Jamm'in It

From a recent editorial shoot for Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine. As always chef Dean Simpole-Clarke doing a great job!

Newfield Galleries

I was recently commissioned to photograph a new gallery that has just opened up in Newark, Nottinghamshire. Newfield Galleries owned and run by Peter & Lynn Chapman offers a range of 20th century art and contemporary ceramics. So it's well worth a visit if you want to get your hands on some fantastic art at affordable prices! Here's a few of my favourites...

THE CHOCOLATIER

I recently had the pleasure of spending the morning at a chocolate workshop run by Hughie O'Hare of Somersby Chocolates in Nottingham. While I was there I got to ask Hughie all about his passion for his work. To see the full gallery of images visit the Guest Gallery on my website.


So tell us a little about Somersby Chocolates…
We started in 2006 from our kitchen in Woodthorpe, Nottingham, making our own handmade chocolates. We began with a chocolate round selling to local schools,  residential nursing homes, local business, along with all the local craft fairs and farmer's markets. Eventually we outgrew our kitchens in Woodthorpe and moved to bigger premises and opened our first retail Chocolate Shop & Coffee House at 962, Woodborough Road, Mapperley in 2009. In 2010 we opened our Chocolate Courses & Chocolate School spread over 3 rooms above our Chocolate Shop and we have been booked for a whole range of our courses every week since we opened.


And have you always wanting to work in chocolate? What was your inspiration?
I was a teacher before setting up our own business as chocolatiers. I was Head of Design & Technology at a number of schools and that included the teaching of Food Technology. The sheer enthusiasm students got from creating their own dishes never failed to inspire me and of course, the idea of tasting and experimenting with chocolate grabs everyones attention and brings a smile to their faces!


You must have a personal favourite – dark or milk?
It varies between milk and dark, dark is more versatile in terms of the flavours you can produce, but our chocolatiers have got the opportunity to test different flavour combinations in milk and white. Currently our Cinnamon & Florida Orange blend mixed in a crunchy base and dipped in our creamy milk chocolate is a wonderful creation..mmm! I can't take the credit for that one, Lois one of our chocolatiers has perfected  her own original flavour after much experimentation.

You have some pretty unusual flavours too, what would be your recommendation?
Apart from the one above, Heather, one of our main chocolatiers has developed a rich cardamom & 70% dark chocolate bar that is simply stunning and is fast becoming one of our best sellers.


What’s the oddest flavour you’ve given a go?
We try not to mix 'odd' flavours, we look for flavours that compliment each other. There are chocolatiers who mix odd flavours just for the sake of saying they are an unusual taste. Often they are not pleasant to taste and are just put together to grab attention.


Apart from chocolate, what one food couldn’t you live without?
Does coffee count? Strong and black!


And what food do you detest?
Cheesecake. Peter Kaye was right, ...a cake, with cheese no way.


Is there anyone you’d like to name who works with food that’s inspired you?
Not necessarily a confectioner or chocolatier as I think most take it far too seriously. Clearly, Jamie Oliver is an inspiration as he is educational and is not afaid to produce and present food in an informal way. That can be hard with chocolate work, but we try to challenge conventional ways of presenting chocolates, for example, with our own tray baked chocolates which are rough cut and rustic in presentation but the key element is the taste, which is the main focus of our creations.


So running your own show. Has it been a journey of A to B or more a rollercoaster ride?
Definitely a rollercoaster ride!


What’s been your high?
So many to mention. Seeing the look on customers faces when they walk through the door for the first time and the looks of amazement when they collect one our contemporary handmade chocolate cakes. And also the joy adults and children alike get from making their own chocolates at our chocolate school. Seeing our chocolatiers grow in confidence and been given the time to use their talents.


Any lows?
Only that our website is in need of a makeover.  So if anybody out there is interested.....


Any regrets?
None.


What would be your advice to others about to start their own business?
Make sure you have a product that sells; sounds obvious but it's true. Test it, refine it, that's why we started at craft fairs, farmers markets, etc. Listen to customers opinions, also, don't be afraid to experiment and offer customers something new.  

To see the full gallery of images visit the Guest Gallery on my website.

Castle Hotel Lincoln

Last week I was commissioned to do a shoot on the newly and fabulously refurbished  Castle Hotel in Lincoln. Stephen & Philip of  Treehouse Interiors did an amazing job on the interior design, here's a few of my favorite images!

Lunch in London

Had a lovely lunch in the very rustic & delicious French restaurant Le Pain Quotidien on the Southbank in London the other day, well worth a visit and make sure you pick up a jar of their artichoke pate, so so scrumptious indeed!!

Food Feature

Here's some tear sheets of my work from the current issue of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine. As always the fantastic dishes were cooked up by chef Dean Simpole-Clarke, check out more of his stuff on his website.

EKBB Kitchen Feature

I was recently commissioned to shoot this fantastic contemporary kitchen for Essential Kitchen Bedroom & Bathroom magazine. It's out now in the current April 2011 issue, you can check out more on their website. Also a big thanks to Lisa the home owner who very kindly let me take over her kitchen for the day.

New Portfolio!!

At last I have my new portfolio all ready to show off!! Whilst I've been pretty lucky of late to have a fairly eclectic mix of clients, my style of capturing images oozing honesty and sensitivity, hopefully shines throughout. So with a huge thanks to both my regular and new clients, here's a sneak preview of  some of my favourite images. You can check out more on the my website , or even better if you would like to arrange a portfolio viewing in person give me a shout anytime - happy browsing!

More Family Food Times

This has really become a habit for us lately, getting out with the kids to try out some family friendly restaurants. This week it is Pizza Express in Newark which gave me the opportunity  to try out my new favourite iphone app, Hipstamatic. Check out the full review on the blog Tremendously Two .

Family Food Times!

Out for yet another hards day work with the family to review the ever so child friendly pub The Full Moon in Morton near Nottingham. We had a great meal, excellent food, good service and very child friendly. Check out the full review on the blog Tremendously Two.