Photography by Jerry, LLC

My wife and I were invited to a wine tasting dinner last night. Now, I’m not a wine drinker (allergic to sulfites) but I know Chef Michael Giletto is amazing and that the food was sure to be something special. Of course, I took my camera and asked for a table to set up a beauty shot of each dish.

The dinner took place at Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Long Branch, NJ. It consisted of four courses and four wines. The wines were from California’s Brookside Winery. Tim, the wine maker, told the story of the seven generations of wine makers, (that’s where, Gen7, the name of the wines comes from) staring in 1832, and how he was resurrecting the company after all the land was sold in 1972 and the land developed in 1982.  A fascinating story.

The first course was miniature flounder tartar…OMG – raw fish! I don’t do raw fish! But, I was brave and tasted it. Much better than I expected. It was accompanied by a sparkling wine.

The next course was a crab cake. It was the best crab cake that I have ever tasted. Yummm. It was so good, that I also ate the one set up for the camera after I shot it. (Shhhh-don’t tell the chef Michael.)  The wine was a Charonnay. The sommelier, Jeffison, explained why the particular wines were chosen for each dish but, I was too busy eating, drinking and taking pictures to listen. (Sorry Jeffison.)

The main course was a venison short rib with butternut squash compote and seared baby asparagus. It was absolutely perfect. And after my wife got over the Bambi thing, she loved it as well as she did the Cabernet that was served.

Being diabetic, I couldn’t eat the dessert but, it looked too good not to taste. It was AMAZING. A pumpkin Creme Brulee with Roasted Kobacha Squash. Perhaps the best dessert I’ve ever tasted. And it was gorgeous as well. It was accompanied by a Muscat Blanc.

Now that I’ve sampled theses delicacies I want more…and they are doing it again in December and I can’t wait. Thank you chef Michael and Ocean Place Resort and Spa for an amazing experience.

It’s almost 11 pm and the rain and wind is putting on quite a show. I am tempted to take out my camera and photograph the storm as seen in my neighborhood but, I will fight the urge and just watch the news and weather channels until its time to go to sleep or the power goes out. Goodnight Irene, I’ll see you in the morning for high tide.

I’m not a celebrity. Never have been and never will be. But, it was pretty cool when all of the chefs came to see what was happening on my last shoot with Michael Giletto.

We were doing some shots of crabs, fish and quail eggs. I have to admit that the resulting photos were really great.

We started with some shots of a bushel of live blue claw crabs and then a pile of cooked crabs. The Old Bay seasoning added a great texture to the cooked crabs.

The next shot was not so cool from my point of view. When Michael asked if I would take a photo of pig’s feet, I was thinking that this was a prepared dish. Instead, Michael wheeled in a whole pig. I was taken aback.
Unfortunately, the huge presentation was too big to move on to the table where I had my strobes set up so I took a couple of shots with available light. Michael got what he wanted but, I am not posting those photos for fear of insulting a PETA member or just someone who is squeamish.

Now on to the fish….first we shot some raw fish then some plates.
We did macro on the skin of a red fish and a sea bass – what great texture, color and pattern. Someone said that it looks like fabric.
Finally, we shot some quail eggs. First, the eggs and then Michael fried one and presented it on pressed octopus.
Really, really pretty but, do people really eat this? I’m glad that I just had to shoot it…thanks Mike for a great day.

We ended up with 57 photos…not a bad day’s work if you ask me. 

I get all of my photo books at AdoramaPix.com and when they said that there is a book on sale I jumped at the opportunity. It was just an 8×8 – 14 page book (or should we call that a booklet?) So, I selected a few photos that I have done with my stylist Michael Giletto and created this: http://www.adoramapix.com/jerrydeutsch/book/portfolio-8×8.

I did some test shots today for a new product…cookie pies. They looked amazingly delicious. I can’t wait until they are on the market so I can tell you about them. 

Where do I begin? This was the longest vacation I have ever taken, as well as the most exotic. The plane rides were numerous and thankfully uneventful. Let’s start with the trip home – it took 32 hours from when we left the hotel until I arrived home. Too much time on a plane – especially when you don’t sleep.

The Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River and the Li River were all they were advertised to be – GREAT. The hotels were exceptional and the food was much better than I expected. The only real negative was the weather…either too hot, too misty or rainy. I think that we saw two blue skies in 21 days. Fortunately, one of those was at the Great Wall.

I was ready for lots of bicycles but, they are no longer riding bicycles in China. Now many people have cars or motor scooters. We even saw a Bentley. And I couldn’t believe how many KFCs and McDonald there were.

We used Vantage Deluxe World Travel and were very happy with them. Our tour manager, Jonathan, was outstanding. The other people on the tour were great as well. All in all, a great vacation…in spite of the weather. One thing that was disappointing was the fact that the meals were not diabetic friendly. Meals included bottled water, local beer and sometimes Coca Cola…never Diet Coke (or Coke Light as they call it.) When it was available, I had to buy diet Coke (sometimes Pepsi) and paid anywhere from fifty cents to three dollars for a can.

My favorite moment in the vacation was in Hong Kong. We went to Outback for burgers (I love Chinese food but after 20 days, 3 meals a day a burger was awfully inviting) and they offered to refill my diet Coke. Free Refills – now that’s living! See more photos at: http://www.adoramapix.com/jerrydeutsch/book/china-12×9-copy

I just got back from China a few hours ago. It was a 32 hour day. We left the hotel in Hong Kong at 5 am on 6/29 and got home at 12:30 am on 6/30. Doesn’t sound too bad until you add another 12 hours for a time difference. I couldn’t make any blog entries from China because it was blocked. While I was there I got a message that my photo had won photo of the year at the Monmouth Camera Club and I wanted to share it here. I’ll have more information about China in the near future.

I just finished a chocolate holiday catalog with Melanie and Yngrid and now its off to China. What can I expect there? I am on a tour with some friends and I am looking forward to bringing back some great food photos as well as landscapes and people photos. I will be taking thousands of photos….what do I do with them? I’ve started putting my photos in photo books. I have been using and have been very happy with the books from AdoramaPix.com. So, I might not be here for a while…see you when I get back.