#52 Tasting The Wine Country

#52 Tasting The Wine Country, photos by Manfred Zeuch

Back in my #44 post, I mentioned that I had four friends who are great photographers. I mused that it would be nice if I could get them to do a guest shot here on A CookBook A Day. Well they all said yes and today I feature the work of Manfred Zeuch. To get the ball rolling, I handed each of the fellows a cookbook from my collection that I thought would appeal to their own interests. For Manfred I selected Tasting The Wine Country. Not only has he lived in the wine region of Alsace, France, his family also makes their own wine, so it was a natural.

For the cookbook cover, he took a hand held shot, no tripod, with a high ISO, so that it has a " tiny blurry, grainy, cozy feel". He also came up with some great photos from his albums to tie in with this cookbook. I'm so glad he was willing to share. The second photo is called "Remembering Alsace". The black and white one is his lovely wife sipping wine. The next one is a glamor photo of one of their homemade bottles of wine. They taste as good as they look! The final one is a photo Manfred took in the beautiful Okanagen wine region of British Columbia. They make some great wines in that area too.

So be sure to click on the above pictures, that will enlarge them and you'll get to see some excellent camera work here for a change. You can also click on the link on the right under "Blogs I Enjoy" to see more of Manfred's photos. Thanks again and well done. Cookbook #52 Tasting The Wine Country by Sharon O'Connor.

#44 Making Memories, Food, Family, Friends and Photographs

#44 Making Memories, Food, Family, Friends and Photographs

This is a very neat cookbook, it combines 75 recipes with over 50 expert tips and ideas for photographing food and parties. I really should read it again and get some pointers. One of the reasons I started this cookbook a day blog was because I already had lots of pictures of food and parties. I always have my little digital camera with me and I love taking quick shots of the food I'm enjoying.

As you can see I'm not a great photographer, I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of colorful poster boards. I just throw one down on the floor and snap one of my cookbooks and anything else I might have to help tell my story. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. My problem is, so many of the books have shiny covers and I can't use a flash. That's why my focus is not always great. I'm suppose to hold it very steady when not using flash and that's not easy.

Some of my loyal followers are actually VERY good photographers. I'm sure my pictures give them headaches but they're too kind to complain. Michael just got a very high tech camera, it will let him take high speed pictures of the race cars he loves. He's the only person I know who can take photos of New York and Las Vegas and you would swear he was the only person in town. He also does great animal pictures, he took the one of the moose stopped at a stop sign in our Canadian Rockies. I think it's great!

Manfred's blog is listed over there on the right in my favorites. He has an artists eye and enjoys black and white. There's a few food pictures posted on there too. He's had his photos in a yachting magazine and he's going to have one of his photos used on boxes of Kleenex. I'm very impressed!

Jeff is into Lomography, I hope that's the right term. He uses cheap plastic cameras and expired film to come up with some very colorful shots. His pictures have fish eye views, double exposures, wild colors and very little focus. I'm sure someday his kids will ask "Dad, why was I purple and why did I always have two heads, in all the family pictures?" He also has some great pictures that make it look like Disney World is burning down. He's had photos in a Japanese Lomo camera magazine!

Daniel has an art background, he can not only take great pictures, he can hang them too. He's worked in art galleries. He takes lots of great candid shots of everyone but me. I always look fat and dim in them. At least he's too kind to tag and post them, thank you Daniel!

I just thought of something, I should have guest photographer days here on A CookBook A Day. I could give each of these fellows a cookbook and have them capture it in their own unique style. How about it guys? It would add a touch of class to the old blog. Cookbook #44 is Making Memories, Food, Family, Friends and Photographs by Blacks Photography and Canadian Living.