So along with being a fantastic (do I dare say great?) chef, I also enjoy photography. I have been snapping pictures since a child and I think that my photography class in high school really got me going. There were some problems though with gaining access to equiptment at that time (minimum wage job vs. expensive equiptment). So, needless to say I really didn't get past my 50mm prime lens and a 70-200 zoom for my Pentax ME Super. But all that was about to change.

After graduating from culinary school and making some $$$ I bought an Olympus C-2020 digital camera. This was, of course to photograph food so I could train my BOH staff on how to consistantly plate and present the dishes we created. What I wasn't ready for was what this little camera could actually do.

Not only was this Olympus one of the first cameras (from a film camera company) to offer a Quicktime movie mode (no sound though), it's sensor with the addition of a Hoya R72 Infared filter would take great near-infared images. Once I figured this out, the game was on and my love of photography was back.

Unfortunatly that little Olympus has met it's demise. After 6 years and thousands of hard travel miles and the abuse that only a chef can inflict the camera died. So the search was on for a replacement to my trusty Olympus.

I was looking at spending what I had paid for the Oly (875.00) and found out that Nikon was coming out with the D50, a slightly smaller version of the D70 and a couple of hundred cheaper. After reading the reviews of this on dpreview.com I jumped in and bought this great DSLR.

With it's compact size and light weight, it is great for my travel photography (I build destination travel websites) anf food as well. With a couple of new lenses the world has opened up again, with fantastic color and details often missed in my hurried life.

If you are interested in seeing some of these photos, just follow these links. One page is of food photography and the other is of travel photography. I hope that you enjoy them and that the little story above has not lulled you to sleep;).

Thanks again for stopping by and enjoy!

All content, photographs and recipes © 1986-2006 aGreatChef.com, all rights reserved
Click the image above to find out about this great event with Chef Rob and how you can get in on the fun!
Check out this great original recipe of the month from Chef Rob!