Our gorgeous Pacific NW summer is at an end, and to celebrate how awesome it was I thought I’d share some of the work I did (in the studio and the garden) during the season, and give an update on a few projects from earlier in the year.

This summer, thanks to the weather and a larger plot size, my p-patch garden really took off!  I had pounds and pounds of peas and green beans (which I used in a cute photoshoot with my littlest brother – see below), and an insane amount of cucumbers, which led to my first foray into at-home pickling and canning.  I didn’t get any pictures of the process but I would say it was a success, I think there will be more canning in my future

I also got to take a fun road trip up to Bow-Edison a few weeks ago, and I’ve got to say, this little town is the coolest place!!  The main town center is a block or two long and houses a very impressive string of restaurants and markets that you absolutely have to visit if you’re ever in the area (…even better, make them your destination for a relaxing day trip out of Seattle).  I went to Breadfarm – an amazing bakery with fresh baked cookies, pastries, and bread (I couldn’t get enough of the jam thumbprints, cocoa nib shortbread, or the cinnamon bread), Slough Food – a market/deli with a great selection of supplies for a picnic, they also have a really cool patio area in the back that has tables nestled into the trees where you can sit and look out over the slough, Tweets Cafe – DELICIOUS restaurant with a rotating menu featuring what’s fresh from local farms, and Mariposa – a flavor filled taco spot also featuring fresh seasonal combos.  I had heard of this area multiple times before and how good the food was and I was really excited to finally get up there to check it out myself – I had pretty high expectations, and each place I went to truly exceeded those expectations.  I can’t wait to go back and explore the farms in the area (think fresh blueberries, fresh butter, fresh cheese)…and eat more food

(I’ll share more photos from the road trip after they get published!)

I’ve got some exciting updates on projects from earlier in the year…

One of the cookbooks I shot back in February, Breast Cancer Smoothies, is finally out on shelves!  You can get it on Amazon right now, and the author Daniella Chace, who I’ve talked about before on my blog, has been getting excellent praise for the book.  The book was recommended by Publishers Weekly, see the blurb here, and Daniella was recently on New Day Northwest talking about her research and showing off one of the smoothies from the book.  Check out the clips:

Daniella Chace – Breast Cancer Smoothies

Daniella Chace – Wellness Panel

The other book Daniella and I worked on, Superfood Smoothie Bowls, is out in December but can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.  I love the colors of the cover shot

Lastly I’ve finally updated my website with some of my recent work!!  Better late than never

http://www.oliviabrentphotography.com

Enjoy!!

Due to a giant server malfunction/meltdown/collapse/etc., I’ve lost my last few blog posts that showed what I’ve been up to for the last couple years   So…I think it’s time for an update!  Here’s a bit of the work that I’ve been doing lately – some fun projects, challenging projects, delicious projects, and there’s more to come this summer.

First up, I had another cover with Seattle Met Magazine – there was a great concept for the cover and opening spread, and I enlisted the talents of the wonderful Julie Hopper to help me execute the magazine’s vision.  She did an amazing job tweaking and re-tweaking each little piece of food that made up these letters until we had it just right.

I also did another fun little shoot with MORA Ice Cream for a Martha Stewart Weddings article.  The piece talked about serving milkshakes as a unique refreshing treat for guests at summer weddings, and they featured artisanal ice cream shops from around the US, including MORA – yay for MORA!!  A nice surprise after seeing the photo on their website was that they chose our photo as the one to link to the article on their Instagram page, I thought that was pretty neat

An update on past work, the photos I did for Stopsky’s are now up on their website – they’ve just added preserves to their lineup of delicious products and we did some shots for those this past week, so hopefully you’ll be seeing those hit the website soon.

And last but not least, the smoothie book I shot last year is finally out!!

Enjoy!!

It’s November, which means it’s time for Best Restaurants again!  This year I got to go all around Seattle to a huge variety of places both new and old to capture some truly “Seattle” restaurants and dishes.  I had a lot of fun trying new foods, meeting new chefs, and finding new neighborhood spots to go back to (hello Delancey!).

Check out the issue, or click on the image below to see the web article (look for the extra slideshow too)…by the way, this burger from Brave Horse is sooooo gooooood.  You should try it.  Really.

I also had fun dip-dying new textile props a couple of weeks ago.  I got the idea from Sweet Paul Magazine…not to mention all the cool ombre things that are so popular right now…and wanted to take some photos with the final product.  I roasted up a little cauliflower and tried out the cheesecloth that I dip-dyed a navy blue.  The moody result is pretty cool I think.  I’ll have fun with this technique for awhile I’m pretty sure, now to do some bright colors!  

In other news, just wrapped up a shoot this week and have a big project in January that I’m excited about, so hopefully a lot more new work will be coming soon!  Enjoy!!

One of my other projects that got lost in the gap between blog posts was some work I did for Seattle Met Bride and Groom.  They don’t have online versions of the articles, so here are some photos to show what the final product was.  I got to work with a great Art Director who had awesome setups in mind for each cake, and we were able to capture a whole rainbow of wedding cake/dessert ideas.  This was probably the largest scale food shoot I’ve ever done, and it was a cool experience to try taking my normal tabletop techniques and expanding them to a different level…it was also fun to taste the cakes  My favorite of the day was the ombre cake from Cake Envy (they also do really delicious cupcakes, which I got to photograph for a different company a few months back), but the black sparkley cake was a close second!

Ok so I’ve been pretty bad about updating my blog over the last few months!  Life has been busy, but mostly good things, and now I have lots of new work to catch everyone up on…

A few magazine issues have come and gone featuring some really great restaurants, but thanks to the new website for Seattle Met, it’s easier than ever to see all my work at once, including things I’ve missed blogging about!  There are a few repeats to sort through, but it’s exciting to be able to see the body of work I’ve done for the magazine over the last year.  One of the highlights from the last few months was the restaurant Skelly and the Bean.  It’s a really unique and wonderful restaurant that was truly built by the community and is just an awesome place to eat and soak up the vibe.  You should really read the article on this one – I had a blast shooting there, and can’t wait to go back.

Chef/Owner Zephyr Paquette – click to see article

Another delicious find was Cha:n, a Korean restaurant in Pike Place that gave me a new appreciation for kimchi, and a new favorite place to eat downtown.  I’ve been slow to warm to Korean food (despite being half-Korean, I know, I’m a shame!), but this place has really changed my mind.  Because they don’t overload on the heat I was able to try things I’ve always avoided in the past thinking that they would burn the heck out of my mouth (ok I’m also a kind of a wimp when it comes to spicy food).  Their kimchi is fresh, balanced, and delicate…and really refreshing, I could eat it all day – and the sliders, both pork and bulgogi are soooo good.  I’ve already been back, and there will be many more visits to come.

Another fun shoot for the magazine was all about ice cream – yay!  Even though it was a huge challenge getting all the ice creams back to my place to shoot without melting…and then trying to shoot them quickly without making too big of a mess, I think the photo turned out pretty well.  Shooting something new and different is always scary but fun, and now I have a few tricks up my sleeve if I ever need to shoot ice cream again!  Some of my favorite flavors to taste (I couldn’t resist!), were the Snickerdoodle from Bluebird, Vietnamese Cinnamon from Full Tilt, and Red Velvet from Cupcake Royale (which didn’t make it into the final photo).

There’s even more new work on the way, some I can share (see the next blog post), some which will have to wait until the photos get released  All in all it’s been a great summer so far, and I hope I have even more to share soon!

Enjoy!

Spring is finally here!  Well mostly anyway  I’ve been inspired by the changing seasons in recent shooting, it’s been all eggs, asparagus, flowers…and a few other tasty treats…for weeks, and I’m excited to finally share some of the images!  Since our winter lasted so long a lot of the spring produce I was looking for was still unavailable, or not at its peak, but I had fun with what I found.  I wanted to keep the shoot full of blues, egg-yolk yellows, and greens, and gathered props and food that fit into that color-scheme.  Now of course all sorts of yummy spring foods are making their way to the markets, and I can’t wait to try out some new recipes.

I hope you like the images – enjoy!

Behind the scenes on the set

New food on Capitol Hill, a truly GIANT burger, yummy Mexican food on QA hill, and a unique craft distillery – check out this month’s articles by clicking on the images below!

So these are a little old…like early summer old…but I came across them the other day and thought I would put them up to share.  I was making some cobbler/crumble/whichever name you prefer with my mom and thought I would snap a few photos along the way with the beautiful ingredients and summer light (unfortunately it was dark when they came out of the oven, so I skipped photos of the final product, see my Port Townsend post to see what it looks like finished).  We decided to throw in a bit of everything into this batch, normally it’s either blackberry-nectarine, or blueberry-peach, but we didn’t have enough of either berry and thought we would just wing it a little and hope they come out as delicious as usual.  There’s nothing better than sitting down with a bowl of cobbler and a scoop of ice cream…or just the warm cobbler in the winter  That sounds pretty good with all this snow (supposedly) on the way, maybe I’ll whip up a batch tonight!  Enjoy!

Nothing says cold-weather comfort food like grilled cheese and tomato soup…and a stack of chocolate truffle cookies

The “Tomato Soup ‘Fondue’ with Gruyere Grilled Cheese” at Seattle’s new RN74, located downtown on the corner of 4th and Pike, is melt in your mouth delicious and will warm you right up after a walk around the downtown holiday sites.  Though the restaurant itself isn’t exactly my cup of tea (click on the image below to read the very accurate review), it’s worth stopping in just for this little treat.  The buttery toasted bites are served with a fondue fork so that you can easily dip them in the rich tomato soup, the perfect one bite combination on a cold day.

When you’re done at RN74, take a stroll over to Dahlia Bakery and pick up another great bite-size winter treat – chocolate truffle cookies. Make sure to look for the box of mini cookies that come dusted in powdered sugar (the larger version of the cookie is offered without the powdered sugar and is a bit too rich for my taste).  These would be a great addition to a holiday get together, or as a last minute gift – their size makes them perfect for sharing!  Check out these cookies and other local holiday treats by clicking on the cookie photo below.

Enjoy!

Hey all!

I’ve been a little slow on this one, but the online version of the Top 25 Restaurants article is up online.  It was an incredible couple of weeks shooting at these restaurants…sadly I couldn’t make it to all of them, but the ones I went to were great.  After sampling food at some of the best, I definitely have a few new favorites…both restaurants and dishes…and a lot less hard drive space!

Standouts include…

Bread pudding at Boat Street Cafe – normally I’m not a big bread pudding fan, something about the texture has never really jived with me, but the bread pudding at Boat Street was beyond delicious.  A perfect blend of textures with big chunks of bread soaking up the rum butter cream, and just the right amount of sweetness.  I will definitely go back for more…as should you.

Bar Del Corso – in general, and the pizza, any of them, a little more specifically. These guys were some of the friendliest I came across while shooting, and you can tell they love working there, not to mention that they’re making some truly great pizza.

Braised Short Ribs – braised for 48 hours and worth every little bit of that, the short ribs at Crush were amazing, every bite just melted, yummm.

Harvest Vine – one of the best restaurants just for the environment alone. Sit upstairs and you’ll get to watch the whole kitchen in action and hear the friendly chatter of the regulars.  Another good one for environment, and for fresh, clean, and very beautiful plates is Sitka and Spruce.

Revel – I couldn’t get enough of the noodles here…and neither could anyway else based on the crowd that was there when I shot. Cool open kitchen, lots of different places to sit (depending on the weather), and really original spins on food that at first glance seems familiar, but at first bite surprises you with different flavors, textures, etc.  This is a new go-to for me!

Tajarin…and most everything else I photographed…at Spinasse.  Although I didn’t get to try any of the food here, I am looking forward to going back because everything looked, smelled (and so I’ve heard, does indeed taste) wonderful.

Sutra and Tilth – both in wallingford, both in converted houses, one a surprise to me, the other well-known, both I would go to again absolutely!

So there’s my two-cents to add to the article, if you want to see the whole thing (and to read the professional’s opinion), click on any of the photos.  Enjoy!