Chef Carlos Olivares w/ his New Orleans Roasted Duck. Newburgh, NY. 5•March•10

Food Photography. *(for me, like riding a bicycle…) I cut my teeth in NYC years ago shooting big cameras on chrome with 4 x 5 cameras and even an occasional 8 x 10 Linhoff while assisting during tabletop food photography shoots in a commercial studio on lower Broadway in Manhattan. Then later in my career, while at the Journal News in Westchester County, NY we’d be handed an assignment that required chrome and our medium format camera of choice was at the time, a Mamiya RB-67 loaded with Fujichrome 100D, and finally at the NY Daily News, photographing the myriad of chefs and restaurants, eateries and even push cart vendors in all five boroughs of the city, was one way the photo editing staff would weed out stringers and determine if they could “hack it” in New York. Those that know New York, like other areas I’m sure; the restaurants would eventually proudly display the clips of their restaurant review either in their windows or somewhere near the entrance way. It was always a kick and brought a smile to my face to see my work displayed like that anywhere in New York. For a few brief moments this afternoon, I had a couple of nice flashbacks while photographing a Dominican chef here in my town. When I learned chef Carlos was from the Dominican Republic and I mentioned my recent trip to Haiti, it made the assignment today that much more relaxing. It was really nice to connect on that level, learn of his career in the restaurant business, and as we swapped stories, it made my part that much easier. Enjoy. ~cg.




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