Being a food photographer is often a passport to amazing and sometimes best kept culinary secrets in NH. One such amazing place, I’ve been lucky enough to discover, is a small bakery in Amherst, N.H., The Dutch Epicure. It is tucked away in the Route 101-A plaza in Amherst, right next to the AE Coffee Roasters shop where I have fallen in love with their espresso drinks. From time to time I explore new bakeries, restaurants, and coffee shops looking for unique and specific items when I’m shooting creative food photos for my personal portfolio. From the moment I stepped inside, I knew that The Dutch Epicure would be a bakery that would provide some outstanding “models” for my latest food photo portfolio shoot.
The Dutch Epicure feels like an old French bistro or bakery, with its wide selection of pastries, breads, and gourmet cheeses. After speaking with an very helpful counter person, I decided on one cake, a few select macaroons, and a delicious loaf of fresh baked crusty bread.
Now mind you, when I go on these “shopping trips”, I am mainly looking for something that is more visually stunning than something I believe will taste great. Because in the end, the purpose is to get great photos, not really about “eating the model”. But on this particular occasion, I was leaning more towards tasting good when I saw the cake I eventually chose for the 
shoot. I’ve never seen a presentation like that before, with the piled high dark chocolate curls, and the ring of lady fingers, tied in a bow. The cake had such incredible texture and personality to it, it really came alive in the food photos, and was just the “model” I was looking for to start to add some depth and breadth to my portfolio.
I’ve defiantly fallen in love with The Dutch Epicure, their incredible pastries, breads, cheeses, and their wonderful helpful staff. Hopefully I can look forward to getting the opportunity to work with their cakes and pastries more in the future.
