Photo Post Archives · Page 5 of 5

Lately on Broadsheet

March 13, 2013 in Outings, Photo Post, Thoughts | 13 comments

Consider this post an evolution of my time as an intern at Time Out Sydney; lately I’ve been contributing here and there to Sydney lifestyle publication Broadsheet. Please take my hand and join me on my ~photographic journey~.

As always the experience is doing my simple head in (in the best possible way) and with a job like this it’s difficult not to learn something new each day. Photography of this nature is not simply a case of pressing a button before a nicely presented plate (though I’m not denying a higher, more colourful dish is easier to shoot); it’s problem solving and adapting to the space, it’s finding where the light lays and learning how to use it to your advantage. If it sucks you need to manipulate, if it’s not there you need to create it. It’s easy in this day and age define a photographer simply by somebody who owns a camera and the better the camera the better the photo therefore the better the photographer BUT a long shutter speed or bokeh explosion won’t always make a good photo. You can own the fanciest camera with the biggest sensor on the most stable tripod but that won’t help either. Food photography is small and finicky so it’s difficult to hide any mistakes. All very obvious in theory but I sometimes forget these things in the moment, camera in hand, being caught in almost torrential rain with a big, ugly ute obscuring my dream angle (true story from the other week).

So, if there’s one thing I’ve leant these past few weeks it’s that circumstances may vary and you gotta deal with that. Again, very obvious, but I’m forgetful and this sentiment isn’t always at the forefront of my mind as it should be.

Epiphanies aside it’s been really nice walking around Sydney meeting wonderful people and occasionally trying their excellent food. Here are some photos from the past few weeks.

Chicken skewers @ Shortgrain

Daily salads @ Arthur Street Kitchen

Cheese + pico quesadilla @ Beach Burrito

Beef brisket sandwich @ The Sandwich Shop

RivaReno Gelato, Darlinghurst

Jafe Jaffles Kombi

The Bourbon, Kings Cross

Roast pork panini @ La Macelleria

Margarita pizza @ Gourmet Slice

Crispy quail @ Miss Chu

Chicago style hotdog @ Bishop Sessa

St Peters Summer Garden + Urban Farm

Lemonia, Annandale

If you’d like to see the photo sets and articles in their entirety please visit the below…
RivaReno: From Italy to Darlinghurst
Top 10 Eats under $10 in Bondi
Toasty: Jaffles are Making a Comeback
The Bourbon Bar Rises Again
An Urban Farm in Sydney Park
Lemonia Cafe
Top 10 Eats under $10 in Surry Hills

Tags: bondi, cafe, restaurant, surry hills, sydney

Christmas Two Ways

December 26, 2012 in Outings, Photo Post | 5 comments

Multiracial life is an interesting one. People on the street sometimes speak to me in languages I don’t understand and my dual appearance often has me feeling uncomfortable in my own, somewhat tanned skin as I fit neither here nor there. Back in the old MySpace days I found their “nationality” profile section insufficient. In Japan I was mistaken for being French and in France I was mistaken for being Italian. I was paid out for having a big nose as a child but these days I’m complimented on my coveted, high cheekbones. The symbol of a watermelon as a prelude for party-times is ingrained in every thread of my being and the number of times sweet old gentlemen have approached me with “YOU GRIK GAHL?” is a relentless joy, both a blessing and a curse.

My amazing plan this week was to document both sides of my family, The Egyptians and The Cypriots, and how their Christmas celebrations draw exciting parallels despite their geographic difference; food served in loved Bessemer, lunch of both traditional and modern dishes, watermelon. When I first began this blog my intention was to highlight my colourful ethnic background illustrating these sorts of get-togethers but in almost one-and-a-half years nothing of the sort ever eventuated. Until now. My amazing plan fell short of amazing as I hadn’t factored in the amazing food coma element. Cameras and food, man. My eye for symmetry blurred significantly under the weight of BBQ lamb, chicken, duck, molokhia, fresh seafood, ham, kashk, stuffed tomato, my Teta’s famous crème caramel and more (I feel heavy). But I tried. I tried and then I fell asleep on a couch somewhere. I think my brother summed it up best in an instagram post simply captioned Dat wog lunch :’). Oh well, better luck next year.

I wish you all the best time this holiday season, enjoy your time off, enjoy time with your friends and family and I’ll see you all in the new year with some new recipe posts. :)

Tags: christmas, family, party

Saturday

December 16, 2012 in Outings, Photo Post | 5 comments

Tags: campos, flour and stone, friends, newtown, picnic

Food You Want To Eat – a self-published cookbook (+ video)

December 4, 2012 in Photo Post, Thoughts | 19 comments

A few years ago I was entirely lacking direction and happiness so in late 2009 I set myself a challenge to acquire a degree and make a good thing. It’s now 2012 and I’ve just conquered my personal Everest. For the first time in my adult life I feel the cool and satisfying wave of relief and contentment and am truly excited to share the catalyst of my newly-found nice feelings with you today.

Food You Want To Eat is a self-published cookbook encapsulating a year’s worth of photography and recipes entirely created, prepared, styled, photographed, edited, designed and laid out by yours truly. Hardcover, 24x30cm, 142 pages. It’s my end-of-degree project that was just awarded a High Distinction (!!). It’s survived a computer crash, a corrupt external HD, a broken camera and a plethora of printing issues (more on this later). Imagine a blog in a nicely bound book; the hardcover makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I give it a tap. On April 20th I made it official to the internet this was happening and now it’s legit. It’s no longer a collection of files on my computer, it’s a book, it’s tactile, it’s a noun. Only a couple of weeks ago it was on display at the COFA Annual accompanied by some of my prints. It’s real, it’s in my hands, I can touch it and even give it a little lick if I really wanted to.

Needless to say it was all very hard work and even having this book printed was an amazing comedy of errors. The company made mistake after mistake (for example, the first version literally fell to pieces in my hands fresh from the factory… (I cried)); four versions later the errors were still rife (incorrect colours, problems with the cover, strange smudges ahoy, alignment issues) and a job with a quoted timeframe of one and a half weeks was dragged out over 2 months. I never received an entirely accurate copy and strangely enough what should have been the easiest process of producing this book became the most arduous and made for a very anti-climatic ending. BUT I’ve decided the time for lamenting is now over and with the help of my dear friend The Internet it’s time to celebrate the creation of a really neat thing.

I realise it’s difficult to capture a book of photography with even more photos (yo dawg…) so I’ve put together a small video to illustrate my work in lieu of a JPG-fest (soundtracked by my m8 Yann Tiersen #forevertwee), I really hope you enjoy it:

It isn’t available to buy (doing the DIY thing was my dream but small-run printing is just too hard) so IF THERE ARE ANY PUBLISHERS READING THIS, HI, HELLO, HEYYY! LET’S TALK BUSINESS! This is a project I would be thrilled to have published one day but as a realist I understand the lifestyle market is a saturated competitive one. For now I’ll continue adding to my master file creating an even bigger little anthology of food I like to make as I’m sure it will published one day, maybe. Hopefully. OH PLEASE LET IT HAPPEN. Feel free to spread the word! Please RT, etc etc.

I owe so much to all of my encouraging and supportive friends, new and old, for offering their kind advice and friendly shoulders, this project would still be lingering as a vague possibility in my mind if it weren’t for them, so…

Thank you for helping me realise I’m capable of aiming high and succeeding. Thank you so much for helping me do this.

Tags: cookbook, food you want to eat, self published

Singapore + Bangkok (A Whirlwind Tour)

November 14, 2012 in Photo Post, Thoughts, Travel | 10 comments

I HAVE RETURNED from my whirlwind adventure to SIN/BKK with local music personality, ex-housemate, platonic man-candy and general cool dude Adam on our mission to to eat all of the food feat. our friend Mel who’s working abroad for a little while. WARNING: photo-heavy post. Crazy heavy.

SINGAPORE. Some call it sterile, I’ll stick with “orderly”. A hub of too many great cultures. Check out the night safari after 7pm as part of the zoo. Head to Little India (the Tekka Centre on Buffalo Road) for a plate of the greatest chicken biryani, visit the East Coast for some chili crab (evidence of us giving it the ol’ ridgy-didge posted below) and lose your mind in the number of department stores along Orchard Road. Bugis Street was conveniently located moments from our hotel and is a great spot for on-the-go eats (thank u pandan + kaya waffle) and shopping for some adorable, girly accessories. Be sure to hit up maccas; the McSpicy goes off.

BANGKOK. You could spend your entire holiday exploring street food options (Sukhumvit Soi 38 has the greatest mango sticky rice) and getting lost in Chinatown on a Saturday night. TRY AN AUTHENTIC PAD THAI. Buy everything at Chatuchak markets (a stall I’ll caption as “a food stylist’s dream” also pictured below), go for a boat adventure through world heritage site Ayutthaya for a snapshot of Thai provincial life. Have the living balls beaten out of you with a legit Thai massage (I regret everything). For all the hip kids take some time to explore Thong Lo. We reccomend Iron Fairies, a terrace-converted-bar with the sweetest jazz, Mr. Jones’ Orphanage for the sweetest cake and feast for the eyes, Shades of Retro for some sick cocktails and guaranteed laid-back vibe with the added perk of all the free buttered popcorn your stomach can handle and for the greatest eats try Soul Food Mahanakorn (dem tamarind pork ribs) and Xuan Mai (a restaurant opened by former Miss Saigon turned FBI agent turned chef). No #sydneyfoodtrends in sight, just the way I like it.

Humidity aside I had a spectacular time and the post-holiday blues are beginning to hit home hard (OH LORD WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE) but for now please enjoy few of my ~travel pics~. Since there’s only so much I can squeeze into the constraints of this post for more and larger versions please visit my portfolio site alanadimou.com and check out the photomedia section.

Tags: bangkok, singapore, thailand

Life as an Intern Photographer

August 20, 2012 in Outings, Photo Post, Thoughts | 13 comments

The end of last week marked the last day of my 3-month internship as a café/food photographer for Time Out Sydney. Wait, what internship?! I was keeping this a little quiet as even I found it rather overwhelming (in the best possible way) because really, what’s more confronting than being presented an opportunity to do something you love? (SELF-DEPRECIATORS UNITE). Paralleling the near completion of my degree the harsh realities of life have begun to set in and sadly I decided to turn down Time Out’s offer to continue interning to persue, well, a real job. SIGH, the food photography dream is over (for now).

In lieu of the current absence of any sort of vague employment that burns like a dark and horrible void in my life (lol jks I’m fine guys) I now have a lovely collection of photos I’d love to share with you. SO! If you’re from SYDNEY and you like FOOD and PHOTOS this post is especially for you; hold onto your TASTEBUDS, bust out your wide-angled LENSES and set up your TRIPODS in the middle of a BUSY SPACE and feel totally AWKWARD with me as I present you with a few of my favourite spots I was asked to shoot.

Black by Ezard at The Star, Pyrmont
Another fine dining contender to the seemingly-empty-but-ever-improving Pyrmont area. A torturous shoot as I was pining over everything, especially that honeycomb dessert. A lady yelled at me because she thought I was taking her photo (I wasn’t).

Porch and Parlour, Bondi
A sweet abode with honest food populated by friendly locals and total Bondi bros alike. I’d be happy to call this my local should I one day live in the area (though not likely thanks to my fear of sand). Dish pictured below is smoked salmon and avocado on quinoa bread, a gluten free oasis on a plate.

La Croix, Potts Point
Part coffee corridor, part café, part designer showroom. Beautiful wares in a gorgeous space specialising in tartines and tarte tatin (I had to double-check the spelling of each, that sentence is a minefield). I visited a few weeks later with friends and both were excellent; sitting amongst the immaculately staged glassware and roses had me feeling like a million bucks (however strangely oscillating between both casual and fine dining). Would be interested to hear what others think of this café.

The Grounds of Alexandria, Alexandria
And of course no Sydney food blog would be complete with some snaps from the Grounds! Haha! I’m a walking cliché. These were taken on my first day watching and learning so here are some quick sneakies; it also illustrates my former self hinged on taking closeups, closeups and more closeups (I very quickly learnt to stop that immediately).

Big, big thanks to the team at Time Out for the opportunity! It was such a great experience, learning heaps (a royal buttload, in fact), conquering my holding-a-camera-in-public phobia (is this a thing? It should be a thing), seeing my photos in print and meeting some really sweet café and restaurant owners. I think they’re hiring another intern so if you’re a potential camera wielder do apply, you’ll be a better person for it.

Tags: black by ezard, cafe, la croix, photo shoot, porch and parlour, restaurant, sydney, the grounds of alexandria, time out

Homecoming Picnic

June 25, 2012 in Outings, Photo Post | 14 comments

So I’ve been massively ill since Tuesday. Everything was prepped and organised for a little shoot that day however, and most unfortunately, I only managed a few minutes of snapping before collapsing in bed. I’ve been drowning in blankets since and last night was the first time I was able to leave the house without crying like a total manbaby. The number of cool and important thing I’ve had to cancel this this week is super disappointing and even as I type this I should actually be attending a friend’s BBQ (pray for Mojo).

Upon reviewing my very few recipe photos from Tuesday I began thinking… my intention of starting this blog 11 months was not just to publish original recipes but also to celebrate the occasionan of food, since it’s such an huge element that brings us all together. The last (and might I add FIRST) time I posted about such an occasion was Julie’s baby shower in July of last year. So, Until my body drags itself out of its present, feverish daze I thought I’d share some photos from a few weeks ago, a little picnic at Sydney’s Hyde Park with the greatest of friends… and some new ones too. Amazing eats should go without saying because these guys are the greatest in the kitchen. Oh and see if you can spot my Jasmine + Pandan Macarons!

Tags: picnic