Peony

Don't you just love Peonies!? I felt inspired to do this little shoot when I returned home to Ireland to find this beautiful specimen from my Mum's garden, placed on my windowsill.  I wanted to make it as painterly as possible. In the short time it took me to take these photos it went from lovely evening sun to torrential rain and back again. Welcome to Fermanagh!

Salvation Jane - Time Out London

Being a big Lantana fan, I was very excited to be asked by Time Out to photograph Salvation Jane. The newest opening from the same owners, bringing thier Antipodean loveliness to East London. I had the halloumi, beetroot and pecan salad. Good luck deciding which of those cakes to have with your flat white!

LA to San Fran

This time last week I was bombing down Route 1, Pacific Coast Highway in my convertible red mustang thinking I was the coolest thing ever, blissfully unaware that I looked like the ultimate tourist. After some hair raising 6 lane freeway negotiating, we started off in Venice Beach in LA staying at the wonderful Venice Beach House with our room catching a glimpse of the sea. Somehow we managed to get a table at the ubercool Gjelina on Abbot Kinney Blvd. Slightly healthier than the lunch we had the Sidewalk Cafe - the best position to people watch on the promenade. 

We caught the amazing Herb Ritts exhibition high up at the Getty Museum with the best views over LA. Then it was onto Santa Barbara staying at the homely Bath St B&B. Sea Mist scuppering our beach plans. The long but breathtaking drive through Big Sur, past the huge lazy sea lions, brought us to the magical Carmel-by-the-sea. The beach here was just too difficult to leave, making us late for our date with San Francisco. We made it just in time for our best meal of the trip at Luna Park in the achingly cool Mission district. As for the Golden Gate Bridge, I can't say for sure that it actually exists as even though I supposedly cycled across it, I could only see 5 yards in front of me through the mist. Definitely a reason to go back.

Suffolk Food - Guardian Guides

This piece was out last weekend in the Guardian Guide. I went with the lovely writer Rachael Oakden. We had an amazing foodie weekend in Suffolk photographing everything from Pinney's Osterage in Orford to Richardson's very smokey Smokehouse, the gorgeous Pump St Bakery and butcher Gerard King (of Come Dine with me and Alan Tichmarsh fame!) at Food Safari. My highlight was the middle white pigs of course!

Best Sunday Lunches - Time Out

This was my Sunday lunch shoot out last week in Time Out London, shot at the Princess of Shoreditch and it truly was the best Sunday lunch I have ever had in London (yes I did get to eat it afterwards). You don't have to decide between beef or chicken, they give you both! And red cabbage, which I thought was my mum's secret invention with a roast!

E5 Bakehouse

Crazy about sourdough? You need to find the cavernous E5 Bakehouse located under the arches at London Fields train station. It is an artisan bakery and coffee shop and you can also get cakes and lunches. They even run bread making courses. If you follow them on twitter they will let you know when a fresh batch is out of the oven so you can rush across the park and catch their famous 'Hackney Wild' loaf before all the local trendies snatch it up!

Akram Khan - Time Out London

Time Out sent me to photograph the famous choreographer and dancer Akram Khan. "Get some nice dancing poses" they said. Only problem was that he has torn his achilles tendon and is in a plaster, so you could say he wasn't really in the dancing mood. This shot was quite fleeting but I love that they chose it. I think subconsciously it probably sums up how he was feeling.

Happy Kitchen, London Fields

I only recently stumbled upon the Happy Kitchen. A beautiful warm little place underneath the arches at London Fields Railway station. I'm going to love anywhere that has pages from ' Diary of an Edwardian Country Lady' framed on the wall! Their pancakes at breakfast piled high with healthy ingredients are particularly good accompanied by the gentle rumbling of the trains overhead. Afterwards you can pop next door to the E5 bakehouse for a fresh loaf of Sourdough. Blog post for this to come!

Caroline Blomst - Stockholm

This week I photographed Caroline Blomst as the face of Rekorderlig. Caroline lives in Stockholm and photographs her style as well as street style around the world for her blog 'Carolines Mode', and as I discovered with everyone who lives in Stockholm, she is achingly cool and beautiful! This is why Rekorderlig cider have cleverly made her their front woman. Beautifully Swedish.

Backstage Nicholas Oakwell Couture

This is a very small taster of my photos backstage at the recent Nicholas Oakwell Couture show for SS12. A beautiful array of gold, diamonds, feathers and some very big hair! Some great reviews including this one on Vogue.com.

Angelika

I stumbled across Angelika Grohmann yesterday in London Fields on my way back from a shoot. She was talking to her friend in the beautiful frosty afternoon sun and I was compelled to ask her could I take her photo. Turns out she is a Yoga teacher at Yoga Body of Light. Her friend Rachel King kindly emailed me later to give me all Angelika's details and described the day as having had 'such beautiful air and light'. A lovely way of summing up exactly what I had been thinking as I walked across the park on what was supposedly the most depressing day of the year!

Jeni's Roast Dinner

Yesterday I ventured to Hither Green for a Roast at my friend Jeni's new house. Checking out her blog 'Surfing the Silver Spoon' may give you a clue that Jeni is an amazing cook. Above is her beautiful roast beef, purchased that morning from Blackheath market. But the star of the show was the fresh horseradish sauce, made from scratch by her own fair hand. And to think I laughed at her making her own mayonnaise! Dessert was courtesy of Ginny and her famous Chocolate Hazelnut Gateau.

East London Feature in Virgin Australia's 'Voyeur' Magazine

This is a my East London feature in December issue of Virgin Australia's 'Voyeur' Magazine. It was lovely to have a reason to photograph my area and its coolest places such as the Albion Cafe, Les Trois Garcons, Lounge Lover, Village Underground and the amazing 40 Winks Hotel.

Cathcart Christmas Party

Legendary Cathcart Christmas Party courtesy of Rosie and starring her curried eggs, poached trout, cinnamon pavlova and Black Forest Roulade, made from my Auntie Marion's recipe in her book 'The Egg Cookbook'.

Vogue UK Shoot Production

I was brought back to my Photo Editor days when I recently covered for Mike Trow doing shoot production on Vogue UK. An amazing experience. Check out the January edition out now to see the shoot I organised above of Tali Lennox (Annie Lennox's daughter) and her father Uri Fructmann. This was shot in LA by David Mushegain, who by a stroke of luck collected vintage cars and had this unbelievable old school bus painted in rainbows which was perfect for the road trip/Burning Man festival theme.

For the Dec issue I organsied the above shoot of Jessica Ennis shot by Jason Bell up in Sheffield. Lets just say I am now very familiar with every rock formation in the Peak District in the research to find this perfect 'rock with epic background' at Higger Tor.

MEATliquor, Welbeck and Henrietta, London

The crazy busy, slightly too cool MEATliquor. We were debating if it may be a good place to take a date? On the one hand its so dark you can hide any blemishes you may have, it's so loud you don't really have to bother making conversation, but eating their burgers is so messy that it may not be the most attractive thing having them drip down your face. I think you will be so happy to be in there and not in the Queue though, that all experiences are enhanced.  The deep fried pickles are worth it alone. Also pictured above is the off menu 'Crack Pie', apparently favoured by models as their staple diet.

Address: Welbeck & Henrietta, London, W16 0BA

www.helencathcart.com

Soif Restaurant - Battersea Rise

Yes, I ventured all the way south of the river to photograph Soif restaurant, a new offering with a french feel from the creators of Terriors and Brawn. The beautiful food above which looks like a piece of art, was the starter of black pudding with chargrilled squid created for me by Executive Chef Ed Wilson.

Address: 27 Battersea Rise, SW11 1HG

www.helencathcart.com

Medcalf Restaurant - Exmouth Market

I photographed Medcalf Restaurant recently for an East London food story I was pitching. They kindly cooked me their famous Bavette Steak with horseradish, which was amazing. It has some great traditional British dishes with a modern simple twist. Exmouth Market is a really interesting place at the moment with lots of lovely restaurants, bars and independant shops. The wonderful 'Caravan' is also here.

www.helencathcart.com

Copita Time Out

I photographed 'Copita' recently for Time Out Magazine. A new Tapas restaurant in Soho on 26 D'Arblay Street. The dishes were amazing. Pictured above are the razor clams, anchovy fillet with broadbean ice cream, baked duck egg with girolles and my favourite the Ajo blanco - Andalucian white soup made from almonds with a hint of garlic and roasted beetroot.

www.helencathcart.com

Le Cool Cover

Bit slow in putting this up but this was my Le Cool newsletter cover shot. If you are not already subscribed, do so! They asked me to contribute myinterpretation of London so I went out to Columbia Road flower marketand photographed my beautiful sister Lilee who epitomises London cool.