With a nod to 70’s opulence and inspired by Dutch still life paintings, I teamed up with The Drake to shoot their latest venture - Drake Catering.
Props by the stylin’ Martine Blackhurst, opulence by the Drake.
“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Tide 1
This past October, I set out to photograph something that has been top of mind lately - Time. That 'essential' thing 'invisible to the eye.' What I I love about photography is the ability to capture what the eye can’t see. In this case, the passage of time was my focus. I came home with this 8 image series titled 'New Found Tide.' With ‘tide' representing both the ocean and the Old English use of the word - relating to time.
To slow everything down and shoot in a more deliberate way.
I wanted to shoot this series because of a strong desire to slow things down and reflect. My personal and professional life is great and I have little to complain about. But with a one year old daughter, another baby on the way, along with aging parents, time and it’s scarcity is something that’s been at the forefront of my thoughts for a while now. I’ve been an extremely ‘busy’ person for many years now and that’s something i’ve always taken a lot of pride in. However, I’m now at a point now where i’m starting to question the value of always being so busy. Often there is a feeling of needing more time, or a sense of frustration at the realization that there just isn’t enough time to do all the things I want to do. This is why I felt it was important for me to shoot this series - I wanted to slow everything down and just sit, observe the tide, and shoot in a more deliberate way.
A quiet, meditative series exploring the passage of time.
I decided to shoot off the coast of Newfoundland because I had been there once before and recall staring out at the ocean and feeling as if I was standing at one of the four corners of the world. My intention was to create a quiet, meditative series exploring the passage of time. Knowing myself, I figured I would have difficulty resisting the urge to instantly review images once exposures were complete. So I shot film, and this provided the delayed gratification that felt appropriate for this project. The shoot process was slow and deliberate with exposure times varying from 1 minute to 1 hour. Just sitting there, simply being, while the film was being exposed was important because I was forced to truly take in the scene. The sights, sounds, the smell, the feeling of the cold ground and the unrelenting ocean wind blowing in my face. I did this for a week - 6am to 6pm and it was wonderful. The photographs in this series were all shot in Placentia Bay - an area approximately 100km wide about an hour and half drive from St. John's.
Anyways, I do hope you enjoy this series.
For those interested - there is a limited set of prints available. You can check them out here.
With Gratitude,
Ryan Szulc
Tide 2
Tide 3
Tide 4
Tide 5
Tide 6
Tide 7
Tide 8
Lick Your Plate by powerhouse sisters Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat comes out this week. I don’t shoot as many cookbooks as I used to, but i’m really glad I got to shoot this one.
Stylistically, we took things in a completely new direction. Hard punchy light with crisp defined shadows and lots of negative space for the food.
This was so much fun to shoot!
We shot this book over 10 days in my studio. The lovely Nicole Young was our food stylist and Catherine Doherty did the prop styling.
The book is in stores now and the publisher is Appetite by Random House.
Here are a few of my favourite shots from the book.
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
This is a companion shot for the Crab Cake Burgers recipe.
Decadent White Chocolate Pecan Pie
Companion shot for the Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops
Grilled Sesame Tuna over Napa Cabbage Slaw
Fusilli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach & Kale
Thai Turkey Sliders with Peanut Slaw
Companion shot for Baja Fish Taco Salad with Creamy Chipotle Dressing
Cheesy Manicotti with Turkey Bolognese
Companion shot for Golden Edamame Dumplings
As a Canadian, I take pride in having been to almost all parts of this vast country. But one glaring omission for me is the west coast. For whatever reason, in my 35 years of existence, i’ve never been out there. So I figured it was just about time I do something about that.
So here's the plan - fly in to Vancouver and drive north to Whitehorse, Yukon, then turn around and come back again... in 8 days. I figured it would be tight with long days of driving, but it had been a while since i’d done a proper road trip and I was super excited to do this.
The entire trip turned out to be 5637km of driving through gorgeous BC and Yukon. Here is the entire journey in chronological order. I hope you enjoy the trip!
The Route - what the map doesn't show is how I came back. From Watson Lake I took highway 97 instead of coming back down 37.
My trusty steed just outside of Whistler. This simple rental car took a beating on this trip.
The passenger seat - maps, Canon 5D MKIII with 24-70mm 2.8 Lens & one of my favourite books - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Heading out from Vancouver my first real stop was at Seton Lake. The turquoise tones in this body of water are incredible.
Seton Lake, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 24mm - f5.6 @ 1/800, ISO 100
Seton Lake, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 21mm - 1/1600 @ f4, ISO 100
One of the things that surprised me was how quickly the landscape changes after heading out from the wet, lush coast. After passing through the mountains you end up in Lillooet. A hot and dry, almost arid small town of 2322 people.
Lillooet, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 23mm - 1/1250 @ f4.5, ISO 100
Lillooet - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/400 @ f8, ISO 100
The main drag. Lillooet, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 17mm - 1/640 @ f4.5, ISO 100
Lillooet, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 28mm - 1/1000 @ f4.5, ISO 100
Lillooet, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 31mm - 1/400 @ f8, ISO 100
From Lillooet, I headed straight north up highway 97 through the city of Prince George - known as the ‘Gateway to the North.’ This is northern BC’s largest city with a population of 88,043.
At this point I hop onto the TransCanada highway and head west. Getting back towards the coast, the landscape changes again and becomes more lush with thick dense forests.
I stopped in New Hazelton and did a bit of hiking. Being there in early May with the smell of the spring growth was amazing. Everything was so fresh and green as if the whole forest had just sprung to life within the past couple weeks. I'll never forget the smell of that dense, lush forest.
New Hazelton, BC - Canon 5KMKIII 28mm - 1/200 @f4, ISO 320
New Hazelton, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/250 @f4, ISO 250
New Hazelton, BC - Canon 5KMKIII 47mm - 1/80 @f4, ISO 320
Next up is the 143km drive from Terrace to Prince Rupert. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The road winds along the Skeena River through the mountains all the way out to Prince Rupert on the coast.
Between Terrace and Prince Rupert, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 33mm - 1/4000 @f5, ISO 400
Between Terrace and Prince Rupert, BC - Canon 5KMKIII 185mm - 1/8000 @ f2.8, ISO 800
Between Terrace and Prince Rupert, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 39mm - 1/250 @ f4, ISO 100
Heading north up highway 37 is where you start to get a true sense of the glory and grandeur of northern BC. It is so vast and unbelievably beautiful with snow covered mountains everywhere you look. Towns are spread out several hours apart so you really have to pay attention to your gas gauge or you could be in serious trouble.
Highway 37, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 50mm - 1/400 @ f8, ISO 100
Mountains looming large over the roads. Highway 37, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 53mm - 1/1000 @ f5.6, ISO 100
Highway 37, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/1600 @ f5.6. ISO 100
Highway 37, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/800 @ f5.6, ISO 100
Lot's of these guys on road. Highway 37, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 61mm - 1/1600 @ f7.1, ISO 200
Highway 37, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 26mm - 1/200 @ f8, ISO 100
Side road off of Highway 37, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 55mm - 1/125 @ f8, ISO 100
Iskut BC, Canon 5DMKIII 45mm, 1/200 @ f8, ISO 100
Highway 37, BC very close to the Yukon border - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/320 @ f8, ISO 200
I came across a lot of these - non actively burning - but several sites where there had been seemingly recent burns. It’s quite an odd feeling to stand in these charred forests and to hear absolute silence. It’s definitely something I’ll remember for a long time.
Canon 5DMKIII 16mm - 1/1250 @ f 3.2, ISO 100
Canon 5DMKIII 16mm - 1/2500 @ f3.2, ISO 100
Canon 5DMKIII 35mm - 1/800 @ f5.6, ISO 200
The drive from the Yukon border to Whitehorse is unbelievable. Majestic mountains and pristine wilderness the whole way through.
Crossing into the Yukon. Canon 5DMKIII 29mm - 1/125 @ f5.6, ISO 100
The Alaska Highway, Yukon - Canon 5DMKIII 150mm - 1/1600 @ f 6.3, ISO 400
Alaska Highway, Yukon - Canon 5DMKIII 35mm - 1/5000 @ f6.3, ISO 400
Love these two little peaks. Alaska Highway, Yukon - Canon 5DMKIII 155mm - 1/2000 @ f5.6, ISO 200
The glorious mountains of the Yukon. Alaska Highway, Yukon - Canon 5DMKIII 155mm, 1/3200 @ f4.5, ISO 400
“It is better to travel than to arrive.”
On day five I made it to Whitehorse. After driving through such incredible landscape, no disrespect to Whitehorse, but I have to agree with the saying “It is better to travel than to arrive."
Because of how much driving I had to do I didn’t have to much time to explore the city of Whitehorse. It seems like a nice enough small city - it’s actually the capital and largest city of Yukon with a population of 27,889.
At the time of year that I was there, May, it didn’t get dark until 10 o’clock with the sun rising at 4:30am. Shooting from sunrise to sunset made for some very, very long days.
Time to turn around and head back to Vancouver.
Just outside of Whitehorse, Yukon. Canon 5DMKIII -
Whitehorse, Yukon. Canon 5DMKIII 35mm - 1/1000 @ f4, ISO 400
9:45pm Whitehorse, Yukon. Canon 5DMKIII 24mm - 1/2000 @ f4, ISO 400
My motel room in norther BC 10pm - Canon 5DMKIII 24mm - 1/500 @ f2.8, ISO 1600
My hotel room in Whitehorse around 10pm - Canon 5DMKIII 29mm - 1/400 @ f2.8, ISO 1600
Heading back down south after crossing back into northern BC and hopping onto highway 97, I ran through a few areas that had lots of wild bison. They are such remarkably stoic beasts.
So many of these beautiful beasts roaming the landscape. The Alaska Highway, North BC - Canon 5DMKIII 39mm - 1/800 @ f4, ISO 160
The Alaska Highway, north BC - Canon 5DMKIII 31mm - 1/1600 @ f3.5, ISO 250
The Alaska Highway, north BC - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/400 @ f5.6, ISO 200
The Alaska Highway, north BC - Canon 5DMKIII 45mm - 1/1000 @ f5.6, ISO 160
Doing the road trip in May and being as far north as I was, many of the lakes were still frozen solid.
Alaska Highway, north BC - Canon 5DMKIII 55mm - 1/640 @ f5.6, ISO 200
Alaska Highway, north BC - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/1600 @ f5.6, ISO 160
Alaska Highway, north BC - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/640 @ f5.6, ISO 100
Alaska Highway, north BC - Canon 5DMKIII 1/1000 @ f5.6, ISO 160
As I continued to head further south, things started to warm up and the lakes thawed out.
Highway 97, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 33mm - 1/1000 @ f5.6, ISO 160
Highway 97, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 57mm - 1/500 @ f5.6, ISO 160
One of the many black bears I saw on this trip - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/800 @ f3.2, ISO 640
Highway 97, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - i/1250 @ f5.6, ISO 160
As I drove all the down the valley, I was amazed at the scale of the Fraser Canyon, it’s just massive. Looking down into the canyon, the trees and railroad tracks are so tiny.This is a beautiful drive from Lillooet to Hope. The road follows the Fraser River down and down and down. When I drove it the temperature continued to rise the further down I got, it must have been at least 6 or 7 degrees warmer at the bottom of canyon in Hope compared to Lillooet.
The Fraser Valley, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 35mm - 1/640 @ f5, ISO 100
Looking down on the Fraser Valley - the sense of scale is incredible. Canon 5DMKIII 70mm - 1/400 @ f5, ISO 100
Down and down and down along the valley. Canon 5DMKIII 31mm - 1/3200 @ f4, ISO 100
Fraser Valley, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 44mm - 1/800 @f5, ISO 100
Massive pine cones. Canon 5DMKIII 59mm - 1/125 @f2.8, ISO 100
Hell's Gate Tunnel, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 47mm - 1/640 @ f5.6, ISO 100
On the final day I pulled into Chilliwack a short drive from Vancouver where I would catch my flight home to Toronto the next morning.
This road trip was such an incredible experience. The vastness and beauty of BC and Yukon were breathtaking. I tried my best to capture some of that but often the challenge with something so massive is that when you try to put a frame on it, it disappears.
The thing about travelling like this is, it just makes you want to see and experience more and more. I’m already thinking about my next trip - perhaps a continuation of this journey….Whitehorse to Yellowknife? Whitehorse to Anchorage? Who knows, but it’s certainly fun to think of what’s next :)
Chilliwack, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 41mm - 1/2000 @f4, ISO 400
5000km of bug spatter.
Chilliwack, BC - Canon 5DMKIII 39mm - 1/5000 @ f9, ISO 400
Heading home.
Ah Vegas... what a place. So glitzy and glamorous yet so seedy and depraved. Here are a few photos from a recent trip to Sin City.
Just got back from spending 2 weeks in Hawaii. Specifically the island of Kauai, known as the 'Garden Isle’ with a small population of 67,091. While I was out shooting, i found myself attracted to the cars, trucks and vans of the people that live on the island. Obviously, surfing is huge in Kauai and surfers need trucks, vans that they can drive up onto the beach with their boards. A lot of trucks are old and beat up but they are beautiful, often modified to suit the rough roads and beaches of the island. To me, these vehicles represent a different set of priorities and values. something I find extremely refreshing.
Another aspect I was drawn to is the lush tropical colour and quality of light on the island. There’s often a mist coming off the ocean which creates a soft and hazy feel, it’s just beautiful. The graphic plant shots were shot in the gorgeous garden of the house we were staying at.
One of my goals on this trip was a bit of a digital detox, so I shot film and it was a wonderful experience. Working without a light meter was a lot of fun. It makes you really tune into what the light is doing in your shot and how you want it to be exposed. I simply followed the F16 and Sunny rule. I’d highly recommend this for anyone looking to get back to pure and simple photography. There’s also something really nice about not being able to see the photo immediately after clicking the shutter. I love the sense of anticipation & mystery when waiting to see the processed film.
Here are my favourite shots from the trip. If you want to see more I’ll be posting all of the shots to my Tumblr page in the coming week.
Kekaha Beach. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
Princeville. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
Hanalei. Contax T3 35mm Kodak Portra 400
Lumahai Beach. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
Abandoned resort contsruction site - Princeville. Contax T3 35mm. Kodak Portra 400
Off Highway 56, North Shore. Contax T3 35mm. Kodak Portra 400.
Polihale State Park. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
Princeville. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
Lumahai Beach. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
Waimea Canyon. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
Anini Beach. Olympus OM-1 50mm. Kodak Portra 400
As a follow up to the top ten shots of my personal work from 2015, i’ve decided to do the same for my work done here in the studio.
This was a really great year. I took the summer off for the birth of our daughter. We shot 4 cookbooks which will all be coming out in 2016. I produced a book of my personal travel landscape work. Did some shooting in Kauai and a big road trip from Vancouver to Whitehorse.
Newfoundland, 2008
At the beginning of last year I set out to create a book of my personal landscape work. I’ve been working on this body of work for the past 12 years. I’ve always wanted to do a book, so I felt it was time to put something together. When i’m not shooting in the studio - my passion is to travel and shoot landscapes. From the beginning of my photography career I’ve always shot landscapes as part of my personal work. It’s actually been an integral part of the development of my commercial work.
Last year I got back to wandering with my camera - shooting nothing in particular, just always bringing the camera with me and capturing whatever catches my eye. Often it was light casting a certain tone, transforming a setting or scene i’ve passed many times before. Other times it’s just a feeling or sensation that’s hard to express.
The new Michael Smith cookbook ‘Make Ahead Meals’ is out now. We shot this book last November here in the studio over 10 days.
The focus this time around is on prepping or cooking ahead to create time-saving recipes.
Here are a few of my favourite shots from the book.
Prop Styling: Madeleine Johari
Food Styling: Noah Witenoff
Bacon Salsa Quesadillas
Really Good Focaccia
Slow Split Pea Soup
Prosciutto Lemon Wrapped Chicken
Chocolate Bark
Korean Short Ribs
Monkey Bread
Buttery Butterscotch Popcorn
Brown Sugar Glazed Ham with Raisin Drippings
Baked Reuben Chowder
Roasted Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce
Outtake from the shoot
