It’s no secret that I’ve had a long love affair with Japan.  Their culture, point of view, food and sense of tradition is something I have great respect for.  On my first trip to Japan three years, I discovered the photography of Daido Moriyama and Rinko Kawauchi, two Japanese photographers who are known for being very influential on 20th century photography. Today, I got an email from one of my favorite galleries in Portland, Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, introducing me to the work of Issei Suda, another Japanese photographer.  I find his work both subtle and incredibly evocative yet unlike anything I’ve seen before.  He is represented exclusively in the US by Charles A. Hartman Fine Art.  Spend some time on the gallery’s site exploring his work.

Ok.  This is kind of brilliant.  While there have been a number of brands that have launched heritage collections, I’ve found a lot of them uninspiring and pretty forced.  However, Cole Rood & Haan, a footwear collection inspired by Cole Haan’s 1920′s Chicago roots and taken directly from the historic archives, proves different. They have managed to update some vintage designs with modern touches and great leathers.   Not only do the shoes look great but I love the way they have chosen to market and brand the collection.

The marketing campaign highlights an entrepreneurial lifestyle.  They made the very wise decision to hire Todd Selby aka The Selby to shoot the campaign, which features entrepreneurs in NYC who run businesses that take old things and make them new again in a fresh and innovative way.  The shoot takes place at four places: The Smile- a Cafe and Mixed-Use Concept Store, Jack’s Coffee-the inventor of the “stir brew technique,” Maryam Nassir Zadeh, an amazing boutique carrying things that are both new and old and Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons, an edgy, beautifully crafted jewelry line.  By using real people in real life situations the whole line just feels more authentic.  These are shoes you want to wear on your way to the studio for a day of brainstorming and bags you want to cram full with a notebook, pens, magazines and bits of inspiration you find on the street.  You can see the full shoot here.

Fashion designer Hedi Slimane has long been admired for his work at Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, which is no doubt gorgeous. However, it’s his photography that really stops me in my tracks. Spend a moment day exploring his photo diary.

While searching for a cake recipe for a recent dinner party, I came across Smitten Kitchen.  A blog that deliciously documents a woman’s mission to create simple, unpretentious comfort food in her 42 square foot nyc kitchen.  Her recipes are straightforward and the photography on her site  is bold and beautiful.  I’ve been eyeing her arugula, potato and green bean salad and her lemony zucchini goat cheese pizza.  Sounds like a perfect summer dinner on a hot day like today.

My dear friend Bryn over at paper tastebuds did a lovely post about Diana Yen and Lisel Arroyo, the masterminds behind The Jewels of NY, a blog that beautifully intersects their talents in cooking, photography, design and just overall gorgeousness.  Included with the photographs are recipes for those who want to try and create their magic.  Here you can find the recipe for the Chocolate Pots de Crème with Rosemary Whipped Cream pictured above  and below is the recipe for the beautiful Flatbread.  Enjoy!

Caramelized Fennel and Tomato Flatbread
Serves 2

1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup for kneading dough
1 large egg
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 to 4 campari tomatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 of a fennel bulb, sliced, reserve about 1/4 cup fennel fronds
2 cloves of garlic, mashed into paste
1/4 cup fontina cheese, grated
1 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of half a lemon
fleur de sel to serve

In a small bowl stir together yeast and warm water, let stand for about 5 minutes.

Beat together egg, 1 tablespoon of oil and salt, set aside. In a medium bowl, add in 1 1/2 cups of flour and create a well in the center of the flour. Add yeast mixture into the well then add the egg mixture. Using a fork or your hands combine mixture until dough forms. Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead until stickiness is gone and feels smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary. Add 1 tablespoon of oil into a bowl, place dough in oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

In a large skillet over moderate heat melt butter then add in the fennel, salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir occasionally until tender and golden, about 15-20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°F

On a floured surface, knead the dough and roll out to a 1/4 inch thickness. Roll the dough loosely around the rolling pin and unroll it over a 19-by 10-inch rectangle cast iron skillet. Brush dough with remaining olive oil then evenly distribute garlic paste, cheese, caramelized fennel, tomatoes, lemon zest, lemon juice and fennel fronds. Bake flatbread for 35 minutes until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and serve warm.

We’ll be heading up to Saratoga Springs on April 30th for the opening of Plugged, a group show at The Schick Gallery.  The show is an alumni invitational at Skidmore College, where Dan and I both graduated from that features new media and photography by Dan Eckstein, Simon Biswas, Carlson Bull, Adam Daily, Zach Gage, Patrica Search, Adrian Winter.

Schick Art Gallery
Saisselin Art Building
2nd Floor
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY
12866

The show runs until June 20th.

The fine folks at Humble Arts Foundation have recently published The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography, which features one of Dan’s images.  “The Collector’s Guide is an invite only, unique 180–page source book distributed to collectors, art dealers, gallery directors, photo editors, museum professionals, and independent curators. Published biennially, The Collector’s Guide aims to further Humble’s mission by bridging the gap between ambitious early-career photographers and often-unapproachable photography professionals and art institutions.”

We were lucky enough to score two copies of it at this year’s  and they are beautifully designed and contain some amazing photographers including Timothy Briner, Brian Berman and Carlo Van de Roer.

You can pick up a copy here.