14 Dec 2012

FORK YOU!










































This is for all those restaurants and chefs who've been on the wrong end of a critics or bloggers review.  Being a food and lifestyle photographer I've seen first hand just how hard the food industry work. While not all deserve glowing reviews there are some critics who sensationalise their experience as entertainment just to sell newspapers, magazines or get more hits rather than a true reflection on the restaurant or chef. And in this current economic climate a bad review can kill a business.

13 Dec 2012

BRIGHTON BEACH 2


This is one of my favourite shots from my weekend in Brighton. It is a classic shot of the pier nothing original from this shot but once I chucked it into photoshop and added a few of my favourite textures then it has come alive.

BRIGHTON PIER


This is one of three pictures I took on Brighton beach over the weekend. This is the old pier which is now falling apart and slowly rusting in the sea. Shame but it does make for a stunning picture. I've added a few textures in photoshop to produce something a bit different. Let me know if you want a print of this.

BRIGHTON IN WINTER

Went to Brighton over the weekend to shoot a video (to come) and it was one of those glorious cold wintery December days and Brighton beach looked glorious. Rough sea, piercing blue sky, no fog (not that you get much in Brighton) and decided to take a panorama of the pier. Then brought that into photoshop and added about 5 or 6 layers of texture to get what you see here which looks a bit painterly. 
Hope you like it. And if anyone wants to buy a print please get in contact carl@carlpendle.com

29 Nov 2012

POOR PIG


While this photo montage is a bit gruesome and not very foody it is in my top 10 of food photographs I've ever taken which is a bit odd considering I spent a lot of my time making food look as appetising as possible. I guess part of the appeal is that I've always been a huge fan of street photography and photojournalism and this appeals to me on that level. I also like the fact that you can't see the butchers face yet the pigs is dangling, half on, down my his side. As I said, it is a bit gruesome.

26 Nov 2012

2012 CHRISTMAS CARD






























Finally got around to sorting out this years Christmas card. It's a bit different and went for a red and green letters theme. Would like to say a big thank you to this FLICKR GROUP  whose letters and numbers I borrowed for the card under the creative commons license. And especially Leo Reynolds where all but two of the pictures were his. A truly incredible amount of letters in his portfolio.

8 Nov 2012

RAINBOW IN DEVON




Over the summer I went to Devon and while the weather was pretty terrible most of the time I was there I managed to grab this picture as a ray of light created this rainbow amongst the rain. I've added textures and played around with it in photoshop to create this here.

7 Nov 2012

BOAT IN MAJORCA


Last week I was on a shoot in Majorca and while out and about saw this lone ship in the bay where I was photographing. I thought the sky and light would make a lovely shot and this is what I got.

24 Oct 2012

MORE MUSHROOMS

As you can probably see from my below posts I've been photographing mushrooms and here's a few of my favourites. 










And while I don't like eating mushrooms they do make for some lovely photographs.





IT'S QUITE NICE AROUND HERE

This country gets quite a bit of stick - especially from those that actually live here. We constantly moan about the weather, the cost of living etc etc but actually we do live in a dam nice part of the world. You don't have to go very far to find a nice bit of countryside or some coastline to stare at. And here's my part of the world - the very lovely South Downs. Ahhh...


BLACK TRUFFLES IN THESE HILLS



Culinary speaking we Brits have always played second fiddle to the French. Well that is changing and the British black truffle is going to make our French cousins sit up and take notice. Why? Because there are quite a few of them lurking in the uk just waiting to be discovered. That is, according to the truffle hunter I went out with yesterday. And he says that the South Downs (where I happen to live) is a dam fine place to find them. Apparently they love the chalk soil and the roots of some of our native trees.

One major factor is that you've got to find them. And that isn't easy. While dogs are the best way to find them, they have to be trained and being a nation of cat lovers obviously doesn't help! Well, apparently you can dig for them without a dog but you need to spot the tell-tale truffle fly. 

So I look forward to the day we sell the French some of our truffles if anyone can be bothered to look for them. Although selling at £2,000 per kg is quite a good incentive to get off your arse. 

A SPOT OF MUSHROOM FORAGING





It's that time of year for a bit of mushroom foraging and experts don't come better qualified than Nik Westacott. I did a video (HERE) of Nik mushroom hunting last year but this year I wanted to get some photographs of him whilst foraging in woods around Chichester in West Sussex. It was a perfect day. Not too cold, bit misty and a lot of moisture in the air to get the 'wet' look on the shrooms. There were quite a few of the highly prized chanterelles around as well. Nik offers foraging courses and had a few clients along and I bet they had a great feast which Nik was cooking up later at his b&b in Fishbourne.

MY MOVEMBER PORTRAIT






This is Nik Westcott a chef, B&B owner and all round nice chap that also happens to have one of the greatest taches I know. I was out taking some photographs of him mushroom foraging yesterday so decided to take the opportunity to take a nice close up of his moustache. And as Movember (Prostate cancer charity) is coming up what an ideal time to inspire others to grow a tache and raise some money for this great cause - Movember.com

8 Oct 2012

EAST MIDLANDS FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL



















Yesterday I was up in Melton Mowbray to photograph the East Midlands Food & Drink Festival. It was a great event and weather was fantastic so a great day was had by all. Aga were one of the sponsors and chefs Rachel Green, Arfan Razak, Stephen Hallam and Dean Edwards were on hand for some fantastic cooking demonstations. Above are a few of my favourite pictures from the event.

6 Aug 2012

CHESIL BEACH CAFE

Last week I was down in Portland, Dorset to photograph Mat Follas at his new restaurant - Chesil Beach Cafe.  I've met Mat once before when I shot a video of him at his other restaurant Wild Garlic

Mat came to fame when he won the 2009 Masterchef and since then he's one of the few contestants that's actually done some great things with his talent. 

He's a nice chap and very down to earth so it is always a pleasure working with him. 

This shoot (see photos above) got cancelled numerous times due to the shocking weather we've had this summer but we eventually did it in late July just in time for the opening. 

I wish him all the best in his new cafe. 

27 Jul 2012

ONLY GOD CAN...






















I was on a shoot this week down in Weymouth and this man walks into the restaurant I was photographing and orders a coffee. I noticed the tattoo on his leg that said, 'Only God Can Judge Me' and took a few shots and thought it would make an interesting picture. I played with it a bit and decided to add a shot of the Bible. I thought his Nike trainers and Polo shorts juxtoposed well with his tattoo and the Bible.

26 Jul 2012

WATER IN NATURE
















I've a water client who wants some shots of water in nature and here's some shots I've taken of plants covered in morning dew. These were taken with the fantastic Canon 100mm macro lens which is one of my favourite lenses. 

MUTANT CARROTS


I'm very lucky to photograph top hotels and restaurants as part of my job and I'm often asked to photograph food at its most perfect. So it's nice to photography something quite ugly as a contrast to what I normally shoot. And it doesn't get much uglier then these carrots I grew in my garden.

25 May 2012

JAMES SHOWING WILL.I.AM HOW TO WHACK!

















This is my mate James Miller from MMFilm. We did a job together this week in London shooting President Clinton and Will.I.Am at an event. James is very well known for his 'whacking' filming techniques (SEEN HERE) that seems the talk of twitter and vimeo right now. It's tough to explain in detail what it is all about but the above link will give you a good idea.

While we were filming at the event Will.I.Am from Black Eyed Peas and The Voice came up to James to ask him what he was doing. I reckon James will be doing his next music video!

23 May 2012

BILL CLINTON & WILL.I.AM

Bill Clinton and Will.I.Am                                   Photo by www.carlpendle.com















Today I was in London at an event photographing Bill Clinton and Will.I.Am for the Rumi Foundation as well as the Clinton Foundation. I also wasn't aware that Will.I.Am also does a lot of charity work.  Bill gave a very inspiring speech and Will.I.Am looked as cool as he normally does. 





8 May 2012

BEFORE AND AFTER















I was in Turkey last week and I thought I'd share a shot of a picture of me taking a picture! I was going to title this post the 'Tortures of a Travel Photographer' but as you can clearly see I'm lying down on the most comfortable cushion in the world. Only wish I could take this on all shoots. As it happens I'm not a fan of the final shot as the composition is all wrong and it's not a pretty dive but thought it was funny when my travel companion on this job, food writer Michael Raffael, sent me his picture of me this morning.

BACK FROM TURKEY






























I've just got back from an assignment in Turkey shooting lifestyle food and travel photography for a magazine here in the uk. I've just edited down the pictures now before uploading them to the editor for their final choices which I shall photoshop. Before I do I just wanted to post one of my favourite pictures from the trip. It was a man minding his own business in his shop and he caught me taking a picture of him. Most of the time I immediately pull the camera down but I thought I'd carry on shooting while he was wondering what I was up to and got something I quite like. 

31 Mar 2012

OUT & ABOUT

Yesterday I was on an interior shoot for Real Homes. It was to shoot a bathroom that was designed and installed by Ripples.

It didn't take long to do so went for a walkabout and took this picture of an old house. Rather quaint.

12 Mar 2012

BE 100



















I saw this is in a shop window in London. It is a great quote by Woody Allen.

1 Mar 2012

THREE CHEFS AND A KISS!

On Sunday the Singapore Tourist Board asked me to photograph three chefs at Pollen Street Social as part of their Singaporean inspired dinner event. And three chefs don't come much more highly acclaimed than Jason Atherton (Pollen Street Social), Claude Bosi (Hibiscus) and Sat Bains (Restaurant Sat Bains). 

I photographed the event for the STB but I managed to capture a few shots of the chefs with a quick photograph facing the camera. I rattled a few frames off then noticed Sat blowing a kiss at Claude and thought it would make a fun gif which is what you see above. They clearly know each other well and the banter between them was a lot of fun to hear. 

I just hope they take this post in good humour as well!!

CANON 5D MARK III

It has finally arrived. The Canon 5D Mark III will be announced on the 1st March and officially released on the 2nd March at venues all around the world but mainly in Asia. It has been a long time coming and with the huge success of the 5d Mark II it has big shoes to fill. Everyone is predicting what will be in this new version but I'm just hoping for better quality footage, better monitoring of audio and a decent codec to be able to edit without the needless transcoding, which, quite frankly, is a pain in the arse. Not asking for much but let's just see if they get rid of H.264 and have something I can edit with straight out of the camera. I wouldn't complain or moan at a few nice surprises like full HD slow motion but somehow I doubt that is going to happen with this chip. Let's wait and see.

23 Feb 2012

YEAH I WON!!




Last night it was the 2011 Travel Awards ceremony hosted by the Italian Tourist Board at the Vanilla club in London and I won the 'Best Travel Photography' section for my photographs on the Basilicata district of Southern Italy. The piece was written by the excellent travel writer David Gerrie. So very pleased for everyone who worked on the piece and the wonderful Food & Travel Magazine who I've been working for about 7 years now. Met some great people, drank a bit too much and beat Conde Nast Traveller Magazine which is also a nice bonus!

16 Feb 2012

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR.....

















































I've just been told that I've been nominated for Travel Photographer of the Year by the Italian Tourist Board for this set of pictures that appeared in Food and Travel magazine. So quite pleased at the moment. The awards ceremony is in London on the 21 Feb at Vanilla so will be going along and keeping my fingers crossed.