crew

Filed under: Food,People — Tags: Chef, kitchen, Sam Marvin, Tony Calderon — Melinda @ 9:29 pm

Meet Chef Sam Marvin. He’s the mastermind behind the gorgeous dishes I’ve photographed in the past 3 months (many of which are still awaiting their shining moment on the blog). He makes a gorgeously elegant Shrimp Scampi and a beautiful Modena salad that reminds me of a blossoming rose.

Chef Marvin, thank you for bringing me into your kitchen and for treating me with such courtesy even during the most stressful moments of the lunch rush. I do appreciate your professionalism.

Chef Marvin fires things up in the kitchen at Bottega Louie Chef Marvin. Gettin’ things fired up in the kitchen.

Chef Marvin overseeing the kitchen at Bottega Louie

Kitchen Duality.

I tucked myself into a wall crevice to take this shot featuring the hustle & bustle going on behind the scenes vs. the chefs up front where the customers can view the dishes as they’re created. I’m a fan of diptychs and I love the wall separating the two similar yet different worlds.

Chef Tony Calderon cooks up a meal.

I shot for about 2.5 hours during the wildly frantic lunch rush at Bottega Louie. I was right on the line for most of it, up close & personal with the inner workings of what it takes to feed an explosion of hungry people at a popular restaurant. I don’t know how the chefs do it. It’s like Hell’s Kitchen in there. They must all have high blood pressure. It’s incredible the speed at which they work and the pressure they work under to produce beautifully plated items in a timely manner. All I can say is, “WHEW!!” I definitely respect them for what they do. It’s an art, for sure. I have to say thanks to all the chefs I came in contact with. They were always courteous to me, even when under pressure. I do appreciate their professionalism.

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