Sweeping Leaves, Mustard Greens

Now that I’m moving onto this dark thing…

Black backgrounds are so completely different to shoot on. The black just wraps itself around the subject matter. Where white is wholesome, clean, crisp and elegant, and never loses my subject, black is erotic, deep, surrounding and foreboding (but not in a creepy kind of way), and can swallow my subject like a black hole.

Recently a friend asked if I was tired of shooting vegetables and the market. No, not really. It’s challenging to find the interesting and unusual in the familiar; it’s not always easy. And what I find fascinating is, there is a front and a back to these studio subjects that I am sure is not intentional, but purely by coincidence. The most involvement I have on set is getting the produce to stand up. With very few exceptions (like Green Market in the Studio #4), I don’t style. If a stem is broken or a leaf torn or eaten by a passing insect, I don’t retouch it. It’s about real food, just as I bought it. The only difference is, I shoot it before I eat it.

If you like arugula, broccoli rabe and bitter greens, you’ll love this very simple recipe for wilted mustard greens.

Wilted Mustard Greens

1 bunch of mustard greens (about a pound or a 2″ circumference of stalks when tied with a rubber band – that’s about what I had)

2 cloves of garlic pushed through a press

3 or 4 tablespoons of dashi (at about 1:5 dashi to water) or vegetable or chicken broth

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Okay, here’s how: Tear off the leaves from the stems and thick veins (and discard those guys)  and wash and dry them as you would lettuce. In a large frying pan or sauté pan heat up the olive oil on a medium/high heat and add the garlic and brown (about a minute). Add the dashi or broth to the pan and add the greens, tossing gently for about a minute or so (not much more, or you find it’s cooked down to nothing). Remove from the burner, drizzle on the sesame oil, add salt and pepper to taste and toss. Put it on a nice plate and eat. Serves 2 to 4, depending upon how much you love your greens.

And don’t forget to share.

8:51AM, 10/14/2009 Assorted Hot Peppers

There’s been a debate about this image. Should I have included the funky tomatoes tablecloth under these boxes hot peppers, or cropped it out. I have a couple of shots this week with tablecloths making their debut in my market photos (at least that I know of, I should go and look). The other one, oddly enough, has an assorted hot peppers tablecloth under three bunches of rainbow chard. A lovely, colorful image taken just a moment later, but chard has had it’s fair share of blog time and I didn’t want to post another chard photo. So I’m posting just a little detail for fun.

8:50AM, 10/14/2009 - Rainbow Chard #3 (detail)

Funky tablecloths. Is it me, or is this is a trend?

Either way, I like them.

Garlic Stalks, Union Square Market

2:06PM June 24, 2009 – Union Square Market, NYC

Rich, dramatic and mysterious, garlic has been used as far back as ancient Egypt for medical and culinary purposes . Vampires don’t like garlic, but I do.

Who's your edamame?

Union Square Market, NYC – 1:37PM, August 7, 2009

Edamame, or baby soybeans, are just about my absolute favorite quick appetizer. Cook for three minutes in salted boiling water, strain, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and eat. Yes, they look hairy and blemished, but like most real farm grown fruits and vegetables, they taste good. That’s the thing about commercial fruits and veggies, much of it is “designed” to look nice and travel well, but most of it tastes like cardboard. Me, I’d rather buy food that has flavor and looks like cardboard.

Come to think of it, I think real food is quite beautiful, blemishes and all.

Fresh Beets from Union Square Market

Beets are one of those foods folks either love or hate. I love ‘em. Roasted with goat cheese and grilled chicken in a salad on a hot summer evening.

I took these guys back to the studio to give them their proper respect (thanks Aretha!) and then shoved them in the oven for an hour or so, wrapped in aluminum foil.

Broken Chard, Union Square Market

Broken Chard wrapped with string at Union Square Market, NYC – 11:13AM June 13, 2009

Since the title of the image in the last post had the word “broken” in it…

Broken Eggs

I was tooling around the NAPP – National Association of Photoshop Professionals – web site (I’m a member) and discovered my Broken Eggs photograph is an Editor’s Choice for this this week. Who knew? It’s a nice way to end the week.

http://www.photoshopuser.com/members/portfolios

7/02/09 addendum – The week is over and you can’t find my Editor’s Choice photo any longer. But you can check out my Photoshop User Portfolio.

And, on another note, the final portfolio pages are being printed. This means Monday, the portfolios are ready to go out.

3:00PM 6/24/09

Bin of Bing Cherries, Union Square Market, NYC – 3:00PM, Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Sometimes I just hang around a piece of fruit until it gives me something I can use.

(Random note to self: So much rain. The total New York City rainfall from June 1 – June 24 is 8.65 inches. That’s 5.60 inches above normal so far and we’re not done with June. We’ve had rain 20 of the first 24 days this month… No wonder everything tastes waterlogged. Hey, where’s summer?)

The Crowd

Seth Godin wrote a very short blog entry, On the Road to Mediocrity. The basic point is, “The only way to get mediocre is one step at a time.” Don’t settle. Simply a brilliant insight. Well worth reading.

12:01PM 6/19/09

Bundles of Rhubarb, Union Square Market, NYC – 12:01PM, Friday, June 19, 2009

The Union Square market reveals its little secrets…