ryan szulc 2013-03-28 ryan szulc 2013-03-28

Flavour Principles

Here is a sneak peak at Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol's new cookbook, Flavour Principles, due out in the fall. We shot this cookbook over 2 weeks in Lucy's beautiful home last September. The house was turned upside down as the living room and dining room were converted into a studio and the basement was filled with props. I'm sure she was happy to have her home back after we left.

I've admired Lucy's work for a long time and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with her on the new cookbook. Her recipes are by far some of the best I've shot. Visually, the sense of colour, texture and freshness made these recipes a pleasure to shoot, and absolutely delicious to eat!

We saved the cocktail shoot for the end of the shoot, and as you can see in the last shot, Beppi's cocktails were a smash hit!

Art Director: Colleen Nicholson Prop Stylist: Madeleine Johari Food Stylist: Eshun Mott

Buffalo Mozzarella with Roast Tomoatoes

Stockyard Spare Ribs

Bubbly Drinks

Lemon Poppyseed Cakes

Grilled Pork on Flatbread

Korean Beef

Oysters

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake

Celebratory booze fest at the end of the shoot.

ryan szulc 2013-03-22 ryan szulc 2013-03-22

New toy in the studio

We recently got the new Mola Rayo in the studio.Not sure what it does, or how to use it, but we're pretty pumped about it.

ryan szulc 2013-03-20 ryan szulc 2013-03-20

Toronto Life Real Estate 2013

The new Toronto Life Real Estate guide is out with cover shot by yours truly. I was hoping to see my adopted home of Mimico crack the top ten of the 'Where to Buy Now' neighbourhoods, but unfortunately, we didn't make the cut.

Interestingly, Greenwood-Coxwell (home of controversial, bad-boy designer Brooke Hennessy) made the list. Seems like there's a lot of great things going on in the east end. It's very cool to see how the city is changing as the years keep rolling on.

ryan szulc 2013-03-14 ryan szulc 2013-03-14

Out with the old, in with the new.

The time has come for me to part ways with my snapshot camera,the beautiful but dumb, Fujifilm x100. I was drawn in by it's beautiful retro exterior, but after using it for a over a year, it's safe to say it's just not working out.

Here is my detailed review of the X100

Focus system: Garbage

Auto Exposure: Brutal

Image Quality: Decent

Body: Gorgeous!

So I've replaced my Fuji with the Olympus OM-D E-M5. I've just started to play around with it, but right off the bat it seems to be a vastly superior camera.

We shall see i suppose...

ryan szulc 2013-03-11 ryan szulc 2013-03-11

The Old Grapefruit League

For the past few years, near the tail end of winter, my pal and I have been scooting down to Dunedin, Florida to see some spring training baseball.It's the perfect cure for the winter blahs. Unfortunately this year it was freezing while we were there. Still it was great to feel the sun and watch some baseball in a 5000 seat stadium.

So why do they call it the Grapefruit League? Well here's the story:

"There was an aviator named Ruth Law who was doing exhibition flying... she took a Dodgers player up in the plane with her. And the idea was for him to throw a baseball down to his manager on the field. I guess at some point he realized that might kill the guy. So instead of throwing a baseball, he threw a grapefruit. And the grapefruit hit the manager in the chest and exploded. The manager, for a few seconds, actually thought it was his chest that had exploded from the force of the baseball hitting him. And felt the juice, thought it was blood, screamed out, 'I'm dying! I'm dying!' His whole team thought it was great fun 'cause they knew he wasn't dying -- they knew he was just hit by a grapefruit."

Weird Story...Anyways, looks like it's going to be a good year for the Jays.

Here are some photos from my most recent trip.

The Blue Jay - Bully, Thief, Trickster, general low life.

Florida Auto Exchange Stadium - Dunedin

Clearwater Beach

Having second thoughts. The temperature was like 5C

Whooping it up with the Dunedin locals

This guy was a bastard

The Phillies Stadium in Clearwater. Definitely one of the nicest parks in the Grapefruit League.

My personal hero

ryan szulc 2012-11-22 ryan szulc 2012-11-22

A Moveable Feast

I recently shot a fall picnic story for the Globe & Mail's Style section.Emma Reddington did the prop styling and Sasha Seymour handled the food. Always a pleasure working with such a talented team.

Art Director: Bryan Gee Props: Emma Reddington Food: Sasha Seymour

ryan szulc 2012-11-16 ryan szulc 2012-11-16

"Ok people, let's think outside of the box here."

So that's what we did for restaurant IQ Food Co.'s take-out menu items. We shot their wraps, salads, soups and bento boxes......outside of the box.

Food Stylist: Noah Witenoff

ryan szulc 2012-11-08 ryan szulc 2012-11-08

Everyday Kitchen For Kids

No sharp knives, no stove-top cooking, no motorized appliances. I recently had the pleasure of working with the original J-Low, Jennifer Low, on her new cookbook 'Everyday Kitchen For Kids'. This cookbook is put together specifically for kids, so they can make their own dishes and treats. We shot for 2 weeks at her beautiful home in Ancaster. Here are a few fun shots from the cookbook, which you can find in stores now.

ryan szulc 2012-10-30 ryan szulc 2012-10-30

Motion

Last week Noah and I spent the day making coffee and frying eggs.

To see these videos in HD click on this link.

Food Styling: Noah Witenoff Prop Styling: Madeleine Johari

ryan szulc 2012-10-25 ryan szulc 2012-10-25

Blasted by the Sun

'It's a dry heat'. My trusty assistant Matt said to me over and over again as the sweat poured off his face. We were recently sent out to Nevada to shoot Enbridge's new solar plant, the Silver State North Solar Project. The heat was intense and we were scorched by the constant desert sun, but there is something that I just love about being in these wide open spaces.

Here are some images from our shoot.