This is a photo story that I did for my photojournalism class. The assignment was to find a story and illustrate it with six images. We were only allowed six images to teach us the importance of editing but for this blog I will include several images that I liked but was unable to keep for the story. I will put them at the end and you can see if maybe you think I should have made a different choice. Here is the story.
Russ Kendall, 56, places a pizza in his portable firebrick oven while his son Gus, 9, reads his book, The 39 Clues Unstoppable, in the trailer Sat., May 31, 2014. Kendall is a lifelong lover of Neapolitan-style pizza and built his first wood-fired oven nearly 15 years ago in the backyard of his house in Portland Oregon. Now, he drives a portable oven, built out of mortar and firebrick that is mounted on a custom fit trailer, to various catering events and the weekly farmers market. The business is called Gusto Wood Fired Pizza and is named after a nickname he had for his son, a pizza-loving boy himself, Kendall said.
Kendall walks a finished pizza to the front of his booth at the Bellingham Farmers Market Sat., May 31, 2014. Gusto pizza is best known for its Neapolitan-style pizza that is made with a thin crust and cooked at extremely high temperatures. Community members flock to the Gusto Pizza stand not only to taste the pizza, but also to have a look at the dome-like oven that stands out in the back from other vendors.
Abby Schroff, 19, slowly drips tomato sauce onto a pizza crust during her first day of work Sat., May 31, 2014. Gusto pizza uses an uncooked bright tomato sauce that is composed of pear tomatoes, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste to achieve its rich and authentic flavor, Kendall said. Kendall and his wife make the sauce as well as the dough together, in Ferndale, the Friday before the market at Memorable Events and Catering Kitchen.
Schroff, hustles to keep up with the busy pizza orders as she quickly learns the ways of the business. The pizza making process requires four main stations; the dough roller, the pizza maker, the pizza cutter and server, and the cashier. And of course the pizza cook, but Kendall is the only one who deals with the 800-degree oven that can cook a pizza in 90 seconds. When all stations are working efficiently, pizzas can be made in fewer than 5 minutes from when they were ordered. And when they are really on their game, they can cook and serve 100 pizzas per hour to keep up with the rush, Kendall said.
Dan Wilson, 75, is one of Gusto Pizzas regular weekly customers. Wilson has traveled to many places in Italy and around the world tasting pizza and says that Gusto is the closest thing to authentic Italian pizza around. “It’s the flour in the dough that really makes the difference,” Wilson said. Kendall uses an all organic, high gluten, high flour mix from the Fairhaven Organic Flour Mill because this allows the dough to be rolled very thin without tearing. “The dough should be as thin as a credit card,” Kendall said. Wilson also mentioned that the thin crust and minimal ingredients really bring out the flavors. “It’s the only pizza of its type around,” Wilson said.
Kendall counts out the register at the end of the day to pay the market's 7 percent tax on the property provided. His wife and son begin the long process of packing up the knives, cutting-boards, tables, signs, and other cooking supplies that are needed for the portable kitchen. Once everything is loaded into their car and trailer, they head home until the next weekend.
These photos did not make the story so I didn't caption them, but I think if I were allowed more photos then then I would have included these.
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