Higashi Japanese Restaurant, Leichhardt -- or -- The Glitch

I found a restaurant that almost doesn't exist on the internet. No website. No facebook. Urbanspoon has a few reviews (and 100% approval rating), but no menu, and fake contact details.

How weird is that?

Three Blue Ducks, Bronte -- or -- Dining, religiously

It's not often I can walk into a restaurant, look at the menu, and say "One of everything." And a bottle of wine. But, except for one entree (oysters), that's what I got to do at Three Blue Ducks.

Hartsyard, Newtown -- or -- Noisy neighbours

Hartsyard. There was a buzz about it even before it opened. Perhaps in part because of their own blog on the development phase? Whatever it was, bloggers and print media alike flocked.

Eat.Drink.Blog food photo competition -- or -- A Detective's Dilemma.

I'm entering a food photography competition. It is part of Eat.Drink.Blog, an annual conference for Australian food bloggers.

The entry criteria limits entry to photos that have been used in a blog post published between 1 March and 1 September. Which kind of sucks because I have photos I'd like to use which were published outside of those dates. Oh well.

I've been through my posts for that 6-month period and have a shortlist. But now I have a problem, because my shortlist is seven and I'm only allowed to enter three photos. Which is more of a problem because there are no judging criteria -- at least, none that I can find.

My initial thoughts are:
* they want something striking -- an image that immediately captures your attention
* the photo should be interesting -- try to tell a story or invoke emotion/curiosity.

I have done some digging into the judges to see if that sheds any light on the kind of thing they're after.

"Grant has been a newspaper and magazine photographer for 40 years working around Australia and abroad." His bio is incredible. He knows his stuff. Not much about what he'll be looking for, but his profile photo is artfully shot, and his photography website has arty photos, mostly of people.

"Sky loves working with food stylists and photographers to ensure Sumptuous recipes are not only beautiful to look at but also inspiring to readers." See above re striking, capture attention.

"Sneh Roy is a designer, illustrator, photographer and food stylist from Sydney, Australia." She won last year's competition. I took a quick look at her blog and saw one photo of Billy Law (for an interview), three nicely-styled food photos (two from the same vantage point), and this photo of a chocolate-smeer moustache.


Putting all this together, I figure my best bet is to enter artfully composed photographs including interesting people and well-styled food that inspires readers.

A pity that they're not the kind of photos I take.

So, here is my shortlist (also at Flickr, with descriptions).