London: Seeing stars

Joe Routon is a longtime contributor to my Budget Travel, and we've spotlighted his images on our site and on the cover of Budget Travel's June 2009 issue. We recently noticed he often takes sharp images of his food, so we asked him for some insights. What prompts you to take a photo of your meal? Anytime I go to a special restaurant or go on a trip abroad, I photograph my food. It's fun, and it provides a visual record that will help me remember how much I enjoyed the meal. I love food and I love photography—combining the two is a great joy. Probably my favorite image is "Mexican Dessert" [shown, above] which shows a dish of mango ice cream topped with fresh strawberries. I took the photo for a friend who had just opened a restaurant, Tortilla Press in Collingswood, N.J. He needed pictures of several dishes. In return, I got to eat the food. Any advice to others on photographing food in a restaurant setting? Most professional food photographers use lights, but I prefer to use natural light, sometimes with a reflector disk or two. I select a table near the window and, with my camera on a tripod, take many photos of each dish, rotating the plate and shooting it from different levels, high and low, and different angles. I also vary the aperture setting to try different depths of field. It's important to work quickly—food tends to "wilt" after a few minutes. For that reason, I'll set up the shot with a "stand-in," a piece of fruit or a crumpled bag; so, when the food is placed in front of me, I'm ready to start shooting immediately. Do you have any professional experience that trained you for food photography? I'm a portrait painter by profession. After studying music in college I went to seminary to get the master of sacred music degree, after which I served as an organist/choir director in a Methodist church in Tennessee for 10 years. With my wife (also an organist) and three small children, I moved north to study portrait painting in N.Y.C. at the Art Students League and at the National Academy of Design. I worked as a newspaper photographer to help pay my way through art school. After a few years, my wife and I moved south to Haddonfield, N.J. The publisher of The Haddonfield Times asked if I would be the paper's restaurant reviewer/critic, so I did that for a year, just for fun. I quit after I started gaining weight. It was a real ego trip to go into a fine restaurant and see my review framed and hanging on the wall or taped to the front window. Has your painting influenced the way you take photographs of food in any way? When I paint, I prefer natural light, so that's a carryover. It's much easier for me to get natural colors with natural light. Composition is extremely important, whether painting portraits or photographing food, and a little knowledge of color helps. I'm careful about arranging colors that complement each other, and I try to avoid photographing food on orange or blue plates. I prefer simple white dishes. CALLING ALL READERS Give Us Your Best Food Shots! We're now looking for your photos of the tastiest meals you've eaten while traveling. The best will be featured in an upcoming article in Budget Travel. Tag your photo "food and drink" to make sure other my Budget Travel members can see and rate it. UPLOAD NOW

Grab a picnic blanket and lie back in the grass to enjoy a wide selection of tunes at these outdoor music events. The annual outdoor Sunday afternoon concert series at Stern Grove features a range of jazz, symphony, opera, pop, and world music. The grove is a natural amphitheater, with redwood and eucalyptus trees, that offers great sound quality in a woodsy setting. Save the dates for the SF Symphony (July 11), Caravan Palace (July 18), Rickie Lee Jones (August 1), and Maceo Parker (August 15). Picnic tables are available by online raffle. Otherwise just show up with your own picnic gear. Sundays at 2 p.m., June 20-August 22, Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Ave. and Sloat Blvd. Curious about the indie music scene in San Francisco? Then head down to the Mission Creek Festival's free show at McLaren Park in the Outer Mission. The lineup includes locals like psych-rock band The Fresh & Onlys, all girl pop-punk group Grass Widow, and the New Wave sounds of Brian Glaze and the Night Shift. The concert is part of the annual Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival, which hosts live music and documentary films across the city. Festival July 9-11 in Oakland, July 14-18 in San Francisco, outdoor concert July 17th at McLaren Park. Yerba Buena Center's grassy lawns and sculptural waterfall provide a welcome respite in downtown. It's also the setting for a summer time concert series. July highlights include the Jewish Music Festival (July 11) and the Merola Opera (July 25, 2 p.m.). Concerts are held on weekends and at lunchtime on Thursdays. Between Mission, Folsom, Third and Fourth Sts. The San Francisco Symphony heads to Dolores Park in the sunny Mission District for an afternoon concert that pays homage to Mexico's Bicentenial. The symphony will play Márquez's Danzón No. 2, Chávez's Symphony No. 2, Sinfonia India, Rosas's Sobre las Olas, Moncayo's Huapango, and Dvorák's Symphony No. 9, New World. Get there early: the park is a favorite among local hipsters and gets jam-packed, especially on summer weekends. Sunday, July 25, 2 p.m., Dolores Park, between Dolores and Church Sts., and between 18th and 20th Sts.

To tour the 23 square miles of Manhattan, you can roam by bus, pedicab, horse-drawn carriage…trust me, the list goes on. But have you ever considered going on a "photo safari" of the city? It's essentially a walking tour led by a pro photographer, who helps you capture the most compelling shots possible. There are two types of photo safaris: Either the photographer takes pictures of you and your friends at landmarks around the city, or the expert teaches you how to shoot memorable photos. In other words, the tours differ mainly in who is behind the lens: you or the tour guide. Here are some tours to consider: Allan Einhorn, a native New Yorker, runs Photo Walking Tours of NYC. Choose the neighborhood(s) you photograph, and you'll get about two or three hours to explore. Popular sites include Chinatown, Little Italy, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, and the South Street Seaport. Einhorn's tours can include up to six travelers, and all he asks is that you have "a reasonable understanding" of how your camera works before you tour with him. He also provides you with a written handout of "12 Tips for Taking Better Photographs" to aid you on your photo shoot. Fees run you around $75 to $120 for the first two photographers-in-training, and an extra $15 to $25 for each additional traveler. If you own an SLR, bring it along to make the lessons that much more in-depth. But don't be discouraged if your camera is a bit more simplistic. If you don't own a fancy pants camera, a point-and-shoot will do you just fine (phototoursnyc.com). Maybe you're not interested in taking your own pictures though. Perhaps you prefer having someone else firing the camera? No worries! PhotoTrek Tours has got you covered. For a two hour tour, PhotoTrek charges $100 a person for groups of three to eight visitors and $125 a person for groups of two (meaning that it would be advantageous to invite some friends along). Keep in mind that additional charges apply to longer-than-usual outings. Add 50 bucks per person if you want the tour to last three hours (phototrektours.com). Similar to Einhorn, a perk of traveling with PhotoTrek is that you decide what's covered. Travelers set their own agenda; or, if they prefer, they can select a tour from a pre-determined list of popular sites to visit. For instance, PhotoTrek's Best of New York list of popular sites covers the following spots, as long as time permits: Times Square and the Theater District, Central Park, Midtown (including Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grand Central Station, and Radio City Music Hall), Uptown and Downtown Manhattan, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Something to remember: Personalized tours like these can sell out quickly during peak season. Sometimes nothing's available for two or three weeks, so reserve a spot as soon as you can to avoid being shut(tered) out. —Max Behrman MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 7 camera settings you need to know How to take picture-perfect photos: A slide show New York: Bicycling made easy New York: The free Times Square walking tour

July highlights include carnivals, boat races, park life, flower shows, and dance fests. The Doggett's and Badge race What is said to be the oldest rowing race in the world takes place on 15th July, when teams scull up the Thames between Chelsea and London Bridges. The race was started in 1715 by Sir Thomas Doggett, and Irish actor and comedian, and it always attracts a lively crowd who pay nothing to watch. Many retire to one of the numerous bankside pubs after the race. watermenshall.org Hayes Carnival The sleepy London suburb of Hayes bursts into life on July 10 with one of the biggest London street carnivals. There are dozens of free events, such as live music performances. The main attraction is the colorful, photo-worthy parade, which starts at 12.30 p.m. on Pump Lane and finishes at Barra Hall Park in Hayes. Trains for Hayes and Harlington leave every few minutes from London Paddington railroad station, taking 15 minutes. hillingdon.gov.uk Big Dance A nine-day celebration of dance in London began on July 3rd, kicking off the first of what will be some 500 different dance events throughout the capital. These are set to take place in theaters, concert halls, pubs, and even in the city's busiest streets. Trafalgar square, right in the heart of London and near the Houses of Parliament, will close to traffic on July 10, when 10,000 dancers gather here for a free festival. And many of the biggest dance companies in the city, including East London Dance, the English National Ballet, the Greenwich Dance Agency, Sadler's Wells, and Siobhan Davies Dance will be taking part. See visitlondon.com for info. Love Parks week London is arguably the best city in Europe for park life; with hundreds of parks, half a dozen of which are larger than New York's Central Park. The last week of July (from the 24th) witnesses literally hundreds of free outdoor family events in almost all of the city's parks—from magic shows for children to live music events and bush craft workshops. loveparksweek.org.uk Hampton Court Flower show The world's largest annual flower show takes place in the gardens of King Henry VIII's former palace July 6–10. This year is the Twentieth Anniversary show. And it promises to be the most lavishly florid to date. Learn how to make stunning floral displays at one of several workshops, and grab a bite to eat at one of dozens of makeshift restaurants. (I recommend an amuse-bouche and Pimm's.) Tickets cost from $21. rhs.org.uk