Our first visit was to Sister’s Catering (on Millbrook Rd. in Raleigh) where we were met with lobster stuffed tenderloin.  I mean, it was 9 am and, already, I wanted to eat it, not photograph it.  Mark came out with a strawberry champagne in a beautiful crystal flute that finished off the presentation nicely.  With everything stacked on top of marble slates, the photo came out, well, gorgeous!  The marble exacted a little revenge later (I assume for me continually moving it around) and took a nice chunk out of my leg….  yes, I know, not related, but 3 months later I still have a mark.  Revenge will be mine marble face!!! 

From their we headed over to Triangle Catering (Who also runs the Cotton Room), to shoot a little shrimp scampi & grist with a moonshine martini.  Ok, let me mention this again..  it’s about 10:30, I’ve had no breakfast and the thought of downing that martini was very much on my mind.  They had some really cool vases and a beautiful green wall in their office that just HAD to be in the photo – the result, and of course I am biased, was stunning.  Please note the drop hanging off the ginger slice on the martini glass….  thought that was very cool until it actually dripped onto the tablecloth – clean up on aisle one please!

From there we hit 1705 Prime and, all I can say is WOW!  I lost track of all of the beautiful presentations, drinks and food they brought out.  In all seriousness, I am going back there to eat very, very soon because the food and staff were just incredible. We ended up shooting in two different locations in 1705 prime, at the bar and in the dining room.  I could of spent the rest of my day here working with their food but, well, we have more places to shoot and, at this point, I was gonna eat my lenses.

Finally, food – and no, not from something I was supposed to be photographing.  LOL.  We headed over to Parizade which has an incredible Mediterranean feel and an even more incredible menu!  With beautiful artwork adorning the walls, white tablecloth service and a very talented chef, made my life rather difficult (interestingly enough) as I wanted to put it ALL into the shot.  We finally got it whittled down to a great shot of their Star anise fennel-cured salmon and, well, I marked down another place I must go back and eat.

Next stop – the picnic basket for a lovely service of Tenderloin with summer veggies.  They had the COOLEST exotic colored potatoes I have seen in a while.  The purple potato was the richest & most vibrant purple I had seen in food.  When the chef brought out the plate, I really had a hard time believing as a purely delivery catering vehicle, how stunning the plate presentation was.

Our last stop of the day was at Lip Service catering in Cary.  They had the coolest way to serve champagne I have ever seen!  They have a mix of strawberry puree, Grand Marnier, a hibiscus flower and champagne.  It made for a awesome champagne cocktail and, as you drank, the flower would open up!  After the champagne was gone, you got to eat the Hibiscus as well..  pretty cool eh?  We also had a summer crab salad to photograph which I surrounded with just about every fresh fruit & vegetable they had.  To make a spectacular ending even better, we got to eat the crab salad… man that was good!!!

I’d like to personally thank every one who made a long day of shooting extremely pleasurable!  A special thanks goes out to Donna & Jenna with Southern Bride & groom magazine for asking me to do this shoot!  I know I was extremely happy with the results and judging by how big the section is, I think they are as well!  Of course, here are some photos from the event!

Here’s a few photos from the day:

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The bug-sucker is a clear plastic container with two pieces of tubing going into it.  One side is covered with gauze (on the inside of the container) and the other is open.  It’s used to, well, suck a bug into the container to examine it without hurting it.  When you are done, simply open the container and release it.

The homemade ice cream maker are two metal cans with one big enough so the other can fit inside.  You fill the smaller one with cream, milk, vanilla, sugar and any other flavorings you want.  Seal that container with duct tape and lower it inside the bigger container.  Once it’s inside, you then fill the big container with ice and rock salt and tape that one shut.  Once complete, you can play soccer, hot potato or any other game that will churn the contents.

Overall, alot of fun was had by everyone (including me) and we got some great photographs.  Special thanks goes out to Impact Athletics in Cary for letting us use a space in their facility for the projects and photography.  Here are a few photos from the day:

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Senator Clinton did happen to mention she would be visiting other places in North Carolina during her campaign so I’m looking forward to going back and capturing some more great images!  Here’s a few from the shoot:

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At the Annual Cary Academy auction/benefit, Cary Magazine coordinates a prize including 4 of the award winners (restaurants) to donate items they are famous for (tapas, desserts, entree, etc) and wrap it all into one extravagant evening for 8.  The winners are shuttled around in a limousine courtesy of Capital Style to the 4 locations.  This year the lineup included:

The Red Room – Famous for their tapas and cocktails
Xios – Famous for their authentic greek menu
Bonefish – Famous for their appetizers & entrees
Twisted Fork – Famous for their desserts.

By the time the 6 hour indulgence was over, everyone in the limo, including yours truly (hey, there are some perks to this job), had a very prominent sated smile and very full belly!

Congratulations to the award winners this year.  As always, here are a few photos from the evening:

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Next stage was searching for and rescuing injured people inside the house. It involved carrying both 200 pound dummies & live people playing injured. It’s a great program and there was only one casualty from the training – the live fireman playing a part as an injured person lost part of his right eyebrow in a bizarre duck tape head immobilization technique. Don’t worry, it’ll grow back.

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On the subject of being busy, I swung by the Hair Saloon for Men in the Cary Arboretum last week to check out their “five star service”. As soon as I walked in the door, it said”comfortable” to me.  With checker tables, a shoeshine booth, putting green and a very accommodating staff, I was very tempted to go under the clippers myself.  Although those that know my wife understand that I would be in the doghouse for “cheating” on her (She is also a hair stylist).

The whole service goes something like this: Cold soda, shampoo, haircut, hot towel & shoe shine, all for one low price.   I really anticipate this store having alot of success in this area with the current lack of “guys” saloons.  Here’s a few photos to wet your appetite.

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We traveled all around taking photos, downtown, the Airport, got to climb inside an awesome leer jet, worked with some great architecture and generally had a great time! Here’s a few photos from the days travels:

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Here’s a few photos from the shoot:

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(Photographers Note – I thought it would be neat to have Charlie standing in front of his photo).

(Photographers Note: Another opportunity to put Charlie in front of his photo – top left photo, Charlie is 2nd from the left (standing) with dark hair. This photo is from the 1954 Cary High School basketball team.)

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The CEO Cancer Gold Standard was adopted by the group as the premiere standard by which companies could adopt into their own workforce. Healthier foods, smoking cessation and education are but a few ways the standard creates a healthier environment for companies and, in turn, leads to higher productivity, fewer illnesses and longer lives.

I would like to write more about this wonderful organization, but I just can’t do it justice. Please visit their website (linked above) to find out more about it. Here’s a few photos of Dr. Murphy in and around the SAS campus.

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Skippers is, in my opinion, a well kept secret.  I had driven by the restaurant many times and never stopped to check it out.  Upon seeing the above “fish sandwich” and actually taking a few bites, I certainly will make time in the future to swing by.  All food is prepared after you order, so it comes out piping hot and cooked as you like it.  For a different dish (that’s excellent), try the fish taco.

The Blue Rain Cafe, located on ten-ten road, is a coffee/cafe establishment offering the finest of coffee’s (Larry’s Beans) and fresh salads and sandwiches.  The above dish, the asian chicken salad, was all prepped and ready to go when I got there.  Bill (owner) is also a  photo enthusiast so we had lots to talk about during the session.  The wontons are made exclusively by Blue Rain and while I couldn’t bring myself to try the salad, I can tell you it certainly has to be as good as it looks!

My last stop was at Coffee & Crepes in Crossroads Plaza.  They specialize in coffee and, you guessed it, crepes!  The above photo is of one of their best sellers, the cranberry crepe.  While I cannot attest to the deliciousness of it, my wife claims it was “great!” and she wants to go back to see what else they have.

A big thanks to all the restaurants who were so gracious in letting me re-arrange their furniture, turning off lights and making odd requests!

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The PEFNC advocates the right of parents to choose how their children are schooled, a very very worthy cause in my opinion.  I wish Darrell the best of luck and hope all the publicity the cover generates really helps out his cause!

Here’s a couple photos from the shoot:

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Let me say this – for all of those people that think celebrities have it so easy…  first, her flight from NY was delayed so the signing that was supposed to start @ 7 ended up starting around 7:30.  She was meant to have a few minutes resting and talking with the media before the signing started, but it was canceled due to the delays.  So she literally comes into the store, walks into a crowd of hundreds of people and says a few words then gets down to signing books.  Here’s a math equation – the signing was limited to 375 people who could each bring a maximum of 10 books each.   Thats 3750 yummo’s to write in about 4 hours time.  I really had to hand it to her..  she smiled away, chatted with her fans and really made a great showing.

One side note, we did get a little freezing rain here last night and at least three of her fans waited, OUTSIDE Barnes & Noble to get the first spot in line.

Here’s a couple of shots from the signing:

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Here’s a couple of my favorites from the sessions:

You guessed it, we switched up and had a role reversal here letting Dave from 5 Guys Burgers and fries have a shot at butchering Michelle’s hair from Hair Color Xperts. Both were great sports and no hair was harmed in the making of this photograph.

Have you ever had a hard day on the ballfield? Having kids constantly pull your tail, having to perform for thousands of people a week in sweltering conditions? Probably not, but even baseball mascots need to be pampered and that’s where we caught Wolle, the Durham Bulls Mascot. Iatria Spa & Health Center was gracious enough to give Wolle the run of the place and get massages, pedi’s, mani’s and even a sauna. Thanks to everyone for such a great shoot – they were all extremely enjoyable and you can really tell the end result in the photos.

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My sincerest thanks go out to Greg and Life Time fitness for accommodating us during the photo shoot.

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By the way, if you get a chance to swing by La Farm, I highly recommend, well, almost the entire store!  Allan, sorry I didn’t get a chance to sample your profession but if I keep raiding my pantry for oreos @ midnight, I’m sure you’ll see me soon. 

Here’s a couple photos from the session.

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They gave me the .10 tour of both the grounds and a couple of houses while I was there and, all I could really muster up was the occasional “wow”.  From a man made waterfall to the 3 hole golf course to the wine cellar in the last house we viewed, the tour was literally a schooling on how to develop a high-end community with class.  Here’s a couple shots from today.

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*Note on the above photo – hey, in my defense, they DO look like little tomatoes…

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