I'm a bit jealous of people living in cities like Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In addition to several smaller, neighborhood markets they have food havens, amazing marketplaces, like the Jean-Tolon Market, the Atwater Market and the Maisonneuve Market. For photographers who love to make photographs of lush collections of fresh produce, artisanal pastries, cheeses, sauces and other tasty food, these markets are absolute treasures. On my visits to Montreal, mostly in the Fall season, I've spent full days hopping on the Metro to go from market to market to experience just how visually rich this food culture is.
Austin has several "farmers" markets but they are a fraction of the size and have an even smaller subset of goods and produce to choose from.
I have some clients who are decorating some dining and kitchen areas and they've asked me to put together a catalog of fresh food images from all over the place. Multiple mini-installations of images being something they are designing around. Over the years I've been involved in a lot of prepared food shoots but it's such a specialized niche in commercial photography now that I'm deferring to dedicated food pros when clients ask. But that doesn't mean for a moment that I'm not interested in making fun and interesting images of "unprepared" foods. Fresh fruits and veggies. Freshly caught fish. Artfully displayed tarts, cakes and pastries.
In fact, now that we've replaced floor and are in the middle of an extensive interior and exterior painting project (no. I don't do house painting. Some things are best left to professionals...) B. and I are more and more focused on rehabbing the art around the house and in the studio. What used to be a collage of good, bad and mostly sentimental stuff is slowly surrendering to more tightly curated, and consistently framed and presented, work that we're doing ourselves. For ourselves.
Our local agriculture isn't as diverse as areas of the midwest and northeast. I like to discover new markets in new places. Makes carrying those cameras around more worthwhile...
The painting project is humorous. At least it is to me. The painters arrived yesterday morning and started wrapping everything in the interior of the house with sheets of plastic. From floor to ceiling in all the areas in which scrapping, sanding, caulking and painting will take place. The interior of my house is like a weird science fiction movie where the characters have to walk through semi-transparent, semi-opaque curtains of plastic to reach livable areas of the house. The living room, one of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms are the safe zones. Areas previously painted and not on the docket for this go round.
When I exited our bedroom and headed to the kitchen to brew the life-giving elixir we call, "Coffee" I had to part the plastic curtains at my bedroom door and walk down a long hallway, the floor and carpeting of which were also cosseted in impermeable wrappings. The kitchen and its appliances existed behind floor to ceiling wrappers as well.
Our dining room table was moved into the "safe space" of the living room and I sat, wedged into a seat, staring at yet another floor-to-ceiling curtain of ephemeral material. Drinking yet another cup of perfect coffee and pre-visualizing this morning's swim. When I came home from my swim practice I watched our two painters wrap all the exterior trim in preparation for treating the exterior raw cedar with a preservation concoction. The application should take place all afternoon. I remember the same, basic experience from five or so years ago and plan to be somewhere else for the afternoon. I'm not at all acclimated to the fumes.
The guys have switched to the exterior today because we have a window of good weather dry weather today and tomorrow and when the rain returns they hope to be back inside doing the pretty work. These guys are consummate professionals. They are very, very detail oriented and I guess that's why B. uses them for all our painting projects. She's out of town for two days so I'm marginally in charge of making sure everything goes well. I should sneak out and go to a movie instead....
Currently trying to find exemplary food markets/farmers markets in Texas. Let me know if you know of any and are generous enough to share your favorite spots.
I seem to be on a carrot jag today....
4 comments:
To get back (late) to a more relevant topic, my doctor told me a week ago that I have to sharply restrict weight lifting to machines, and only those machines which effectively freeze my back. He would prefer I not do those, either. He suggests I limit myself to one exercise -- swimming. I can do as much swimming as I can stand, as long as Ilimit myself to freestyle and the simple backstroke. He said if I attempt the butterfly, I will sink and drown. For reason I don't understand, he doesn't want me doing the breaststroke, either.
JC
Breaststroke is hard on your knees and hips. Butterfly requires good core muscles and can be somewhat devastating for one's lower back if not done correctly. Just sayin.
My doctor looked me over recently and said: "Keep doing exactly what you have been doing." Followed by: "And don't read health stuff on the web." Harumph.
The wife and I belong to a CSA. So nice to actually go to the farm and interact with the farmer. Not only are the fruits and vegetables uber-fresh, but we've been able to try stuff that we've never eaten before. Admittedly not all have been to our liking (ex. cardoon).
"(no. I don't do house painting. Some things are best left to professionals...)"
Verily, you speak the truth. I think house painting is a little bit like photography. Everybody thinks they can do it. Pros know better.
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