Feast Portland

Posted October 26, 2015 to Food Photography , Places by: Amy Johnson.

In the middle of September (I AM SO BEHIND) my friend, co-worker, and fellow photographer Anne Cho and I took a trip to Portland for the annual Bon Appétit food festival, Feast Portland. I had been wanting to go since I heard about it a few years ago. Saying the food was amazing is kind of an understatement. We had ice cream from Fifty Licks, coffee from Stumptown, desserts from Annie’s Pies, fresh donuts from Pip’s Donuts & Chai. There was so so so much good food, and if you are a drinker, a very large quantity of wine was also available. I am definitely planning to go back next year. We attended two main events, the Saturday Grand Tasting and the Sunday Brunch Village, and I know that brunch gets a bad rap, but really, who doesn’t love brunch? We had chicken and waffles, Eggs Benedict, with pork belly, cinnamon rolls, and so much more. There were seminars, give-aways, and so much food and drink, that we even left a little early because we were so stuffed. Ha ha. We did make one little stop over to the Ace though before we left, and the near & dear to my heart, Mark Spencer.

In other news, did I mention being behind? I went to Portland over a month ago, and literally this is the first chance I have had to sit down and write this. And I think I do mean that literally, no exaggerating. I went to a wedding in Chicago, my roommate moved, which I helped with, I went to visit family in Sequim, I had a funeral to attend, and family in town for that. Which was unexpectedly hard for me. In other words, life is busy being LIFE. Oh yes, and also I have been shooting a lot. I did a project for a wedding, a few magazine shoots, a restaurant, and a hotel. Busy! Which for a photographer is never a bad thing, but it is also nice to have a little down time to get settled, and as us Seattleites like to do do for Fall and Winter, hunker down & get cozy indoors. So I am doing a bit of redecorating and reorganizing of my place, which feels really lovely. I hope you all enjoy your fall as well!

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Snoqualmie Falls

Posted October 5, 2015 to Places by: Amy Johnson.

I know I have done a blog post on Snoqualmie Falls before, it is just I love it so much. I love the Salish Lodge, and I love Twin Peaks. It definitely makes me nostalgic of growing up in Issaquah, so close to where Twin Peaks was being filmed. I have heard that for the 2016 filming of Twin Peaks they will turn the Mar-T (Twedes) cafe back to the original interior of the Double R Diner from the show and I am very excited to see what they do with it! Wow, I am sure I sound like a nerd right now.

In other news, I am excited about a few upcoming shoots! I have another magazine shoot for Cidercraft later this week, and a restaurant for the week after. I did photograph a hotel a few weeks back as well, and went to Chicago for a wedding, and Portland for a food festival. All of these I will post about soon. It has been a busy summer! The Feast Food Festival put on by Bon Appetit was insane. I would go back in a heart beat. The food was, to quote a friend, out of this world good!

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Pizza & Tomatoes Test

Posted August 23, 2015 to Food Photography by: Amy Johnson.

I got to test last weekend with the lovely Rachel Grunig. I always enjoy testing with her as she comes with such fantastic ideas for shoots, and we also then got to eat so much pizza. Not only was it really pretty, it was delicious. 🙂 Hope you enjoyed the photos.

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Photography Workshop

Posted August 16, 2015 to Food Photography by: Amy Johnson.

2 weekends ago I took a food photography workshop taught by Aran Goyoga, of Canelle et Vanilla which was lovely. We spent the day learning about various tricks and tips about food photography, her process, photographers who inspire her and ate a beautiful and very delicious lunch. It was a lot of fun. We got to hear about where everyone in the class was coming from, and why they were there. She has a really lovely asthetic and way of teaching and storytelling that keeps the class really interesting.

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Summer Ice Cream Shoot

Posted August 9, 2015 to Food Photography by: Amy Johnson.

I worked on a blog post with my dear friend Allison a few weekends ago. We had a plan to shoot 3 recipes, Honey Goat Cheese Fig Ice Cream, which I made, and then Lemon Cookies for Ice Cream Sandwiches, and then a Basil Lemonade. The ice cream was delicious and I made the fig jam from scratch for the recipe, which is pretty amazing, since I am not actually much of a cook. I am trying more though! I also would say that it is a bit rich (I had added 1 more oz of the goat cheese than the recipe called for, so maybe even just leaving out the goat cheese and having a light vanilla fig jam ice cream would be amazing. I made the fig jam by roasting the figs in the oven, covered with a mixture of brown sugar & honey, then putting them in the food processor. The ice cream sandwiches however where a bit messy, with the ice cream not freezing, sooooo maybe that one will have to be for another day! Although messy, they were delicious, and the cookies were out of this world good. The basil lemonade was super refreshing too.

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Spain Part 2

Posted August 2, 2015 to Places by: Amy Johnson.

Well I can’t believe that I have been back now for 3 weeks. Wow. Time sure flies!

For the second half of the 2 week southern Spain trip, we left Marbella and headed north to Granada. Granada is most known for it’s Moorish influence and the Alhambra, which I highly recommend visiting. It was a breathtaking Palace, and a very important piece of Islamic history in Spain. I loved Granada and it’s Moroccan vibe. Well worth the visit. Just make sure you get there on time for your Palace entrance. There was quite a bit of stress on this, from all the reading that I did, and really you do have about a 15 minute window from your ticket time to enter the Palace and they will turn you away, or glare at you if you have to get out of line to use the bathroom. If I go again, I would love to see the Alhambra at night. Sounds like it would be a magical place, and I read it isn’t very crowded and hardly ever sells out for a night visit. We also got to catch a flamenco show, in Granada, which was pretty rad.

From Granada we headed up to Madrid via train. SO FAST. The train went about 250 miles per hour, and it took only 3 hours to get to Madrid from Malaga. I loved Madrid, and I loved going to the Prado, but I would say it probably needs more than 1 day for a visit. Also since it was July, when it was very hot, a lot of the shops were closed and people were out until 4 am, which did make my hotel very noisy. And, I kept trying to see this palace, which was inexplicably closed both times I went, just that day. The Prado was amazing though and well worth the trip. Next time, the Palace.

For the last 2 days I headed back down solo to Nerja, located on the Costa del Sol. And I have to say the most spectacular place I went on my trip. The town lies at the foot of the Sierra Almijara mountain range. This is very much a beach town, so no clubs, just swimming, eating, hanging out by the pool. There are caves near by, easily accessible by bus, but I wasn’t able to make it there. I did head to town and look at the Balcon de Europa and just looked out the vast Mediterranean Ocean. I would definitely head back there and maybe spend at least 3 or 4 days there. Lovely!

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Southern Spain, Part 1

Posted July 15, 2015 to Places by: Amy Johnson.

When a good friend told me that she would be going to Spain and that I was welcome to come along I jumped at the opportunity! I had never been to Europe before, and of course always wanted to go. Having traveled extensively through the US during my 20s, I never had made it over, as a US plane ticket always seemed much more doable.

We spent the first 5 days in Puerto Banus & Marbella, along the southern coast of Spain. This is THE place for the British rich & famous. Nothing but yachts and glamour as far as the eye could see. We ate, swam in the Mediterranean, lounged by the pool, it was so relaxing. We then ventured out to take a day trip to the hill town Ronda, which was a few hours up the windiest road I think any of us had ever been on. The town was gorgeous of course and we visited beautiful old churches, museums, ate. Pretty much what we did the whole trip.

After being in Ronda & Marbella, we headed up to Granada. We stayed at the most beautiful hotel, which was also so inexpensive. I was very surprised how reasonable things were in contrast to Seattle. An lovely hotel room, for 88.00? The prices seemed pretty unbelievable. I took so many photos, that this is a good place to stop. I will continue on with the Alhambra, Granada, Madrid & Nerja for the next blog post.

I will say this, Marbella was my favorite for relaxing, Granada & Madrid my favorite for food, Nerja the most beautiful, Granada was the most interesting in having a unique culture, and although not necessarily my favorite for anything in particular, I wouldn’t have missed going to Ronda.

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Bay Lake, WA

Posted June 21, 2015 to Places by: Amy Johnson.

I went on a girls weekend last weekend with some friends I have known for a very long time. Some even for more than 20 years. Such smart, funny, ladies, I couldn’t imagine us not having a good time. And it was nice to get away from the city, if only for a few days. We canoed, swam, lounged by the pool, cooked big meals and roasted s’mores by the fire. Although my photos don’t show it, there were 6 of us, which this house slept very comfortably. It was really very lovely.

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Cider Pairing No. 3!

Posted June 1, 2015 to Food Photography by: Amy Johnson.

Here is the most recent cider & food pairing that I did for Cidercraft Magazine, for the new Summer/Fall 2015 Issue, out on stands now. Cidercraft is the only national cider focused magazine. Pretty cool! The stories are always super fun to shoot and the women who run it are awesome and great to work with. I was really excited to have photographed my 3rd story on this for the magazine, with Jason Scherer, from Rock Creek. The fried kimchi balls were delightful.

In other news, I have just finished up with a week of photographing some local restaurants which has been fun, and have been planning some trips coming up. As everyone who knows me knows, I love to travel! I have a girls weekend in the area, going back to AZ to visit some family in a few weekends, SPAIN!!!!, a trip to Portland, OR & back to Chicago in the fall for another wedding. That’s it for now. 😉

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Food Styling Workshop

Posted May 24, 2015 to Food Photography by: Amy Johnson.

Last weekend I took a food styling workshop from Clare Barboza. I have known of Clare since I started photography school, her food photography is wonderful. It was a great experience to take a 6 hour workshop from her and her food stylist colleague. I have been wanting to take more classes so I continue to learn and don’t get stagnate in my photography style. It is good to remember that there are always things you can learn, especially from those who have been in the field longer than yourself. I have another all day workshop lined up for August which I am also very excited about. For me it is specifically good to learn a little bit about food styling, since it is a different field but closely related to food photography. On commercial shoots typically there can be a food & prop stylist, which are both so important! They really help to contribute to making photography look amazing. I didn’t go into the class with the expectation it would be easy, and it certainly wasn’t any easier than I had thought. 🙂 Results below!