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Small Plates at Arlo Jesmond
Newcastle Bar Interiors and Food Photography
Small Plates and Big Drinks!
This summer Arlo of Jesmond launched it’s yummy new small plate menu served from 6pm along with a diverse range of delicious cocktails, artisan gins and local craft ales to accompany a brand new refurbishment.
Newcastle people who are Arlo regulars are likely to know the dynamic, warm and truly lovely owners, Lucus and Susan. I met the family around 7 or 8 years ago capturing family portraits of their children at a pop up studio of mine in Gosforth.
We have stayed in touch ever since and a short while after their family shoot they launched Arlo on Brentwood Avenue, West Jesmond. It’s been a fantastic success as a perfect stop off for school running parents in need of coffee, students after a brunch to cure the mother of hangovers and oldies like me loving all things easy and local, live music and great food.
I am always flattered when they bring me on board for their food and drink photography, asking me to capture new menus, staff portraits, themed evening events and interior design for their website and marketing as they expand and grow. I love feeling part of their dynamic team.
A highlight for me was scoffing cake and coffee one morning and spotting my interior photos on posters in their windows. This was illustration photography of Lucus’ story telling nicknacks that adorn Arlo’s walls and shelves. So this summer when they announced their refurb and the wonderful new bar installation I was thrilled to be there at the launch party.
The new look and feel is consistent with their well established brand being a cosy, friendly and inviting atmosphere. Materials throughout are natural and inviting much like the food. The rich conker coloured leather upholstery, textured solid wood bar and the soft glowing lights on the metalwork are the perfect Autumnal setting for a sophisticated tasty small plate.
The food is so fresh it’s absolutely the energy of the place with breakfast, daytime and then an evening menu of small plates designed to eat at the bar with a colourful tipple alongside. I photographed a selection which I sampled afterwards (obviously) so I can vouch they taste as great as they look.
The Japanese Salmon Gravlax is delicate and generous slices of sake wasabi cured salmon with wasabi mayo, torarashi spice and pickled cucumber to make your mouth zing and tingle.
JAPANESE SALMON GRAVLAX
sake wasabi cured salmon + wasabi mayo + torarashi spice + pickled cucumber
The Mini Poke Bowl, its roots in native Hawaiian cuisine boasts a beautifully seared piece of tuna sitting on an interesting and diverse eastern base of matcha rice, edamame, avocado, wakame, tofu and a pink grapefruit dressing to boot.
MINI POKE BOWL
seared tuna + matcha rice + edamame + avocado + pickled cucumber + wakame + tofu + pink grapefruit dressing
And for the veggies there is the most yumtastic Buratta. This is a fresh Italian cow or buffalo milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella, while the inside contains stracciatella and cream, giving it a gorgeous melt in the mouth, soft texture. I’d mistakenly thought it a poached egg, but it’s way more sophisticated than that.
BURATTA
Italian burrata + tomato salad + fennel seed + peach dressing + toasted sourdough
The full menu can be found on their website here
Of course the food is great but so are the drinks, equally as colourful as the food and well worth sampling. The cocktail menu is creative and interesting and the gins on offer include two North East made, poetic Licence Picnic Gin from Sunderland and Hepple Gin from Northumberland.
The bar staff are skilled and will whip you up cocktail with a smile, the three potions I photographed were Elderflower Spritz, Arlo Summer Breeze and Espresso Martini. There are also great ales with Camden Hells, Sierra Nevada and lovely local Tyneside Blonde.
How fantastic to see local food made with local ingredients served with locally brewed specialist drinks and all shot by a local photographer of course! Arlo is a wonderful place to eat in Newcastle bringing a buzzing food and drink community together making many of us feel so proud to live and work here. A big bravo to the North East and well done to Arlo!
Arlo Summer Breeze (Strawberry, Elderflower, Rhubarb & ginger gin)
Elderflower Spritz (Elderfower, Prosecco, Soda)
Espresso Martini (Vodka, Kahlua, Espresso)
BBC Music Day’s Dementia Initiative
Musical Memories
Today, 26th September the BBC celebrates it’s official Music Day 2019. A large part of this event is the BBC’s Music & Dementia Initiative which highlights the benefit and importance of music to those who are living with Dementia. There are pop up concerts in village halls, sing alongs at charities and and even raves in care homes!
There are over 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this is set to rise to over one million by 2021. Mostly the over 65’s are affected but it can also hit us earlier. This initiative boasts over 800 music events held today by collaborating organisations across the country raising awareness whilst having lots of fun.
The BBC recently launched Nile Rogers as the ambassador of this initiative as the subject is close to his heart having a mother and Aunt who suffer from dementia. His mother has had Alzheimers for over 13 years but can sing faultlessly along to old songs from her past. He talks of an ‘internalised’ memory of music, so embedded that tunes and words to songs never leave us.
The joy that this can bring to those who suffer from anxiety and other stress related symptoms of dementia is becoming strongly recognised and increasingly promoted by charities and support groups nationwide.
I began working with a local charity Chrysalis Tynedale, during a rebrand and renaming of Chrysalis Club this summer by local agency Design Engine. Heather from DE got in touch having worked together on similar local projects and knew my documentary photography style would fit her client’s brief perfectly.
It has been one of the most rewarding projects I have worked on, feeling part of a team and seeing the positive effects that Chrysalis brings to those with dementia, their families and carers. This friendly and fun club based in Hexham works hard to deliver twice weekly workshops with enjoyable themes such as gardening, art, sports and music. The first workshop I photographed was a music workshop taken by local drummer Simon Wood. The images below are a small selection I captured at this event with permission from those involved.
Simon created a drum circle with the group following simple rhythms with shakers and hand drums then played familiar songs on the hang drums (which look like a bbq and sound like a harp!) which brought big smiles and happiness to the group. This was a documentary photographers dream, smiles, energy, movement, concentration and expression at its best!
Simon then rounded off with the most magical version of Faithless’ Insomnia, resulting in such an electric and euphoric atmosphere many of the regulars got out of their seats and danced aided by sticks and volunteers. The music seemed to soothe any confusion or trouble and it felt joyous. It was such a fantastic moment I had to hide my watery eyes behind the camera.
Hurrah for charities that bring such relief from the of difficulties dementia and how fantastic that the BBC has the power to bring this to peoples attention and with an ambassador as high profile and delightful as Nile Rogers on their BBC Music Day 2019.
For more BBC info visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/CNd36D4NJfvSq36jNtYWJd/music-dementia
If you like my style and have time to browse more of my event photography please go to https://www.sarahdeanephotography.co.uk/commercial/events-and-editorial/
Simon is for hire for events and workshops and is totes amazeballs. His details are at https://www.simonwoodmusic.com
Design Engine are superb graphic designers and branding experts at http://www.thedesignengine.co.uk/index.html
and the shiny new Chrysalis website is coming soon on https://www.chrysalis-tynedale.org.uk
The Importance of Professional Profiles
People Photography is my passion! And to squeeze a few more ‘P’s into this for no Particular reason, Professional Portraits are a must when Promoting (six P’s and counting!) yourself on line in a Photo.
It is a given now that if you are self employed with a website for your business, there will be a section about you, with a photo. Equally ‘Meet the Team’ pages are commonplace on company websites and maybe you appear there. Or maybe you, your face or personality is your brand so your image and portrait photography is essential. It can appear disappointing if there is no visual of who you are on your About page, leaving the viewer to question ‘why not?’ and ask ‘but what do they look like?’ these days people expect to meet you, the virtual you, online in a photo often before meeting the actual you, in the flesh.
So with all this in mind a well executed photo, nicely lit by the photographer and looking relaxed and natural yet well presented and professional is what you need! The top priority for me as a profile photographer is to create a set of top notch images that show a little personality (or a lot if you fancy!), approachability and professionalism. I offer an enjoyable experience for my clients as I work as my studio is centrally located in Newcastle near the Central Station, cool and comfy and I guide my clients smoothly through the process with a warmth that will help you relax. That’s what my clients say too (hear it from them and read my google reviews)!
My goal for every shoot is to hear ‘ooh that’s nice, I like that shot of me’ and despite having many reluctant visitors to my studio as few like their picture being taken, the results are as you see below, relaxed natural and perfect for LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and websites. Dr Chaudhry came to my studio this month as he needed some images for his social networking, speaking at conferences and his new website under construction and was happy for me to share his favourites. He opted for my Headshot Package for £100, half hour session and 5 images supplied high quality with optional photo-shopping. These five below were the Dr’s choices and they demonstrate nicely what I can achieve for you in a simple and painless 30 minutes. So if you fancy a refresh do please get in touch for more info on 07960 338357 or sarah@sarahdeanephotography.co.uk and I promise you will wonder why you didn’t do it sooner!
For more imagery and lovely faces please visit this gallery on my website https://www.sarahdeanephotography.co.uk/professional-portraiture/studio-headshots/
Frenchie Kisses
French Bulldog Portraits
So I was going to write a big blurb about this… but you know I think sometimes pictures speak for themselves. I am portrait photographer and I have a cute puppy! It’s a match made in heaven.
Her name is Blue (Bell) or also known as Batpig, Baby Rhino and my husband’s fave in light of her vast quantities of toxic wind and toilet time; Poopitino Pumpatron. He helped with my shoot, squeaked the toys and wore some pretty sweet trainers- on brand no less. She is a soppy and smoochy French Bulldog and loves the camera… so I just had to share her shots.
I have added some of her dog portraits my to Pets galleries page too so if you are crazy about Frenchies, like a poochy pet photo or want to see more of my studio’s work please go to my studio gallery on this furry link;
Dog Portraits:
