So here’s the ‘little’ video I shot while at Cupcake Camp. Enjoy!,

You would think that we would be sick of this cupcake fad already. The trend started a few years ago when boutique bakeries in Manhattan and LA started selling (and viciously competing) gourmet cupcakes. The gals from Sex & the City took several bites – the rest is history. The trend took a while to hit Toronto, but it did and had similar effects. Lately though it seems that maybe we got sick of these sugary treats? Or did we? Over 350 strong turned out yesterday to prove that cupcakes do make the world go round. Jump for pics, and….Video!… Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been meaning for a while to put up these photos. I had a great time taking them.  Street photography will always be one of my favourite aspects of the medium and its always something I fall back to connect with my surroundings, practice, or experiment. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m having one of those days, where I have the entire day to myself, but I can’t force myself to go outside to take photos because of the frigid cold. The furthest I got was Front street near the st Lawrence market where I snapped this. I quickly grabbed a coffee and ran back in, couldn’t take anymore.

One of the really cool things about being on a social video network like Vimeo, means that not only will you stumble upon some really amazing vids, but also creative collaborations such as the 5×5 vignette project. The concept is to closely stitch 5 short clips to create a visual video haiku of sorts. What a brilliant concept!.

I was watching the raps play on Friday, and tested out the new cam quite a bit. Here’s a vignette from some of the clips.

Halloween can easily be my favourite ‘event’ of the year in the city. Why? Because it’s easily the most social, colourful, scary, and engaging event. A photographer’s dream, a street photographer’s dream even. For one night, you see a dramatic shift, almost everyone dresses up, roaming the streets all night with plenty of parties to crash. Everyone loves to have their pictures taken!… Read the rest of this entry »

Someone asked me late last year what I thought the food trend would be for 2008. You know, besides this whole Pinkberry fresh yogurt thing, and the rise of upscale Indian cuisine. I responded “rustic Italian”. The word ‘cucina’ is going to be everywhere. New restaurants are going to popup and try to serve simple mixtures that reflect Campania, Nazio, Marche, Tuscany and Sicily. I’ll bet money on it, and I blame Mario Batali for it. Blame Mario – in a good way. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a reason for absence. I think has a lot to do with my recent trip to LA, and the fact that we’ve all had enough of the weather here in Toronto. Snowfall after snowfall was fine, because that’s what winter is all about. March was temperamental, but we all clutched on to our snowboots and umbrellas hoping that the sun was just around the corner.

April came, and so did the sun but only momentarily. Weathermen scratched their heads as temperatures see-saw’d daily. As of now it’s supposed to be 13 degrees outside. It was 18 degrees yesterday. Good news? Well It’s supposed to snow next week, light flurries. How do you stay positive when the most influential element around you is full of grey skies and cold winds.

The weather in LA was fantastic, I couldn’t spot a single cloud the entire time and barely wore anything but a t-shirt.

It’s hard to describe the kind of empowering feeling good weather has on you. It refreshes mind,spirt,soul,drive. You want to wake up early in the morning because you look forward to going outside. When you’re a photographer, you want to wake up extra early because you can’t stop thinking about possible photography opportunities.

I find that I’ve barely had a reason to use my camera the last few months, when in Toronto. Unless I was cooking or was on contract or at dinner, the Canons sat quietly collecting dust at home. But in LA, I didn’t leave the hotel, or the car without it in my hand.

I’ve been living in Toronto for almost 20 years, but I am a child of the sun. I wasn’ t born here and up until moving to Canada I had lived in some of the hottest climates of the world. That’s what I want, ultimately. Shooting weddings and being in LA and Mexico has probably spoiled me, plus there’s always ‘re-adjusting’, so this time it’s just taking longer.

I’ve been getting a lot of emails from friends who’d like to see more photos and musings from my recent trips. So I’ve decided to dedicate an entire week to my LA escapades. Hope you like it,

Right now, I’m craving bread. Maybe it’s because I had a lackluster bagel this morning on the way to work, or the fact that I managed to skip the entire weekend without any. That’s unusual because something from the market always ends up on my kitchen counter. Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto is going overboard with this cupcake obsession. LA might have rejuvenated our obsession with mini cakes a few years ago (New York then followed, with the celebrity status Magnolia Bakery) but we’re taking it to the next level. A new store is opening literally every month, with fresh new faces taking new approaches to the classic treat. The obsession reached a peak last year as we saw these sweet treats everywhere from fashion show parties to the schools. So naturally, at Spotlight we profiled the obsession. We spoke about 7 places in the city where you can get cupcakes and how each one was different. The readers loved it, mail poured in like a flood.

That was last year, but only a few months ago. Since then, a half a dozen new stores have sprung up. This is during the winter too, imagine that. The Cupcake Shoppe on Yonge and Eglinton is no longer king as many have come to claim the throne of Cupcakeland.

So we’re back on the road. It’s a tough process you know — driving to all these fine little boutiques — mostly run by aspiring pastry chefs with their daughters and sons running around the kitchen. We’ve started tasting cupcakes from the new breed, and might I say we’re impressed! The obsession has climbed to a whole new level with….well, I can’t spoil it just yet. Our fingers are still sticky, face full of crumbs, sweet frosting between our teeth. The cameras haven’t stopped rolling, the opinions are still coming in.

Part 2 of the Cupcake Diaries in the near future.