lets get baked!

while shooting a bakery story for this months portland monthly, i had the honor of shooting (newly Beard Awarded) chef and baker Kim Boyce's amazing baked goods.

i had to wait til the mag hit the stands before i could show these off, but here are my faves.

her book, "Good to the Grain" was shot by one of the most amazing food photographers working to day, the appropriately named Quentin Bacon. pick up a copy. its beautiful.

my very first cover, Nov 2008

since i've been on a cover kick, i dug this beauty out of the archives. this is actually my first official cover, from November 2008. pdx magazine has since folded, mainly, i think, because the owner was a crook, a liar and a scumbag, but hey. the art director was a really cool guy, i learned alot about editorial shooting while working for them and i scored my first cover to boot.

thrift store project pt. 8

i picked up this little southern belle a while ago. just pulled her off the shelf to be part of the project. i actually shot her with a blue background for about 2 hours and coundn't seem to get the expression i wanted. so i switched to this red background, took about 5 frames, got tired and called it a day. but i love this one. funny how that works sometimes.

catching up with an old friend

my buddy dave was in town a few weeks ago and stopped by for a cup of joe on a rainy sunday morning. when he left, i realized we had actually been friends for 20 years. crazy.

time to shave the pig

here are 2 very varied details from a recent shoot at Ned Ludd. why was i shooting at ned ludd you might ask? keep yer hat on! you will find out soon enough.

the fine and friendly folks at aviary

okay, here's whatcha do: drive up to alberta st., eat dinner at Aviary, make sure you get the rhubarb tart made with fortune cookie crust for dessert, then call me and say, "Wow. thanks for the recommendation dave. that kicked ass!"

the new studio

i'm so excited about this space. awesome morning light and its less than 3 miles from my house.

an open letter to Saveur Magazine

dearest Saveur,

greetings. it seems pretty obvious you would rather not deign to covering the portland food scene. yes, it was nice of you to give us, as a collective city, a quarter page mention a few months ago, blurbing on one of our finest french restaurants in the same breath as (an amazing) thai food cart as well as sundry others.

well, i dont know if you have heard of a little something called the james beard awards, but portland just took 4 of them. here are three of the recipients:

i don't mean to sound aggressive, but lets face it. since Gourmet folded, you are the best game in town.

so whata say, Saveur. get on board. GQ loves us, Details loves us, Food and Wine loves us, and the New York Times....well lets face it, they mean well but they kind of have this whole Single White Female thing going on right now (reel it in NYT, reel it in.)

so be our guest. fly on out here, meet our fine folks, enjoy our food , and then hire me to shoot it!

thank you and bon appetit,

sincerely DLR

more for the OX

just finished up another catching the ox project with local portland photographer daniel cronin. this time around, the subject matter was chocolate. this is what i came up with. (really scored on the milk jug at goodwill.) gotta say, pepperidge farm makes a damn fine looking chocolate chip cookie.

on a related note, this is the first completed shot taken in my new studio space. sooooo excited to finally have a space to call my own. the light is beautiful, the space is solid. i will post some pics soon. some people take inspiration from a muse. i tend to really find focus in a great space with tons of natural light. good things to come, i can feel it.

sometimes you eat the tarte tartin...

sometimes the tarte tartin eats you.

i wanted to put an apple tarte tartin in a shot i was working on and i've been on a pretty good roll as far as food styling goes, so i made this tester on sunday night. it came out great, so we ate it. the lesson learned? never eat the prop before the shot. (they must teach that in art school, right?) cause then i actually had to make 4 more in the next two days and never got it right again. oh well.

thrift store project pt. 7

wouldn't want to be out at sea for too long with this little dude. he looks pretty menacing.

evening light

we all know i am no nature photographer, but there has been this great half hour or so most evenings this spring where all the dark clouds have blown east and the sun pops out for 20 minutes just before setting. it makes the trees in the 'hood look very cinematic. (the details of the pic actually look better if you click on it so it gets bigger...)

alder pastry shop

alder pastry is one of the newer baking spots in portland. they're desserts and gelatos are amazing. they are open late, so take yer lady or gent there for a sweet treat after dinner sometime soon. i guarantee you won't be disappointed.

whats that? another cover?

i guess its true what they say... when it rains it pours. this is my 3rd cover in 7 months. we hadn't planned on this as a cover which makes it even more exciting. i was genuinely surprised (and obviously super stoked) when they sent over the mock up. the layout for the story looks amazing too- great story and lots of images. pick up an issue soon!

to Infinity and Beyond...

i recently spent and afternoon shooting the goings on at Infinity Tattoo for Google. everyone there was super cool and i had a great afternoon. here are a few of the outtakes.

happy easter

every year on easter, my brother Adam (following the tradition and recipe of our Very polish grandmother) makes a batch of homemade pierogis. its rare that i find myself in the kitchen on a holiday with nothing to do, plus the afternoon light on sunday was pretty great, so i figured i'd pick up the camera and document the process.

the Allmighty Dagwood

the latest catching the ox subject was sandwiches and i decided to really challenge myself. i'd like to think of the Dagwood as the holy grail of food styling so i thought i'd give it the ol college try.

i am proud to say that there is no slight of hand in this pic. that sando stood on its own for almost an hour. from top to tail, there are 36 different food items composing this sandwich that are all technically visible. if anyone can guess 'em all, i'll treat them to lunch anywhere in portland.

thrift store project pt. 6

i really feel like this project is finally starting to take form. this was definitely the most fun figure to shoot so far. it was amazing how the slightest shift of angle or light could change the whole feel of the photo.

good enough to eat.

i rarely shoot the dishes i order in restaurants. not too sound like a douche, but i find it pretty gauche. but sometimes ya just gotta capture the moment.

and lets face it. toro bravo.... its worth the wait.

one more billboard

its been a great run with the Google Hotpot campaign. this one is extra special to me because as many probably know, besides from being great friends with toro & tasty family, this was the last restaurant i worked in before throwing in the proverbial (kitchen) towel for a life of unbridled fame and luxury as a full time freelancer.

thrift store project pt. 5

this little dude was made in israel, but he reminded me of Rigoletto crying for the loss of his daughter Gilda.

Nongs Khao Man Gai

what can i possibly say about this cart? in the immortal words of Snoop Doggy Dogg,

"If you don't know, you betta ax sombody."

hittin it RawDawg

for those of you who haven't been following along at home, my catching the ox project is still going strong. this time around we went a liitle more abstract, choosing "Raw" as the general topic.

the image pairing this time was really pretty amazing. probably the best since the "Apples" round. i chose to shoot oysters, coming up with 13 final images in the series. here are a few of my faves. check out the site to see which made the final cut.

pok pok noi

hey, north portland.... welcome to the modern world.

thrift store project pt. 4

did i happen to mention i went to 12 years of catholic school....

billboard-o-rama

getting all these billboards is cool enough, but the fact that they are for some of my best friends places makes it that much better. here are two more, and tasty & sons will be coming soon.

cocotte

i was hired recently to shoot a great new restaurant in north portland called cocotte. i got some really amazing photos but this one is just my absolute favorite. its one of those few random photos that really gets more awesome every time i look at it.

(click on the image to enlarge it if its too small.)