A picture is worth a thousand words it is said so here is the a picture Jon Sturge took of the picture that got featured on the cover of this month’s Wine Spectator.
Bottom Left is our shot..we got bar coded
Now here are some words from the man behind the Lens who took this great shot, Jon Sturge.
Coming from the rural comforts of the Cromwell Farm just a few hours earlier, Greg, Alison, Kaleigh, and I touched down at 66 Hunter Street in Sydney to photograph (and sample) some the most beautiful food Australia has to offer. Rockpool chef Neil Perry has earned a reputation for his selective taste, and the location for ‘Bar and Grill’ seemed to be no exception, as it is nestled in the Art Deco commercial chamber of an 1930’s skyscraper. Mr. Perry has been quoted on saying that “the cornerstone of good cooking is to source the finest produce.” I quickly learned that the same philosophy can be applied to the people you choose to run your restaurant, as we were welcomed by true professionals of the culinary world. One of these people is Rockpool Bar and Grill’s sommelier, Sophie Otton, and it was part of our assignment to shoot a portrait of her.
Admittedly, I was a little intimidated. Sophie is a busy lady, and we had a very slim window of time to steal her for a photo. Greg and I decided that it would be interesting to shoot her in the building’s insurance vault turned wine cellar, which was strictly temperature controlled and accessible only by a finger print scan. Not the type of cellar where you store turnips and flats of club soda. At that time I learned the value of having good people on your side for photo jobs. As it was, my flashes weren’t firing, batteries were running out, and if it weren’t for the coolness of the cellar, I would have appeared sweaty and flustered. I have to hand it to Greg, as he can smooth out stressful situations as easily as most people can panic in them. Within seconds, the air of technical doom was lifted by Greg and Sophie’s discussions of all things wine and business. This bought me the time I needed to get the shot and leave the cellar before it heated up, and before Greg decided to purchase a bottle. A year later the portrait was selected for the cover of ‘Wine Spectator’, and I owe much of the credit to Greg’s ability to manage a project in an instinctively casual and professional way. A big thanks to Sarah Swan for being so hospitable and for making Rockpool the well-oiled machine that it is.
In other Rockpool news we are in the final stages of some more wordpress development and a few new additions to their site.
Tags: Jon Sturge, Rockpool, Wine Spectator
