I admit, I had some reservations about moving to Alabama in spite of the amazing opportunity to challenge my creativity and eye every day with like minded people. My husband was ready for a change, I was ready for a new adventure, both professionally and personally. Charleston was my home, where I met Bill, where we dated, got married and were I started establishing a career as a professional photographer. Where my closest friends and surrogate family was. There is something idyllic and timeless about Charleston and the Lowcountry. I know it. I feel it everytime I drive home, windows down, feeling the humidity in the air, watching the sun set over the marsh, the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, Charleston will always be my home away from France.

 

Yet, Birmingham is home right now. And a very pleasant one. Now that my husband has been here full time for a few months, we enjoy discovering the city and the surrounding towns every chance we get. Living with an historian as definite perks in that regard. Always finding the interesting, that one stone yet unturned. We are a good team, I pick the new places to eat and drink and he picks the historical sights. And when I drag him to the farmers market every Saturday at 7am, he does not blink an eye. Pups and basket in tow, we head out to sample some of the best produce in the South.

 

Charleston farmers market spoiled me. Having a good connections with farmers, sampling gorgeous and local produce 8 months out of the year was something I feared I would not have in Birmingham. Boy was I wrong! The farmers market here is a cornucopia of dedicated and like minded people. While some are more traditional in their offerings (peaches, tomatoes, radishes), others have given us the opportunity to get completely different things than in South Carolina. Micro greens galore, wild garlic, chive flowers and French grey shallots to name a few.

 

It is pure pleasure to craft a weekend around the produce I get early on Saturday morning. I may have a few ideas in mind but once I get to the market, I just let myself be inspired by the produce I see. We have quite a few artisans around bringing the extra supplies I need, like fresh baked breads and fresh cheese. My friend Ana, who works as food stylist in Birmingham also owns a sheep dairy farm, Dayspring Dairy, and makes the best haloumi type cheese (as seen in my previous post), a gouda type cheese called Ewtopia and a lovely fresh cheese speckled with pimento which I love to spread on toast in the morning or incorporate in dishes such as Tomato Tart.

 

Right now, it’s all about tomatoes, peaches, strawberries, radishes and peas. We can’t get enough. Well, I am severely allergic to peas but that does not stop me from making Bill a favorite salad of his. A simple combination of fresh easter egg radishes, peas and radish microgreens, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a drizzle of pungent olive oil. Lunches and dinner at the house right now often look something like this. A tart or tartine and a big salad. Making the best out of Alabama produce. It’s not difficult. And it helps feeling a little bit more grounded.

 

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I am so excited to announce this workshop! After the success of
our sold out workshop in Atlanta last year, I am teaming up with food
stylist Tami Hardeman and prop
stylist Mindi Shapiro again for an awesome workshop in Atlanta Georgia, June 7th – June 8th. (Read more about the
instructors here)

Have
you ever wished you had someone take you through selecting the best camera
angle, lens, light for your shots? How to use natural available light to create
your own food narrative?

Have
you ever wondered how on earth you would style that big bowl of stew to make it
as appetizing as the perfect slice of cake standing next to it?

Have
you ever wondered how a prop stylist layers and composes a shot to compliment
the food? Where does it all start? The food? The props? The camera angle?

Well…how
about a workshop with three creative minds ready to help?

Yep…

We
all work in this field as our "real everyday" jobs but the need to
come together and teach and create independently from clients fuels us with lots
of energy and passion that we want to pass on to you. 

The
class is targeted to all levels and all three of us will be there to take your
photography, food styling and prop styling to the next level. Gently and
efficiently, we will give you the tools to let you express your creativity with
your styling and photography.

Here
are the details: 

When: June 7^th & 8^th 2014

Where: Atlanta Georgia 

How
many students:
12 

How
much: the
workshop fee is $1250 and includes: 

– meet & greet on Friday June 6^th from 7pm til 9pm,

– 2
days full of instructions with three established professionals,

–
dinner Saturday night (location TBA)

–
lunch, snacks and refreshments for both days (travel costs, transportation and
lodging not included) 

Please go HERE to register. See you soon!

This is probably my favorite picture I shot for Lodge Cast Iron Nation. I kow. It’s corn. Creamed corn. Iconic dish of the US that I did not before I moved to the US and married a Southerner. Such a simple and non pretentious side dish and so easy to mess up. My mother in law makes it from scratch and it is hard to beat but the version in Lodge blew our socks off.

Why is it my favorite picture? Simply because when we shot it, the whole idea of team work and telling a visual story of a recipe came together. The props chosen by the photo stylist Mindi Shapiro were just right and rustic enough to evoke cast iron cooking. The little negative space in the pan and creamy swirl worked by Tami Hardeman, our contributing food stylist is just perfect to show the consistency the creamed corn should have. I blocked and directed the light to be spot on the corn and still have some shadows and rustic feel around. We all did what we were supposed to do and it clicked. I had a huge smile on my face. It just jived.

Hopefully you will feel the same when cooking and reading from the book. I know one reader will… 

Congratulations to Isadora (Izzy) from She Likes Food who has won a copy of the book and a 12-inch square grill pan from Lodge. Please email your snail mail address to helene @ helenedujardin . com.

I don’t often talk about work. Not the work that goes into this blog but the work that sometimes keeps away from it for long period of time. It’s no lack of recipes cooked and photographed though. I photograph cookbooks. That’s my full time job and one I absolutely love. Everyday I photograph recipes that you will hopefully cook and enjoy. Nothing gives me greater joy.

Everyday I get the chance to give a visual voice to words on a manuscript. As Senior Photographer for Oxmoor House publishing, I have the privilege of shooting for brands such as Southern Living, Cooking Light, Sunset, independent authors and big companies such as Lodge Cast Iron. I work closely with a creative team of editors and designers and spend my days on set with super talented food stylists and prop stylists. Our passion for food and photography unites us everyday over the same goal, to give beauty and visuals beyond the words on a page that you will read later and enjoy in your kitchen.

That’s the best I can describe my full time job. And I love it. When I moved to Birmingham to come work at Oxmoor House, I had no idea of what was ahead of me, the connections I would make with like minded people in the industry and all the beautiful cookbooks I would get the chance to work on with our amazing food and prop stylists. We are a tight unit taking our responsibilities to authors and recipes incredibly seriously. With their talents and our ideas, I am able to dive in my own photography freely and geek out, take risks and have a load of fun at the same time.

This past Fall, we worked on an amazing book for Lodge Cast Iron, the well known original American cast iron cookware. And what a blast we had. It’s not easy to shoot things in black skillets let me tell you… but we were given complete creative freedom with just the directive of "make it beautiful, make it Lodge". This iconic brand deserved gorgeous imagery blending its natural rustic look and feel with modern styling and photography techniques and compositions.

 

I loved how we all came together and worked our butts off to make it happen. I was able to work with my dear fried, Tami Hardeman, professional food stylist and the voice behind  Running With Tweezers, who came to spearhead the book with our food stylists. We were all gelling for sure. Some of my favorite shots if my career so far grace the page of this book. I am super proud of the work accomplished by all involved and I hear the company is absolutely thrilled about the results too. Woohoo!

The book, entitled Lodge Cast Iron Nation, came out a couple of weeks ago and is collection of tried and true recipes, family favorites and sophisticated yet attainable restaurant recipes. Some were ones I cook at home regularly such as clafouti or chowder while others were completely new and surprising (and delicious) such as chicken cooked over hay.

 

I am a bit late coming to share it with you (I will post about my trip and workshops to New Zealand soon!) but I am doing so today with a couple of presents…

To celebrate its release, Lodge Cast Iron is giving away a copy of the book as well as a 12-inch cast iron grill pan (I have it and love it to pieces).

To enter: leave a comment on this post between today, Saturday April 5th and Tuesday April 8th (midnight), one entry per person, no anonymous comment please. Super easy… The winner will be drawn at random and announced promptly after. Good luck!

I am leaving you with two tasty recipes that I enjoyed photographing for the book. And eating, let’s face it, we ate really really well on set!!

 

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We had a rough week and an even rougher weekend. Our 17 year old coolie-sheltie got really sick one night and was diagnosed with a terribly fast spreading tumor on his liver. Within two days, it had taken over him almost entirely and we had to say goodbye this past Saturday. We had hoped to spend a quiet weekend nursing him and getting us all ready but after another rough night, he just put his head in my hand Saturday in the wee hours of the morning and I just knew. He was telling me it was ok to let him go. We had had him since we was barely one year old. Within these 16 years with us, we had developed such a strong bond him and me and I just knew. As much as I was trying to fight the inevitable, I knew it was his time.

He has been part of every move, every major decision, every event that marked my adult life. He was there for the joys and the sorrow. He was a tough one. Beside one major gum operation when he was 10, we were blessed with an incredibly resilient dog. Last November, the vet marveled at his blood test. And then, a silently killing tumor brought him down. I could not bare to let him endure pain. He deserved more than that. He deserved we stayed by his side as he was taking his last breath.

Every moment once we came back from the vet was the first without him. A torture. Bill and I spent the weekend reminiscing about Tippy. The fun frisbee catching dog, the "belly rub thief" as we called him, the older days when he was still jumping and running, trying to keep up with our other pup, in spite of his arthritis. He was not one to be defeated. But this thing, attacking about every organ in his body was just too much.

We got angry, we got sad. We hugged on each other and on Bailey, our young lab-pitbull. We texted with friends who had met Tippy and it was so comforting to hear how touched they were by the news. We had 16 incredibly lucky and fulfilling years with him. He made us better as a couple and as individuals. For those without pets, I know it’s a bit hard to comprehend, I get that. I just know that there will be other dogs after him, just as there were others before him, because that’s what I know to do.

Along with comforting words and emails, I cooked a lot of comforting meals. Chicken with harissa and chickpeas, makeshift Pho, green fish curry and I made again the Poached Pears with Creme Fraiche and Sumac I had just made the weekend before.

Very few things say comfort, calming and peace than the smell of pears poaching on the stove with a bit of honey and vanilla bean. I wanted to add a citrusy tart note without adding more lemon so the idea came to my mind to sprinkle a little sumac of the creme fraiche accompanying the pears. I was right, it was just the exact touch to elevate this dessert. Sumac has a flavor note that I can only compare to what pomegranate seeds, dried and powdered would add to a dish. A little tart, a little floral and yet, it is a spice of its own.

We sat in silence at first, the soft pears giving away under our spoons, the hint of sumac and tart creme fraiche following. In between bites, we slowly took turns remembering our years with Tippy, all of our married life so far, all the runs, trips, all the things he chewed up, his love of sleeping in the middle of our shoes. We mended our broken hearts for a brief moment with a few chuckles and lots of laughs.

This dessert was definitely good for the soul.

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