Holiday Cover - yay!

So only a few months into Food Styling with LCBO's Food & Drink magazine, and I've landed my first cover!!  and for the Holiday edition no less 😊.  

Needless to say, it's been a nice moment for me.  After working as a Food Photographer for years (and years) and then taking the plunge and becoming a Food Stylist, I wasn't sure how people, the industry or even I would take me. I felt like I had a lot to prove (mostly to myself).  Sure, being a photographer for years had helped me tremendously, I knew the in's and out's of a photo shoot and how it worked, but food styling was a whole different level of learning and doing. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but having my food (and drink) styling on this cover will always be a reminder for me on those bad days, on those days where I think "I can't do this" or "there are so many better food stylist out there". 

I CAN do this!  And this was my 'pat on the back' moment which proved it to myself.  💪

Cover Photography by James Tse

Coconut Oil in your Coffee??

Have you heard of the latest trend of putting butter in your coffee?  If you have, or even if you haven't, coconut oil is another alternative that has some great benefits to your morning cup of awake.

I've written an article for Recipe Geek and you can read about it here!

Stuffed Dates

As much as I love my job as a food photographer, it's always a great time when we can do something a little more creative and fun with food.  This was one of those days.

The recipe for these Stuffed Dates with Ricotta, Pistachios & Honey can be found in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Clean Eating Magazine!

Stacking these yummy Ricotta, Pistachio and Honey stuffed Dates were not easy!  First of all, these dates are basically the size of small eggs and a little slippery, but with the magic (and a few pins and sticky tack) of Sugar Tart's food styling, a few more adjustments along the way (and a few hours), we had a dish of beautifully stacked stuffed dates! 

Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Sugar Tart 

I hadn't noticed this until now, but it looks like the magazine ran out of room on the page for the final date topper!  We were having so much fun and probably could of gone on all day but at some point, you have to go home :) 

Unjunk Your Junk Food

What do you get when you mix Savvy girls, Andrea Donsky and  Randy Boyer from Naturally Savvy, and the Nutritional expertise of Lisa Tsakos with the last two years of  research, writing, editing and a lot of taste testing?  You get the much needed, and eagerly anticipated guide to your junk food cravings.  

Who would of thought that your favourite junk food was linked to issues like asthma, ADD, ADHD, irritable bowel symptoms, headaches, memory loss, diarrhea and cancer, to name a few, a quick flip through this book and you'll be looking at junk food in a whole different way.  On the brighter side, Unjunk Your Junk Food will give you a healthy (and tasty) alternative to all of your favourite junk food!

You might think I'm biased when it comes to this book for two reasons. 1/ I was one of the photographers working on this project and had shot a few hundred products for the book. And 2/  Lisa Tsakos who put her blood, sweat and many tears into the research and writing of this book, and happens to be my brilliant and accomplished sister (sorry Lisa, I know you wanted me tone that part down).  The truth, I really wouldn't be telling you about Unjunk Your Junk Food if I didn't believe in it and think it was so important for people to read.  

The book explains what all of those unpronounceable words in the ingredient list actually mean.  They breakdown the Nutrition Facts on the back of a package and let you know how to read between the lines.  They explain it all in an easy and fun way that anyone can understand.  Even me!  You'll learn something new on every page!  And after reading the ingredients, my husband and I have already tossed the last few bags of junk food we had left over from a party. 

I used to love Dorito's as a teen.  I didn't realize their super long ingredient list included MSG and Trans Fats to name a few no-no's!

What else??

-Easy answers to Artificial Colours, Flavours and Sweeteners. 

-What manufacturers really mean on their food labels when they say "Low Fat, Light, No Sugar added, Made with Organic Ingredients" etc..

-GMO's (genetically modified foods)

-List of 43 various names of sugar, used on food labels

-Handy "Worst Ingredient" pull out chart

Out of these two ice creams, which do you think is the smarter choice? 

If you thought an ice cream called "Skinny Cow" would be the healthier choice over something labelled "richer and creamier", you were wrong!  I couldn't believe my eyes when I read it!

To get the "scoop" on why, check out pages 54 and 55 in Unjunk Your Junk Food

Unjunk Your Junk Food is a book that everyone needs to read. It comes out on December 27, 2011 but you can Pre-Order your copy today to find out what all the hype is about!

Retailers will sell it for between $18 to $20, but online prices are ridiculously low!
 

U.S. readers can order their copy for only $11.97USD at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com

If you're in Canada, order your book online for only $14.43CAN at Chapters or Amazon.ca

By the way, if you spend $25 or more at these Canadian sites, you're eligible to receive free shipping!! One copy for you and one for someone you love :)

I admit, I've always had a weakness for a few items of junk food myself, but when I took a peek at the book that the girls were working on, I couldn't stop reading!  I was amazed, it's really jaw-dropping, I just can't say enough good things about this book!  

These days I'm so much more aware of how my body reacts to different foods, so I try to read the package of everything I buy, but end up really frustrated when there are too many words that I just cannot pronounce.  Worse, words or ingredients that I don't recognize.  People, we are eating this stuff! I can't believe I had been ingesting all of that crap for years, and although my intake has gone down tremendously, after seeing this book, I'm thinking twice about those few guilty pleasures that are left.  One (of many) great thing about Unjunk Your Junk Food is that it teaches you how to make smarter choices when choosing your junk food so you can still satisfy your snack food cravings, but in a healthy way!  

Buy this book today! Grocery shopping will never be the same!  

Check it Out!

Sharing with you, a couple of my photographs in November/December 2011's issue of Clean Eating Magazine.

First off, I'm delighted to have made it onto Clean Eating's Contributor page once again.  Next to me is Food Stylist Marianne Wren who styled the food for the photo's I shot in this issue, and she did a great job!

Clean Eating Magazine, Nov/Dec 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Marianne Wren

A little twist on Ice Cream? I'll say!  I never did get to try this tasty treat, but from the sounds of the recipe and the smell of the ice cream on set at the studio, I think I missed out!  This recipe does seem simple enough and I do happen to have a sweet potato sitting in my veggie basket, so  I might give this a try myself!

If you're wondering, no, this isn't shellacked or fake ice cream or styrofoam or whatever other things people ask me about.  This is the real deal, Marianne made it from the real ingredients.  It was frozen, and we had to work fast to get the shot as we watched the ice cream slowly melting on set.  We did however use one little trick of the trade to keep the ice cream from melting extra quickly.  I won't tell you what it was but I will say, it involved something cold :)  

Clean Eating Magazine, Nov/Dec 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Marianne Wren

I love to photograph seafood, the little tiny details on the sea creatures are amazing! This Calamari dish was a tricky one!  With this shoot, as with most photoshoot's, Clean Eating had given me a layout to follow. I can usually accommodate the layouts, but sometimes the food tells me otherwise and I have to improvise.  It's sometimes difficult to know exactly what camera angle to use, what colours or even what dish to use until you see what the food is going to look like.  This was an interesting piece of Calamari and in order to make it look appetizing, we had to play around a little.  Marianne and I put our heads together, and moved the little guy around until we (and Clean Eating) were happy. I was pretty pleased with the end result and if I actually ate calamari, I'd definitely give this one a try!  Hey, I said I loved to photograph seafood, not eat it!  Maybe one day I'll be adventurous!

You can find the recipe's for the above shots along with a few more of my photograph's in November/December 2011 issue of Clean Eating Magazine!

Check it Out!!

It's been a busy summer but the big stuff has past and it's time for me to get working again!  I'm looking forward to some changes,  some new exciting projects and to finally having the time to fill you in on all of it! 

Below are some photo's I had taken that were featured in two recent Clean Eating Magazine Issues, and a few personal shots too!

Clean Eating April/May 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Sugar Tart

Photography by Joanne Tsakos

             



P.S.  I love photographing seafood, especially octopus! I just returned from a trip to Greece where I shot these photo's of dozens of octopus hanging by the water, caught by the fisherman that morning for the restaurants in town.

Clean Eating April/May 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Sugar Tart

Clean Eating April/May 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne  Tsakos
Food Styling by Marianne Wren

Clean Eating April/May 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Sugar Tart

Clean Eating June 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Sugar Tart

Mushroom Soup

Clean Eating Magazine, March 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Sugar Tart

I admit, there are a few perks of being a food photographer.  At the end of a long day's shoot, there are inevitably a handful of extra groceries that weren't used and up for grabs.   Whatever doesn't go to the food bank, the crew divvies up and takes home. For a food shoot, the Food Stylist has a few jobs.  Not only do they make the recipe provided by the client and make it look even better on the plate to be photographed, but they also have to do the grocery shopping for the day.  Sometimes that can be a difficult task as a few ingredients in the recipe may be seasonal (magazine stories are generally shot months before they are released), or some ingredients may be indigenous to a different part of the country, ex. many Clean Eating readers are in the U.S. and so, some recipes may require ingredients that are popular in the U.S. south west and not necessarily easy to find in Toronto.  Whatever issues come up, our food stylists are generally amazing at sourcing out what they'll need to make the recipes work.  They'll usually pick up a few extra things if the recipe is a little challenging or it calls for a "beautiful" something, i.e. a beautiful, flawless green apple is not always easy to find, so picking up a few to choose from is a good idea.  

On this day, the shoot was for Clean Eating Magazine's March 2011 issue and the Creamless Trumpet Royale Soup recipe was from Braeburn Restaurant in Manhattan, Chantal Payette of Sugar Tart was our food stylist.  She brought in a box of Trumpet Mushrooms and I admired them from the get-go.  They looked so beautiful in the cardboard box they came in and even more beautiful when the soup was made and in it's bowl to be photographed.  I'm not sure why, but I love photographing soup.  Maybe because the soups are usually so uncomplicated yet bold, even after they are photographed.  (I love photographing salads too, but that's another story!)  Although, I'm not always the biggest fan of eating mushrooms, (I think it's a "textural" thing), I love the look of them and I can certainly enjoy a bowl of (pureed) mushroom soup. 

After working on a food shoot, I always hope that I could find the time to make some of the recipes of that day, but when we are shooting 5 or more recipes in one day, I know it's an unlikely dream.  With a few random take home groceries at the end of the day, there's usually not enough to make a full recipe of what we had just shot, but there's enough to come up with something yummy to throw together for dinner to make use of my take home perks.  This night I was granted my wish and took home the leftover trumpet royale mushrooms in their cardboard box. 

I was so excited to take home my little treasures and I wasn't going to let them down!

I had most of the ingredients for the Clean Eating Mag. mushroom soup recipe from the shoot, just had to pick up a little white wine (for the recipe and some for my glass).  Of course, the recipe could not begin until I took a few photo's of the trumpet mushrooms in the cardboard box that caught my attention from the start.  Looking at the photo's, I became even more intrigued by these fungi (yes, apparently they are neither vegetable or fruit, but fungi).  With the flaps under the umbrella part and the funny shapes, I wanted to understand these fungi and the purpose of it all.  A little Googling and finally I understood some of the intricacies of a mushroom. 

For those of you who'd love to try out  the Royale Trumpet Mushroom soup for yourself and missed out on picking up the March issue of Clean Eating Magazine, here's the recipe! (or better yet, check out their website!)

Creamless Trumpet Royale Soup   

Recipe from Clean Eating Magazine (March 2011 issue)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil (or safflower oil, which is neutral in flavour and colour)

• 6 oz royal trumpet mushrooms, sliced (or shiitake mushrooms)

• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

• 1 small white onion, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, plus additional for garnish

• 2 oz white wine

Instructions:

• Heat a large pot on medium heat. Add oil and sauté mushrooms for 2 - 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove several mushrooms and set aside for garnish

• Add onion and garlic and reduce heat.  Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent

• Add thyme and deglaze with wine

• Add 3 cups water and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes

• Place mixture in a blender and purée until very smooth. Adjust seasoning as necessary, garnish with reserved mushrooms and additional thyme

Check it out!

Some of my latest work in Clean Eating Magazine - March 2011 Issue

Bob Blumer provides a 'Clean Eating' recipe for the magazine

...might be one of my favourite shots from this issue!

Food and Travel

When I got a call a while back about a photoshoot for Continental Airline Magazine, I was pretty excited! Aside from dreaming of one day photographing food in a cookbook, the extended version of that dream is to photograph food while travelling and integrate the two worlds, much like in Food & Travel Magazine (one of my favourites!)  Although this wasn't quite the same, it sort of had the basics. This airline magazine featured restaurants and bars from cities around the world, and there was a little bit of freedom in doing so. This issue was featuring two Toronto hot spots which I had the pleasure of photographing, the job was ideal in so many ways.  The client had  already chosen the 2 restaurants they were featuring in their Eat & Drink section and there were only a few basic guidelines that I had to follow, the rest was up to me and I loved that freedom.
For the EAT portion of the Magazine, they were featuring the restaurant "ONE" in Yorkville. I was given the restaurant names, a few contact names and numbers and job requirements which consisted of a few shots of the interior, a few of the food and a few of the chef, Chef Mark McEwan which proved to be the toughest part of the job .
 

The Chef himself was not challenging by any means, but if you've heard of Chef Mark McEwan, you know he's a very busy  and highly sought after man with his  celebrity chef status, his television show The Heat on the Food Network, Chef and Owner of restaurants such as ONE, Bymark, North 44, Fabbrica,  and gourmet grocery store owner "McEwan" in the Shoppes at Don Mills.  Arranging some time with him for the photoshoot  proved a bit challenging.  After several phonecalls with his PR person, and with my client, and while keeping my schedule open so that I could be ready when they called, the meeting was finally arranged.  He was on a tight schedule and my assistant and I only had a few moments with him so we had to be prepared and in position.  We arrived at the restaurant early and the first thing on the agenda was to photograph the chef.  My assistant and I quickly scoped out the restaurant, looked for a  few spot that might work and started testing them to find what would work the best.  When we were ready, we called him over and began.  I was so nervous at this point.  I knew what I was doing and knew it would be great but with such a busy man and such a high profile status, I couldn't help but feeling a little intimidated.  When he sat down, all of my apprehension went away.  He was pretty normal, talked about his family, didn't make us feel rushed or unimportant.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was definitely relieved. I took his photo's and he was off as quickly as he flew in. At the end of that session with Chef Mark McEwan, we got some great shots and met a nice and very talented chef.

One / Shortrib

The rest of the photos at the restaurant went smoothly now that the hard part was over, and it didn't hurt that ONE was a pretty sweet spot.  There were several cool areas in this restaurant and finding the right angle that would encompass all the best parts of the place was a little tricky.  The toughest part was knowing when to stop.  

One / Pappardelle

Shooting the food portion of the job required some quick thinking.  The Sous-Chef did a great job making the food look good, but he was quick so we had to be quicker.  We looked for an area at the restaurant with the best feel, ambiance and light. Using the existing tables, and tableware as background, the food came out, we moved a few things around and I took the photos.

Part Deux of this assignment was for the "Drink" portion of the magazine.  The location, The Boiler House in the Distillery District of Toronto.  My job requirements, a few shots of the interior and a few of the drinks.  Not quite the same but still proved to have it's own challenges.  Going in just as it opened for the night, I had hoped to have an empty restaurant/bar to roam freely in.   Less challenges with less people especially when setting up expensive lighting, equipment and cameras in a bar atmosphere.  It seemed that a few other people had the same notion as a group of after work colleagues showed up and took over.  

Boiler House / Tangerine Mojito

Normally this would be fine as well, a large group can be just as cool as no group at all, but this was a small crowd that didn't scatter well and seemed to just clump in one area. So I improvised and tried to make them work in the shot with a little blur motion. Moving around the bar, finding a staircase that lead to an even better vantage point, I made it all work to my advantage.

Kiwi Martini / Boiler House

Two "half days" later, several phonecalls and hours of editing, the job was done and sent off to my client's Boston office.  This job was exceptionally exciting for me as it encompassed everything I love about my job.  Food, Interiors and People, plus all the challenges, freedom and thinking on my feet that it allows.   It might not be Food & Travel magazine, but any job is one step closer to being where I need to and want to be. 

Books Out!

Although I've been at this photography thing for a while now, I still get a kick out of seeing pictures that I've taken on the racks of your local grocer, magazine shop etc.  I've been shooting for a few of the local editorials for quite some time, and very happy to being doing so,  but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't always striving for more.   Being a 'freelance' anything these days is fickle, and at this point in my life and career, I want to go with my gut, my instincts, and not what is 'safe' (as some of my friends like to put it) as there's nothing really "safe" anymore in this industry anyway.  I got into this business because I love it, not the business part of it (although I'm starting to get the hang of that part), but I love the evolution of it.  I love what I do, and lately I've been working towards a few other career goals, one being Cookbooks!  Who doesn't love a good cookbook?  I myself, own many of them!  I use them as inspiration when I'm not feeling inspired, but I had always set my heart on photographing one, one day... 

I came one step closer to my dream last month when I hit my local bookstore and found not one but two cookbooks on the top shelf and in them, some of my photo's.  I had to pull out my handy iPhone and take a couple of discreet shots.  

First was the Best of Clean Eating book.  That was pretty cool, I didn't even know it was out already!  I had been shooting for this magazine for years now and this book was a collaboration of some of the best recipes over the years (hence "Best Of") so it wasn't anything new for me, but I still couldn't help but bear a grin :)


Then I spotted the one I was waiting for.  The Three Chefs. Although I had only shot the candid shots of the chefs in this book, I was still proud to see it.

The three chefs, Michael Bonacini, Massimo Capra, and Jason Parsons were a delight to work with both in the St.Lawrence Market kitchen and while on set during a taping of the Cityline TV show.  First was the St.Lawrence Market where this zany troupe cooked up several of their favorite meals for me as my finger turned raw from taking photo after photo to capture their impressive skills.  Trina (my Uber Assistant) and I tried to taste test as many of the plates that came flying our way but these guys were so quick at their skill and although I was quick at mine, there were three of them.  Enough said.

Then over to Cityline Television show the next day while they entertained the rest of Canada and I had the pleasure of capturing more of the fun. As I flipped through the book a little closer, I found one (maybe more) of the food shots I had taken that day at St.Lawrence Mkt had made it into the book as well!  Even closer...

So here we are several months later and I finally get to see the finished product! Seeing the two books merely side by side put that extra hop in my step that day.   

Last weekend, a day off took me to Niagara on the Lake with some friends to celebrate a birthday.  One  winery that we visited was the Peller Estates where Chef Jason Parsons cooks.  It was really cool to see the giant poster and display of the Three Chefs book in the winery! I saw Jason bustling around in the restaurant and I popped my head in to say a quick 'hi' as he graciously took a few minutes to chat.  During our visit at Peller, we toured the outdoors where they had a some ice wine tastings along with giant marshmallow's and fire pits!  We were like a bunch of kids roasting our marshmallows  over the open fire and eating these tasty treats.  This recipe for icewine marshmallow's is actually in the book (pg. 238)! Yumm!

While the work that I have in both the Best of Clean Eating and The Three Chefs might not be entirely the type of work that I had hoped to have in a cookbook, it's definitely one step closer!   I'm working closely with the great crew at Madison Press Books and we have a few projects brewing. 

What can I say, I'm a hopeful optimist!  Sure the last few years were rough, they were for most of us around the world!  But I'm not ready to give up nor am I ready to give in!  I'm working hard, I've got some big plans, not really following any rules (rules have never really motivated me).  Fingers crossed that one day soon I can share with you the next achievement in my career.