This weekend I photographed 27 teas & exotic salts for No. 9 Depot, a new cafe & merchant opening later this month in the Berkshires. We were a small team: just an owner of the cafe and myself. What could have been a hectic day – with so many shots to get – turned out to be lots of fun in a country studio, matching the textures of the products to the surfaces & vessels.
I don’t always shoot food! I also do a lot of portrait-based work. This spring I did 12 location portraits of New Yorkers for an annual report for the Alliance for Downtown New York. It was a blast running around Lower Manhattan, meeting all kinds of people in their environments. Here is a snapshot with some favorite pages.
This spring we took a trip to Skibbereen, in County Cork, Ireland. We sourced fresh sole, scallops, soda bread, butter, eggs, and great cuts of meat for the grill. We cooked and drank beer in a house that looked like it was built in the 1700s, spent one night at the famous Balleymaloe House, we ate black and white puddings, more rashers and beans than I can remember, and fell in love with Gubbeen cheese. This is what a food photographer & her food stylist friend, and their families do while on vacation!
The Fourth is a new restaurant opening in mid-May 2013 on 4th Ave and 13th Street in NYC. It is attached to a new Hyatt boutique hotel, and they called me to do some promo shots for their website, publicity, and branding. We shot interiors, exteriors, food, and environment for two days. Here are some favorite images.
The winter cover of Edible Hudson Valley with one of my photos from a visit to Damon Baehrel’s restaurant and gardens.
When your husband cooks you a dish like this, you photograph it – and then you eat every last bite. That said, mine cooks like this quite often.
This week I found myself at the Glenmere Mansion, in Chester, NY. I had met co-owner Alan Stenberg several years ago when a magazine sent me to them. This time around, it was Alan calling. The mansion has a fabulous upcoming opportunity, and they needed photos asap. Here is a sample of what we photographed: appetizers, entrees, and desserts; the busy Supper Room; and cocktails in the Frogs End bar. It’s amazing what you can get done in a day with the right team.
Here is a sneak peek of a cookbook I shot for Rodale in the fall. Quite a shoot: we photographed these recipes in Manhattan days after Hurricane Sandy. The city was still recovering… but the shoot went on. Look for the book in May.
Recently, I visited the new Bocuse Restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America and photographed a slide show’s worth of images for Chronogram magazine. Play the slide show on this page.
I was asked to share 10 of my favorite food images that I have shot for First We Feast. They did an interview with me, and made a slideshow on their website. Unsurprisingly, when asked for my favorite food images, I chose mostly story-driven pictures: ice fishing; running around eastern Canada with the Joe Beef chefs; a foie gras factory, and more. Link to story here.
For the November 2012 issue of Food + Wine magazine, I traveled to Cooperstown, NY to visit some eating and drinking destinations. Here are some outtakes from the shoot.
Maya Kaimal’s Indian sauces and ready-to-heat meals are taking over the gourmet section in Costco, and we shot another box cover for her Coconut Chicken Curry this week, along with images to be used on recipe cards.
It’s been a busy few weeks! Hurricane Sandy, a Nor’Easter, a cookbook for Men’s Health, and currently working on a project for the Culinary Institute of America. All the while running all around NYC and the Hudson Valley with Babes. Here is a document of events, in images:
In Williamsburg with Babes, after racing the nor'easter so we could shoot a cookbook for Men's Health.
Working with food stylist Paul Grimes
Summer in the studio
The first signs of sun - seen from the studio windows - after a week of storms including the brutal Hurricane Sandy
Back in the Hudson Valley. Working on a new project for the Culinary Institute of America.
Wringing out an herb infusion, CIA style.
Michael Symon’s latest book, Carnivore, hits the shelves on October 16th. I’m excited about this book. We shot it last fall, when I was 6 months pregnant, including a trip to Michael’s home in Cleveland, OH. Here are a few shots from the book, and I have already cooked two recipes from my advance copy, and everything is as tasty now as I remember it being on set.
Susan Feniger’s Street food cookbook was recently published (by Clarkson Potter), and here are a few shots from the book. I was three weeks pregnant when I shot this book in Los Angeles and had to tell the team what was up, because they kept making the most delicious and extravagant cocktails every night after shooting. Their puzzled faces when I said no on the first couple of nights were priceless.
Spending time in the Pacific Northwest in a deluxe house on a remote island location.
Spent this week working on a cookbook for the Chelsea Market. What a whirlwind photographing all the shops over several days. Here I am with Sarabeth in her bakery.
I’ve been busy, but not blogging. I’m in the midst of setting up 3 new cookbook shoots to happen over the next couple of months, also did a studio shoot at Fine Cooking magazine and a location shoot for Food + Wine, been cooking up a storm from my local CSA, and introducing Babes to solid food. Here is Babes’s introduction to sweet potato.
On set in Woodstock, NY this week, shooting Chef Rahm Fama’s upcoming cookbook for Clarkson Potter. Let me just say, we are cooking and shooting and eating a lot of meat and vegetable sides, and it is tasty. Rahm is the best. I’m so lucky to get to work with high energy, excited, positive folks.
Rahm Fama and the cutest little stuffed quail.
Handsome man, handsome steak
Rahm, my man, and in his arms the reason my blog is out of date. Clearly, she likes a steak as much as her mama.
I was in the studio this week with food stylist Jessica Bard, photographing tarts for a dessert maker. My fridge and freezer are filled with the spoils, and I am eating a slice of tart three times a day: chocolate, raspberry, peach raspberry, apple. Oh, they are good. If you are in the Hudson Valley you can find these tarts at farm stands and gourmet food shops. And soon, you will be able to find them in the frozen section in the new, photo-filled, boxes.
