Hally's - Parsons Green

Sorry I haven't done a blog post in so long! This was a commission for brilliant interior designers, Alexander Waterworth Interiors. Check out their website to see how cool their projects are. Hally's Cafe is a little piece of California in Parsons Green, opened  by Anna Halliday. It has a beautiful bright, relaxed feel that meant every passer by was popping in while we were photographing it, eager for it to open! The hexagonal tiles were my favorite detail.

Cape Town, South Africa

South Africa, I fell in love with you. The light, the people, the landscape, the food. It has taken me so long to put these photos up since my trip to Cape Town in December, but it has been so nice to look back over them after what feels a long time of cold and darkness and then some more cold. 

After a climb up Table Mountain via Skeleton Gorge which nearly killed me, we started off in Cape Town and travelled down the Garden Route on long long roads, passing fields of Ostriches and epic mountain ranges. 

First stop was horse riding on the amazing stretch of whiteness that is Noordhoek beach. Then a stop at Kalk Bay staying at Chartfield B&B which is when we learnt that guesthouses here are like 5 star hotels! After a very quick look at the penguins in Betty's Bay, we had a 5 hour drive onto Mossel Bay, followed by Wilderness, Knysna and Plettenburg.

Then it was our longest drive making our way back to Cape Town via Route 62. After dropping down from the misty mountains dodging baboons, you hit the longest, straightest roads ever. It is one of the most amazing drives I have done, broken up by a quick stop at the famous Ronnie's Sex Shop. After 7 hours it is all worth it when you come over the mountain and see the Franschhoek pass. 

You can't visit Franschhoek without lunch at La Petit Ferme which is one of the most amazing restaurant settings I have ever seen. We stayed at Akademie Guest House, which I can categorically say is one of the best places I have ever stayed. 

We fittingly finished off at Cape Point, not quite the most southernly point on the continent but it certainly feels like it.

So if anyone can put me up in Camp's Bay next winter, please let me know!

Food styling by Helly Belly and Rosie Foodie

Amazing what you can do in a day with Rosie Birkett! Rosie of  'A lot on her plate' blog fame is a top food writer for the likes of Grazia, Olive, Waitrose and Stylist Magazine. But as it also turns out, is a brilliant cook! 

She managed to knock together all these beautiful dishes in one morning, for her foray into food styling. She also had collected together all the perfect props. I can't describe to you how unbelievable the muscovado meringues tasted with the lychee, pistachio and pomegranite seeds. Probably not a great idea to eat about three of these as your lunch! After a heavy sugar crash I revived myself by devouring the clams with white beans and kale, as well as polishing off half the Mackerel en Papilottes. This was taken from a recipe in one of my sacred books, Elizabeth David's guide to French Country Cooking. 

We finished off with a stab at practising some Indian recipe styling with a lamb shank curry. This in preparation for the next cookbook I'm shooting which will be for Cafe Spice Namaste. Watch this space!

Backstage Nicholas Oakwell Couture SS13

And it just gets more and more beautiful! This was backstage at the latest show from Nicholas Oakwell Couture for his new Spring Summer 2013 Collection. Inspired by Katsushika Hokusai's 'Tsunami' it was full of sheer fabrics, embroidered embellishments, feathers and of course beading, focusing on beautiful blossom colours and deep sea blues. The set was a custom built japanese wisteria 'forest', inside Calridge's ballroom. Each blossom painstakingly hung by hand.

Corney & Barrow Christmas Brochure

Just to put you all in the Christmas spirit (sorry, I don't agree with it in November either) here is a shoot I did for Corney and Barrow's Christmas Brochure. We shot in a beautiful five story mews house in Spitalfields, in what I would say was near darkness! But makes for some nice moody shots. We spent most of the time keeping the cat away from the dead pheasant!

Murano - Angela Hartnett

I was very excited to be asked to photograph the lovely Angela Hartnett and her restaurant Murano for her PR company. I can't tell you just how nice she is! Just me and Angela, all day in her restaurant photographing dish after dish. Unfortunately I had too much to shoot to get to eat all these gorgeous dishes but I did have a heady amount of truffle risotto!

Bonnie Gull Seafood Shack - Foley St

What started out as a pop up in Hackney, Bonnie Gull Seafood Shack has now found a permanent home on Foley Street. You will be transported to sitting beside the sea. The food is beautiful, and yes that is meat you can see above amongst all that seafood! (My favourite, highland Venison steak with roasted carrots and juniper sauce.) Definitely check out the queen scallops with yorkshire chorizo, lemon puree and baby spinach.

Jared Brown - Sipsmith Gin - AFAR Magazine

Jared Brown is the master distiller at Sipsmith Gin. That is the lovely gin you may have seen in the best bars with a gorgeous swan on the label. I was commissioned by AFAR Magazine, a beautiful travel mag produced in San Francisco, to photograph Jared at his home in the Cotswold's. 

Here he has a lovely little cottage garden where he grows all the botanicals that he tests out for his gin making. He is so passionate about every plant and flavour and smell and said it was very important to grow all the ingredients which they actually use in their Sipsmith Gin so that they can understand them at every step. He also has a beautiful collection of old books on drinking and cocktails, where he said he gets lots of inspiration for his gin recipes. I had such a lovely day getting out of London and learning about all Jared's plants and hearing about his amazingly interesting life, and he even took me to the local pub afterwards for a pub lunch!

Builders Arms, Chelsea

This was a commission by Geronimo Inns to shoot some of their food for their PR shots. Geronimo have lots of gastro pubs around London, each one designed very uniquely. Whether you realise it or not I guarantee you have been in one. These beautiful dishes were cooked for me by Sam at the Builder's Arms, a lovely pub hidden behind the King's road in Chelsea with an amazing menu. Just imagine tucking into that pheasant on an autumnal Sunday! The artichoke heart was a work of art and check out that scotch egg.

The Table Cafe, Southwark

I have been meaning to put these up for ages. This is a shoot I did for the new menu at Shaun Alpine Crabtree's Table Cafe in Southwark. Created by new head chef Cinzia Ghighoni, previously of Duck Soup, Angela Hartnett and Zucca, it consists of beautiful ingredient led dishes. They get all their herbs and veg from the homeless charity St. Mungo's, an amazing idea which has homeless people working allotments in the city and selling the produce. And I think you can see above why their breakfasts are award winning!

Pig and Butcher, Islington

 The 'Pig and Butcher' is the latest opening from the people who brought you 'The Princess of Shoreditch'. I was asked to photograph the venue and food for their PR and website photos. They have lovingly collected all the nice little bits and bobs which give it that rustic homely feel and it is set in the most beautiful old building on Liverpool Rd. But it is definitely not style over substance as the carefully chosen ingredient led dishes are delicious. (Yes I did eat ALL of the above).

Whitstable Oyster Festival

Whitstable Oyster Festival...what a lovely wee day out! Random giant parade puppets, Morris dancers and more seafood than you can shake a stick at. It's pretty stressful deciding what to eat first. It's not just all about the oysters you know! Mussels cooked with garlic on the barbecue were my favourite find.

Polpo and Spuntino

 One thing you may notice from these photos is that to work in Polpo or Spuntino you have to look pretty hot. These shots were taken for BMI Magazine for a feature on the Russell Norman empire, soon to expand to Smithfield. Both continuously bustling, Spuntino is made deliberately hard to find in a NY inspired way, with its unassuming industrial frontage nestled in Chinatown. But the queue snaking to Brewer Street may give it away. If you have tenacity, hopefully you will get your bum on one of those coveted bar stools. The truffled egg toast may make you a bit dizzy for breakfast but definitely goes down well with one of their Negroni's in the evening. Just don't forget those Negroni's have about 10 shots of alcohol in them!

Backstage Nicholas Oakwell Couture AW12

Beading, beading and more beading, and some mink thrown in for good measure. This was backstage at the latest Nicholas Oakwell Couture show, which I was asked to photograph for his Autumn Winter Collection. Think 70's New York socialite lounging in her uptown living room with a dirty martini. Stunning.

Vinoteca Soho

I was asked to photograph the new Vinoteca opening in Soho for their website and PR, and being a fan of their Farringdon restaurant I was really looking forward to it. They are situated on Beak street and the building has beautiful huge windows which catch the light all day. They have a 'library' of amazing wines but the food by Head Chef Will Leigh more than stands up to them. My seabass with lentils and spinach was beautiful.

Garrison Public House

I'm sorry it has been sooo long since I have posted! I have such a backlog of beautiful places to show you. The first is The Garrison on the brilliant Bermondsy St where you can find the amazing Jose by Jose Pizarro and Village East amongst others. I photographed this for the new Corney and Barrow trade brochure. Lots of nice wines!

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!