As I tweeted the other day,

Overheard myself at dinner at Italian resto: “if I wanted a bloody PINOT GRIGIO I would get myself a fake tan and head to Carluccio’s”

— matsmithphotog (@matsmithphotog) July 30, 2013

Anyway wine prejudices aside, I am a huge fan of this man. The first time I tasted his amazing Penne Giardiniera in Ealing I was bowled over, then so glad many years later when the recipe was published and I could make it in my own home. What a recipe.

Anyway, I took a portrait of the great chef in his deli restaurant in Chiswick last year, and realised I never blogged the photo.

I rarely shoot just with natural light, so this was a bit of a stylistic departure for me, but I hope you like it. The shot is lit from the front of the shop, hence the striking (unbalanced?) white balance of the subject vs. the backdrop.