Trattoria Di Umberto executive chef Ricardo Dotti, right, with restaurant manager Walter Wallgram, and chef de cuisine Freddy Royer, centre.

Carpaccio, made with Blue Goose beef, egg yolks and arugula. From the newly renovated Il Caminetto restaurant in Whistler.

Wood fired pizza at Caramba restaurant in Whistler. Prosciutto, salami, arugula, and parmesan pizza, and the crispy lamb, pesto, goat cheese, and jalapeño pizza.

I recently finished up the food and drink photos for the latest edition of the Whistler Magazine. The first set of photos we did was the main dining photos. For this edition, the story as on local Whistler Italian restaurants.

The charcuterie plate at Bar Oso.

The Basalt Stroll Board, along with the Chicken Liver Mouse.

The charcuterie board at the Cure Lounge at the Nita Lake Lodge.

The casual dining story was on charcuterie platters offered by village restaurants. It was pretty challenging, as the charcuterie platters all looked relative similar, so I had to really break up the styles of the shoots.

A selection of herbs used to produce the custom bitters used at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler Resort. Prepared by Fairmont Beverage Manager Guillaume Noel.

The cocktail story was on the different bitters used at various lounges around town. When I got the assignment, I didn’t know how I was going to handle it, as most bitters are just little bottles behind the bar. The first set-up I did was with Guillaume Noel at the Mallard Bar in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. I explained to him that I wasn’t sure how to shoot this and asked him if he had any ideas. He said he’d have a think on it. When I came in the next day, he had prepared this beautifully organized and itemized display board with samples of all the different house made bitters they use at the hotel.

Scott Barber, bar manager at The Bearfoot Bistro, adds some Angostura bitters to Trinidad sour cocktail.

Plum and a rhubarb & strawberry old fashioned at the Araxi Lounge.

Whistler Blackcomb VP of Business Development Rob McSkimming with his bike. Photographed at the Passive House at the trailhead to Lost Lake Park.

I don’t just shoot food either, I photographed Rob McSkimming of Whistler Blackcomb for a story on Whistler bike culture. I’ve know Rob for almost 30 years, so it was a real pleasure to get his photo.

Tech Stuff
You wouldn’t think it, but food photography is some of the most technical work I do. All of the shots, except for the photos of the different bitters, were shot with multiple strobe lights.

With the photo at Trattoria Di Umberto, it was actually a really dark and rainy day, not great for a story on Italian restaurants for a summer magazine. I put a studio strobe in a large softbox off to camera right and cranked the power on it right up. Cue the hot Tuscan sun.

The photos from the fine and casual dining stories were all shot with three Alien Bee strobes. The cocktails, being pretty small, were shot with a couple of Nikon SB-910 flashes mounted in softboxes. With the shot of the bitters display, we actually had afternoon sun streaming through the window of the Mallard Bar to shoot it with, so it turned into the easiest shot of the project.

With the photo of Rob, it had to be a summer bike photo, but we shot it at the end of the March and there was still lots of snow on the ground, but we managed to find a patch of clear forest (you can actually see the snow in the way background). I lit Rob with an Alien Bee strobe in a medium softbox, powered by a Paul C Buff Vagabond battery.

All the photos were taken with a Nikon D800 and AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.

Related Pages

– Whistler food photography