bondi Archives · alanabread

I’ve always felt a strange affinity with one of the photos below and I was so glad to find it in the latest Broadsheet print issue this afternoon. So, guess what, I’m posting a whole lot more because #feelings.

The kitchen will always and forever be the heart of the home to me, and with a kitchen as open as this I feel the flames of Da Orazio are the most real thing I’ve ever encountered in the yoga mat wielding town of Bondi. And that’s probably why I love this photo so much, it’s a delicious Sydney juxtaposition.

(Also, when Maurice Terzini insists you take a pizza home with you, and when you finally put your feet up and ease into the cheese, and it happens to be the greatest slice to grace your face — you know it’s been a good day.)

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