TIM CLINCH photography

MADRID

My favourite city and former home. Spent a few days there last week shooting a poster for a well known supermarket. I was flown over, accompanied by fab stylist Fanny Ward and four suitcases full of props to shoot two steaks on a plate!

Had a couple of great tapas crawls with Fanny and my great friend and Spanish agent Freddy (owner and ‘jefe’ of the best hire studios in Spain, if not the world! www.daylightstudios.com)

Fanny had never been to Madrid before, and she was subjected to my ‘grand tour’ (I’m GOOD in Madrid!). These pics are from a couple of my favourite bars. El Abuelo, which sells the best prawns in the universe, and la Trucha, just off Plaza Santa Ana, where the beautiful statue of Lorca is.

Come to Madrid with me…I’ll show you ALL a good time!

MUSINGS ON 2011

‘Never grumble on your blog. Other people don’t want to know you’re miserable’ was what my friend Kate once told me.

Ok, I won’t, but I WILL say that I am extremely glad to see the back of 2011. It’s been a bloody awful year for many reasons.

2012 promises to bring some major changes for me and I’m feeling very excited. Keep checking in. You’ll see!

Amongst all the crap, there have been some good times and great trips. The village of Mad in Hungary (home to the Royal Tokai vineyards) pretty much sums up how I feel about the last 12 months.

Here are a few pictures of some of the people and places that have made it all worthwhile…

I drank some wonderful coffee, ate some wonderful cakes and had some wonderful Tokai wines in the cafés of Budapest.

Bought horseradish and walnuts from the babushkas of Western Ukraine.

Kept smiling through the pouring rain on the West coast of Scotland.

Photographed three Kates (from left to right-Fletcher, McDermott & Hill) and ate lots and lots of pies in Gascony.

Picked lots of cherries, had some wonderful laughs and drank FAR too much rosé with my chum Kate Hill (thanks for everything this year Kate, you’re a true friend)

Stood on steps, chairs and tables in several countries to photograph all manner of fruit and veg…

Finished ‘The Buenvino Cook Book’

with Sam & Jeannie Chesterton, who I adore!

Had several really great food photography workshops, including this one with the gorgeous (and completely bonkers!) Thomasina Miers

Realised that I’ll never get to own that swanky studio I dream about, as this picture of me shooting in the drizzle at the back of the butchers shop at the Welbeck Farm Shop demonstrates!

and last, but by no means least, I was one of the exhibitors at the Food Photo Festival in Tarragona. Many thanks to Gunter Beer and everyone else involved.

And a huge ‘thank you’ to all the friends, clients and everyone else who contributed to all the good bits of 2011, ESPECIALLY to my wonderful girlfriend who, despite it all, still seems to be putting up with me! I love you…

NOT ‘BAH HUMBUG’

I love Christmas, and would just like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you all my best wishes for the festive season!

Cheers! xxx

SHOOTING IN ENGLAND

A strange couple of days…today I was doing a few more pictures for the ‘Edible Gifts’ book I shot in the summer with the lovely Jane Lyster. The publishers loved what we’d done so much, they asked us to shoot some more stuff to make a bigger and better book. Funnily enough, they decided they didn’t have enough money left in the budget to pay us properly, but don’t get me started on THAT one!

Anyway, what a beautiful day it was! Cold, sunny, blue skies…perfick! As opposed to yesterday, when I was shooting some interiors in Sussex. Unbelievable day! Pitch dark at mid-day and 100mph winds! I knew we were in trouble when a tree outside the house blew over at exactly the point when my client said to me ‘Could you make it look a bit more summery?’…For heavens sake…why not book me in June!