Yet another iPad app?  Using repackaged content?  While the general internet consensus seems to be that they’re just trying to cash in, I spent the last few days thinking about the relaunch and what it might mean.

Imagine that you’re Conde Nast.  You have these two amazing plants growing side by side in large pots on your rooftop terrace at 4 Times Sq.  They’re both very similar plants, of the same species, and they both produce a comparable amount of fruit.  They’ve been sitting up there for a long time, and have survived many winters even while other plants have withered.  But the forecast for this winter is grim.  Really grim.  The whole climate of publishing is changing.  What to do?  You take one of your plants inside – choosing the oldest one with the strongest brand – and you repot it.  Shake off the roots, trim the branches, add some new soil and then genetically re-engineer the plant to thrive off the nutrients of the internet.  Gourmet est mort, vive Gourmet!

Gourmet Live isn’t a redesign – it is a carte blanche.  That kind of thing never happens.  And yet, here we are.  The iPad strategy of most magazines these days is to cram everything into an app.  But then the designers and art directors are doing 3x the layouts – print, web, app – and its a ton of work, and I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the process, from photographers all the way up to EICs.  Carte blanche means that everything is turned upside down.  Design for the new media one time only, then let the content proliferate out through the web of followers.

The team behind the new Gourmet is creating an architecture to support a new kind of magazine, possibly the first of its kind.  And the team members are like a who’s who of new media design.

Scott Dadich.  From a recent profile on him in the NY Observer:

“He’s one of those clever people who can take history and the future and merge them into the present,” said Platon, a New Yorker photographer who has won two consecutive National Magazine Awards for photo portfolios and credits Mr. Dadich for giving him his start in America. “People have done that before in other genres. Miles Davis did it, Frank Lloyd Wright did that. And I think Scott has the capacity to do that.”

“With a talent like Scott, magazines will never die,” said George Lois, the legendary former art director of Esquire.

“He just has it,” said David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker.

“He will be the spark that ignites a conflagration,” said Tom Wallace, Condé Nast’s editorial director.

Florian Bachleda.

Elizabeth Spiers.

Anil Dash.

Michael Wolf.

And these are just the people I found with a small bit of research.  They’re going to make an amazing platform, plain and simple.  And the best part about it, they have 60+ years of the best food writing and photographs with which to populate their new creation.  And I’m sure that is just the beginning.  Soon we’ll get new commissions for the best writing, the best photos.

Already we got the call for new photos – Big Leo’s own Mariana Velasquez and Pamela Duncan Silver styled the cover for the new Quick Kitchen:

This is a larger issue, over 100 pages of old recipes from the archive.  It will be sold at select locations and not carry ads.  It is less like a magazine per se, and more like a Special Interest Publication.  Those are very profitable and not subject to things like advertisers and subscribers.  You don’t have to print as many, they don’t go to the newsstand – they have great margins.  But its a red herring.  People arguing about whether this particular issue is the ‘return’ of Gourmet are not aware of what is really going on.  It took well over a year for the successful Wired iPad app to finally come out, and even then it was neutered by the Apple/Abobe scuffle, since all the content was designed in Creative Suite but forced to use a clumsy workaround in order to function on the iPad.  Safe to say the new Gourmet app, when it finally is released, will not have the same problem.

It is a lot to think about – but the main point is that we haven’t really seen what is cooking in Conde’s test kitchen.  But judging by the new media chefs, by the pedigree of the the Gourmet brand, and by the collective vision of what a magazine will be 10 years from now, it smells really damn good.  My mouth is already watering.

The architecture side of the High Line design team was headed up by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, who among other projects are credited with the redesign of the Lincoln Center, which the NYT called ‘forceful’ and said ‘makes it hard to remember the dreariness of the 1969 original.‘

Ric Scofidio is the Principcal and Founding Member of DS+R, and the first architect to ever receive a MacArthur Fellowship. When we got the call for Björn Wallander to go up and take some portraits, it was one of those assignments that you accept not with a ‘yes’ but with a ‘I can’t believe I get to do this for a living.’ Ric is one of Björn’s heros, a titan of architecture and design, so he knew he had to plan ahead and really prepare for the time he had in Ric’s office.

Ric was profiled in a 2007 New Yorker article that described his love of racing his Porsche:

When he really wants to lose himself, he heads for the track at Lime Rock Park, in Lakeville, Connecticut, where he can whip around a mile and a half of curves in about a minute. “It’s only when you’re out on the track that you really appreciate what mass, weight, and speed can do,” he said. “There’s nothing else that can enter your brain. Work, clients–all vanish.” When he’s on the job, the gear-works of architecture make him happiest. He sketches truss joints for hours on end, especially on weekends, when the phone rings less. I spent one morning walking with him amid the overgrown weeds of a still-untouched portion of the High Line, near the Javits Center, and he lovingly pointed out the track’s rivets and iron guardrails–the gorgeous brawn of nineteen-thirties engineering.

The man loves elegance in design, so Bjorn’s first thought was to bring his Rollei.  Beyond taking great photos, the German-made camera is known for its simple and durable mechanics.  Ric’s face really lit up when the Rolleiflex came out, he said ‘I haven’t seen one of those in years.’

Here is Bjorn shooting with the Rolleiflex:

Once Ric’s interview started, we were able to wander around the offices for a little while so Björn could get some detail shots, the kind of images that really give you a feel for the place.  DS+R is one of those rare firms that does more than focus on architecture – they are involved with art installations and spend tons of resources every year on projects that are not commercial.  That dedication is really apparent around the office – the whole place feels like some kind of master’s workshop where you can find wonders in every nook and cranny.

Then we headed down to the fabrication studio where all the model plans are transformed into real objects.  Below, on the left is a fully-scaled model of the new Museum of Image and Sound in Rio de Janeiro.  Sadly they didn’t let us play with the laser-guided 3D printer.

It was a special treat to see the inner workings of such an innovative firm.  They’re at the cutting edge and already have an amazing new project coming up in LA – the new $100 million museum donated by Eli Broad. Here is an interview with the man himself, Ric Scofidio:

All in all it was an amazing day and the images are not just beautiful – they really communicate a feel for the place, for the man, for his creative process.  And to be able to touch that, have it act on us, it was an honor.  Björn made it happen just like that – and it couldn’t have been anyone else.

For the first round of images, Big Leo artists Andrew Purcell, Sarah Cave, and Carrie Purcell teamed up to bring a new twist on the tried and true food shoot.

#1. Drainers

Sarah:  Seeing these objects for the first time, they were clearly very old, cream-ware and transfer-ware with the patina and proportions of real antiques. The word ‘trivet’ was thrown around, but we weren’t convinced.

Then we spotted a long cream-ware fish platter nearby, and lo- the long pointed oval piece from the top left of the image fit perfectly inside, the tolerance a miracle of by-gone craftsmanship. Drainers… some quick research confirmed it- each of these once belonged to a platter or tureen, usually unnoticed but practical. Somewhere in the stacks we probably could have found the matching servers. Instead, we decided to shoot them on their own, highlighting their graphic nature while they did their job with matter-of-fact elegance.

Carrie:  What could compliment the look of the strainers? Any old noodle just wouldn’t do. We needed something that was both beautiful and shocking – fish heads strained right from the stock and a bloody rare roast!  I also loved the fresh ricotta in cheesecloth: whole milk is attacked by a little salt and lemon juice, causing it to separate into curds and whey. Strain the tasteless pale liquid away and you’re left with a rich creamy ricotta cheese.

Andrew: Visually the drains needed to be the hero. No offense to the food but the uniqueness of the strainers needed to be shown in their best light. The overhead framing really allowed the shapes of the drains to stand out and be graphic. With that in mind I thought a higher contrast would work best. Lighting props first and food second provided a unique visual representation for our project. It really opened my eyes to the importance of lighting for multiple layers within a single composition.

In the labyrinthine prop houses, where strange and wonderful objects are stacked to the ceiling, you can always find dark corners of dusty and forgotten things.  Scraps of metal from obsolete and unidentifiable machines.  Porcelain trinkets whose only timeless quality is to remain perpetually out of style.  Awkward dishes and broken lamps, stained fabrics and ornate oddities from some foreign country.  The kinds of things that would never be used on a photo shoot.

In most of our normal assignments, the props are there to make the food look its very best. While they might set the tone, highlight a recipe’s origins or tip the scale modern or classic, colorful or muted, they are usually expected to take a background role and not compete for attention. The creative team standing around the monitor can always agree on one thing: your eye should go to the food, and that way of seeing will dictate all other choices.

This project began with the inverse approach:  We searched specifically for orphan props,  then dreamed up the food that would make them look their best.

Our compassion for neglected objects grew as we went, as did our tolerance for the slightly ugly, the ill-advised designs – who says? The magic of still life photography is that in the right light anything can be beautiful.  We designed these shots right on the tables of prop rental warehouses, with spontaneity and real love.  It was a lot of fun and this is only the beginning; there are so many more under-loved props out there!

Big Leo is proud to officially announce the newest member of the family, Paul Lowe.

A supremely talented craft and food stylist from Norway, he is also the creator of Sweet Paul Magazine and author of the popular Sweet Paul blog.  Hard-working with a keen eye, Paul is above all a great guy who lives and breathes editorial style.  He shoots on his days off!  It would be tough to find someone who loves this business as much as he does – so I guess that means he’ll be right at home here at Big Leo.

Check out his portfolio here:  Styling – Crafts – Food – Drinks

Yeah, totally stands on its own, and by ’stands on its own’ I mean ‘$75 million ad campaign.’  I can appreciate the whole play on ‘truth’ that Crispin Porter + Bogusky has been hired to create, even though that is more than a little oxymoronic.  If you watch the YouTube video below, clearly the entire thing was an expensive shoot in and of itself, just to come across as making fun of expensive shoots.

A lot of people grumble over the whole idea of having customers submit their own photos.  ”We might even use it in an ad campaign!”  This isn’t about putting photographers and food stylists out of work, it is about the drawing attention to artifice of commercial food shoots in order to give off an air of ‘honesty in advertising.’  Hah.  Except that all ad shoots require professionals in order to make a product look its best.  Otherwise you get submissions like this:

Which is admittedly awesome, but not the kind of thing that you look at before lunch, a picture so mouth-watering that your stomach gets tied in knots (the worst part of working in this industry and a daily penance here at Big Leo).  If you want to make people hungry, give us a call and one of our stylists would be happy to collaborate.

Otherwise, there is always the fallback option – nothing like a cute baby shot to show just how delicious all that coagulated grease can be:

Mmmmm.

Crispin has done a great job on this one, and you have to hand it to Domino’s, it takes guts to admit that your pizza tastes like cardboard and that you will never again fake it for a photo shoot.  But these days, the cheese pull, while being a complex shot, is less and less common.  Gone are the days of lacquer and wax.  The vast majority of food being shot these days is the real thing.  It looks beautiful because it IS beautiful!  Picked fresh from the market that very morning by someone who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the ingredient as well as an eye for how it will look on camera.  And that is the honest truth.

This Saturday  at Proper Fools Studio –  55 Chrystie Street between Canal and Hester.

2 PM.

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See you there!

This is from a personal series that Björn shot in Sweden.  I guess I should say ‘from a series’ because although this wasn’t an assignment, it really is not separate from the work that he shoots for commercial clients.  It has that same feel, the same quality of light.  Calling something personal work just separates it from everything else.  The best photographers really are who they are, and their vision is never fractured into different spheres of commercial and not commercial.

Being able to tell and story, to evoke a feeling, those are the things that matter.  And when you do that for a client, it should come from the same place.  Even when a shoot is art directed down to the most minute detail, there is a always going to be a touch of the personal in there.  Summertime is always good for getting away, traveling and spending time with friends, and so many great opportunities to pick up the camera, but not for anyone else but yourself.  Those are the times to push the work further with no risk, nothing at stake, and to shoot with love.  This fishing series that Björn shot is a lot like that, and we always include it with his portfolio.  An equivalent assignment doesn’t always come around so sometimes you need to go out there and do it yourself.  No better time than August – Big Leo time!

Besides Thanksgiving and Christmas, the only day Big Leo really takes off is the 4th of July, because it is pretty much the best holiday.  And by best I mean, sunniest, most relaxed, outdoor, fireworks, charcoal, beach, all around most fun and laid back holiday there is.  Hey what a coincidence, those are all qualities that our agency strives for…

Photo by the graceful Anna Williams.