chocolate cheesescake brownies

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

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

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!

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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shopping in paris

shopping in paris

8 Aug 2011

As you know, I love to shoot shops but when I travel I'm more of a window shopper than an actual purchaser. I travel with a backpack on wheels so that restricts what I can buy. Here is what caught my eye.



When I was in London, I paid a visit to Petersham Nurseries where I found this display of Astier de Villatte ceramics. Astier de Villatte was on my list of shops to visit in Paris but it took me 2 attempts before I found the store. Memo to self - take address with you when trying to locate a shop in a foreign land.



The shop is located in a ramshackle old building oozing with character. I hope they don't ever decide to renovate the store as it's just perfect the way it is.



Their ceramics are gorgeous but expensive and there was no way anything purchased would survive the journey home.



Have you ever been completely intimidated by the staff in a shop? Well the staff in the flagship Bonpoint store had me quaking in my boots. Considering it's a children's clothes shop, they were terrifyingly severe in their demeanour. It's a gorgeous shop filled with beautiful children's clothes shoes and toys with amazing displays. 



As I stayed in the 10th arrondissement again, I made another visit to La Galerie Vegetale (now sadly closed). This time I was without my french speaking travel buddy so I was a bit hamstrung by my lack of French. The shop is as lovely as ever - part florist shop/part art gallery.



Of course I had to revisit le petit atelier de paris, one of my favourite shops (now sadly closed). It has very limited opening hours so unless I raced from the train the day of my arrival it wouldn't be open again during my stay in Paris. So that's what I did and I managed to restrain myself and not buy out the shop. Le petit atelier de paris now has an online shop but unfortunately the shipping costs to Australia are prohibitive. 2014 - unfortunately le petit atelier de paris appears to have closed it's doors but it still has it's online store.



Two of the parcels contain gifts for friends and the larger parcel contains bowls that no doubt will appear on my blog sometime in the future. For now, they're still safely wrapped up in their brown paper packaging tied up with string.



Of course no trip to Paris is complete without a visit to Merci. I did a shopshoot there, so there are more images to share with you later in the week.

So until then,

Jillian

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berlin in black and white

berlin in black and white

3 Aug 2011

I set myself a challenge when shooting film. I only used one lens, a 50 mm, which meant I had to get up close and personal with my subjects. I had one shot left on the roll of film before I flew home so I took this photo from my hotel room. It was a cold, grey and wet morning and you can just make out the twinkling lights of the television tower in the gloom.



My hotel was on Rosenthaler Strasse and this building was just around the corner.



I spent my last afternoon taking photos along Weinbergsweg where I found this sweet little birdie perched on a bike.





This gorgeous building was close to Kollwitzplatz.



I took this photo at Flohmarkt am Mauerpark. Doesn't it have a mod 60's vibe?



This wurst stall is just around the corner from the Reichstag. I was there a bit too early in the morning even for wurst.

 I took this photo from the Reichstag Dome.

I snapped a few images of the Brandenburg Gate both when it was sunny and when the weather was dreary. I had to shoot high to avoid the American Indian and Marilyn Monroe look a-likes and various actors dressed in uniform all willing to have their photos taken.




I only took 2 photos of the Holocaust Memorial. The stones vary in height so I took this one where I was dwarfed by the height of the stones.

 


On my way back from Schloss Sanssouci, I left the train at Grunewald Station where I visited the memorial on platform 17. It's a very simple but moving memorial to deportations from the station.




I still have a roll of black and white images from Paris and plenty of shop shoots to share with you, which I hope to do some time next week. I hope your week is going well. 

See you all soon,

Jillian

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