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shopshoot - labour and wait

31 Aug 2011

Last year when I was in London, I visited Labour and Wait and loved just about everything they had on the shelves. I would have loved to have taken photographs but the store was so tiny and so packed with shoppers that I had to wait for people to leave before I could squeeze into the shop. I knew there were plans to move to a larger store so when I knew I'd be visiting London in 2011, I emailed the owners asking if I could shoot their shop. 



Luckily the answer was 'yes' so I made my way to their new premises in Redchurch Street and promptly got myself very, very lost. I'd managed to leave my copy of the London A-Z back home in Sydney so I followed my nose and eventually found myself at the beautiful old building on Redchurch Street.






An eclectic array of well made items for the home with a bit of fashion thrown in for good measure.







Last year I came home with a vintage tea towel just like the one in the photo and it's featured quite a few times on my blog.






I was tempted by about everything in the shop but with limited space and 3 more weeks of travel I bought something small that could be tucked away. I've not had a chance to photograph it yet but it should appear in the next few weeks.



 Who would have thought taps, buckets and brushes could be this stylish? 



I'd love a milk pan just like this one. If any of my friends who read my blog are planning a trip to the UK any time soon, you know what you can get me!



Many thanks to the kind folk at Labour and Wait for letting me shoot their shop. Unfortunately, that's the last of my overseas shopshoots so I guess that means it's time to start hunting down some local places for you all. 

Happy Father's Day for Sunday Papa.

See you all again soonish.

Bye for now,


Jillian
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Dutch Apple Tart

29 Aug 2011

Miss B is growing up and fast. She can now ride a bike without training wheels, something I can't do, and she was happy to show off her skills for me.



Whenever I visit Miss B, I bring dessert with me. Miss B's brother Ruin is my harshest critic, so it's always a challenge coming up with something that will please his palate. If it's not apple or lemon, he won't eat it.



I decided to try out this recipe for Dutch apple tart similar to the ones I saw being served at Cafe Winkel in Amsterdam.



I prepared the filling the night before I baked the tart.



I'd planned to go the gym Sunday morning but the tart took a lot longer to prepare and bake than I'd anticipated.



In fact, the tart only came out of the oven about an hour before I was due to
leave.



The verdict - Ruin ate a massive piece and Miss B had a second helping so it must have been okay.

Did you have a nice weekend? I spent Saturday at home chained to the dining table while I finally completed my tax return. Life has been so busy that I've yet to finish unpacking from last weekend's trip away and I'm struggling to fit the gym into my schedule. Some days I need another me... It wasn't all work though as I made it to the gym Sunday morning and met one of my friends for dinner on Sunday night.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian
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petersham nurseries

24 Aug 2011

As you know I love food and subscribe to a few foodie magazines. It was through one of those magazines that I first learnt about Skye's restaurant, Petersham Nurseries Cafe. Petersham Nurseries Cafe is located within Petersham Nurseries, so when I knew I was going to be in the UK in 2011 I decided I would take a trip out to the nurseries at Richmond.


I'd not been to Richmond before so I faithfully followed the directions on the Petersham Nurseries website, alighting at the Dysart Pub stop.



To get to the Nurseries you walk along Church Lane past the pretty St. Peter's Church.




I don't quite know what I was expecting, but Petersham Nurseries is huge!



As well as loads of outdoor plants and potted colour, there are a large number of glass greenhouses. Now remember I'm from Brisbane where mangoes, paw paws, hibiscus, frangipanis and avocados grow so a glasshouse in a nursery is a novelty to me.



My first stop was the Tea House.



Isn't that a sweet idea? Table numbers in terracotta pots.



Some produce destined for Petersham Nurseries Cafe.



Seating for the restaurant and cafe is located in the greenhouses.



A bit of a mauve, green and white theme happening here.


I spent quite a bit of time in the fabulous shop, which has everything from soap, trugs, glassware and furniture to Astier de Villatte ceramics.






Not mention bird houses, terracotta pots and pretty gardening gloves.








As you can see I visited Petersham Nurseries on the most gorgeous of English summer days.



Thanks to the kind people at Petersham Nurseries for letting me roam around the property at will and thanks to the ladies at Remodelista for featuring my images.


2016 edit - Skye has moved to a new restaurant called Spring which can be found at Somerset House.

Jillian
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chocolate cheesescake brownies

22 Aug 2011

Do you know what I make when I need to make something for morning tea and time is at a premium? Brownies.



A few weeks ago I whipped up a batch of chocolate cheesecake brownies when a last minute morning tea was arranged.



When I went to snaffle a piece to photograph there weren't any brownies left! I guess that means they must have been okay.



Now this isn't exactly the recipe I use, but if you increased the butter to 125 grams and rather than using chocolate chips, added the equivalent amount of melted chocolate to the chocolate brownie mixture, it would be very close. If you give them a try please let me know how they turn out.

I hope you enjoyed your weekends. Mine was a bit hectic with a quick trip to the country for a family celebration. There was no time to get to the shops so the cupboard is looking pretty bare.

See you again on Wednesday,

Jillian
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paris in black and white 2011

17 Aug 2011

It's really hard travelling overseas with film. I carry a lead lined bag with me to protect the film from scanners and each time I travel I end up arguing with security staff who tell me their scanner is film safe. There is no such thing as a film safe scanner! There is something special about the look of black and white film, which is why I persevere.


I really like the look of Paris in black and white, so each day I'd take my camera with me and would just shoot whatever took my fancy.


Some days it would be markets, other days it would be buildings or details.



I spent 2 years developing and printing black and white film when I studied photography and those photographic chemicals don't agree with me. Sydney is short on labs which still develop black and white film, so I'm lucky to have found someone who lives close by who develops the film for me.



I found this random piece of elegant graffiti in the Marais, I think. I shot it in colour as well but I think the black and white image is the better of the two.



I found this great clock the day I visited the Musée Marmottan Monet. I love the building reflected in the clock face and no, it wasn't a happy accident. I had to stand on my tippy toes to get the building in the frame.



Doesn't this image just scream Paris? 



Still 2 more shopshoots to come and then the travel related posts will be over for another year, 

I hope you've enjoyed them.

Jillian
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summer strawberry cake

15 Aug 2011

My oven was repaired just before I went on holidays. I've baked fruit and made roast dinners and casseroles but this was my first attempt at baking a cake in the oven. I thought I'd try something simple just in case.

I bookmarked this recipe some time ago when I saw it featured on Aran's blog, Canelle et Vanille. Even though it's winter in Sydney there are plenty of strawberries at my fruit market. I picked up a few punnets yesterday to make this cake for work.



I haven't had a chance to taste the cake yet but I did alter the recipe a little as I always do. 



I reduced the sugar by one third and used grated lemon rind to flavour the cake batter instead of vanilla.



I haven't had much success with Martha Stewart's recipes in the past so if this one doesn't come up to scratch, I'll remake the strawberry cake using the same base I always use for my plum/nectarine/raspberry or apricot cake.



After a 6 week break I also went back to using my Nikon d-300. The Nikon d-7000 performed amazingly well but I prefer the focus on the d-300 for food photography. I also wanted one camera not coated with butter sugar and flour. It's always so hard to explain why there's flour on the sensor when I take the camera in for it's annual clean.



Got to go and clean the kitchen....

My weekend was hectic. How was yours?


Jillian


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merci, merci obscura magazine - published!

10 Aug 2011

Have you heard of Obscura magazine? Well I hadn't back in June when I received an email asking if they could use some of my Merci images in their magazine. Since then I've discovered the magazine is produced by a team in Hong Kong.



My copy of the magazine arrived on Monday and here is the final lay-out.



It's always such a thrill seeing your work in print. I haven't had a chance to look through the magazine properly yet but I hope to this coming weekend. What the magazine didn't know - I was on my way to Paris to shoot more images of Merci.




Holly from decor8 has just done a lovely piece on her blog featuring my images. This is my take on Merci.



You may notice the images are a little different from my normal style. How different? Well those of you who've followed my blog for a while, know that it's all about the detail with my work, but not in this case. I received very specific instructions that I was to shoot 'panoramiques' only.



I tried my best to fulfil the brief, but gosh it was difficult.



I bought a few little treasures for myself from Merci and yes, some of the items are still waiting to be unwrapped, so no photos for now I'm afraid.



Lots more to come. I still have 2 more UK shopshoots to share with you as well as my black and white film images from Paris, so stay tuned!

Jillian
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