workshop days in the australian blue mountains

Happy new year, everyone.

I’m back to share some images from last November when I traveled to Australia’s Blue Mountains to teach a food styling and photography workshop with Luisa Brimble.

I left rainy and bleak Seattle to find Spring in full bloom in Sydney. It was still quite chilly and rainy but the colors were there nonetheless. This workshop was definitely a collaboration with so many friends involved in making it happen. We stayed at Sophie’s family’s beautiful Kimbri Farm. I walked around in awe of the roses, fruit trees, the lush gardens, the warm country home and their hospitality.

I have to thank Luisa for planting the seed about this trip long time ago. Sophie for cooking the most beautiful meals to shoot and eat. Hannah for all the video vision and seamless help. Pip for the fun. Lily for the tastiest food. Annabelle for breathtaking styling. And of course, all of our students who traveled from different places to learn from us.

In the mornings, we walked on the paddock with the cows watching the 5am sunrise. I even spotted kangaroo running passed the herd of cows.

Spectacular and peaceful.

We styled and shot too many scenes to go over here but I couldn’t stay away from the roses. They were everywhere. Every shade, every shape. We ended up pickling some rose petals and assembling a roasted root vegetable dish with them. The vegetables came from Erika and Hayden of Epicurean Harvest who supply organic produce to some of the best restaurants in Sydney.

Sophie’s mom, Annie Herron who is a well-known painter and also teaches art classes, joined us to teach about composition and light. I learned so much from her – looking at photography from a painterly perspective.

The light in Annie’s studio was everything even during afternoon downpours.

I cannot wait to return. Thank you all. x

PS: The recipe for pickled rose petals came from a story I read a few summers ago on Martha Stewart with recipes by Seattle chef Matt Dillon.