What are you up to this weekend? Want to see some good friends and eat great food? Then come out to the BLP BBQ!
This Saturday at Proper Fools Studio – 55 Chrystie Street between Canal and Hester.
2 PM.
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See you there!
Entries filed under Taurus
Saturday BBQ!
Sweet Memories
Ever felt like a kid in a candy shop? You would if you were at our office today where we received a basket of vintage sweets reminiscent of the days of roller skates, skinned knees, and real arcade games like, Galaga, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and Super Ms. Pac Man.
Pop Rocks, Bazooka, Charleston Chew, Jolly Ranchers, Good n Plenty, Pixy Stix, Big League Chew, Sugar Daddies, Fun Dip and yes even candied necklaces. It’s in there!
The candy came to Big Leo courtesy of an awesome client who spent the day shooting with our very own Björn Wallander, whose work and stellar demeanor simply inspire this sort of sweetness.
A Summer Big Leo Trio
The onset of summer always brings with it thoughts of half-day fridays (if you’re lucky), vacations (also if you’re lucky), ocean breezes, flip flops, sweet iced tea, frozen fruity drinks and of course ICE CREAM (cue Mr. Softee jingle here)! It also happens to be our signature season over here at Big Leo. Inspired and armed with fresh blueberries, kiwi, peppermint, coffee beans, buttermilk, pistachios and more, food stylist Carrie Purcell made delicious ice cream treats that had us excitedly anticipating the very first 80+ degree day in the city. Photographed by Hector Sanchez, prop styled by Pamela Duncan Silver, and sampled of course by yours truly, the images are a perfect treat frozen in time. Just don’t look for too long or you might get brain freeze.
Since this story was shot there have been several 80+ degree days in the city – we look forward to what inspires the next Big Leo Trio!
Molto Gusto
Currently #13 on Amazon’s cookbook bestseller list – Mario Batali’s Molto Gusto was released last week. With gorgeous photos by Quentin Bacon, styled by Big Leo’s own Pamela Duncan Silver. Nice cover – except for the fake steam. Not fooling anybody.
Notice the photo credit – if only all cookbooks would do this. But the cover is a funny beast. Mario’s name is front and center but he doesn’t cook the food for Otto. I imagine he doesn’t cook much of anything these days – mostly because he probably doesn’t have the time. It is more about the brand, and maintaining the brand, maintaing the personality, running the Batali empire, those things take a lot of time and effort to do as well as he does. Maybe Mark Ladner’s photo isn’t on the cover because he’s too busy working on being a great chef. Maybe he’s not photogenic. At least his name is actually there – that is a lot more credit than most artists receive.
An old friend of mine used to work in the Dale Chihuly studio and he talked a lot about how the glassblowers there never received credit for their work. Chihuly hasn’t blown glass since ‘79 but his work is everywhere, with new pieces coming out all the time. When I first heard that it seemed rather shocking (so much for that youthful idealism). From a commercial perspective, who would want to buy a piece that wasn’t touched by the hand of the master? And what artist, with sublime talent, would work under those conditions, for ZERO credit? Who would pay a premium to eat at a Batali restaurant when the food was not prepared by Batali himself?
But the idea goes back the 16th century, when it was common for artists to have an atelier filled with students who were learning by essentially copying. A lot of the paintings attributed to certain artists really just came out of the atelier. Chihuly and Mario Batali are simply following in this tradition. It comes down to trust – the consumer trusts that they will be getting a certain experience, as promised by the brand. Funny how that concept is itself a very old one – but it goes to show that trust is timeless. As is the inability to decide for yourself what is and isn’t beautiful. If one were very good at perceiving quality, there would be no need for a brand to help inform (or mislead) the decision.
Anyways, here’s another shot from the book. No need to tell you how amazing Pamela is. Because it’s right there in the image… an image that is 3 steps removed from Batali himself, even though it has his name all over it. I have a lot of respect for the man – it takes a lot of talent, ambition, and business sense to get to that level where the brand transcends the artist and takes on a life of its own. Nice photos certainly help… and the recipes speak for themselves.
Effort and the Future
If you want to regain confidence in commercial photography try producing your own photo shoot. And I don’t mean showing up with a camera and some friends to take whatever pictures come to you. I mean, start with an idea and develop the concept visually, wrangle a team of talented people, plan logistics around a specific date, execute the photos well, push everything through post-production, and if that doesn’t wear you out, promote until you can’t stand it anymore. It takes a village.
Digital photography has brought great power, but as Stan Lee said, with great power comes great responsibility. You have a responsibility to make and show great photos! Of course the price of stock pictures is being driven down to nothing, the market is saturated and a lot of them are terrible. And they’re the reverse of assignment photography – you have to tailor the concept to the photo options you have. So if the photos aren’t good, then your concept isn’t going to magically swoop in and save the day. That is first and foremost why assignment photography is so important – QUALITY.
Fill of Love was released last week, styled by Pamela Duncan Silver and Susan Spungen, with photos by Anna Williams. Just flipping through the photos on the site it is very clear that the assignment made all the difference. With planning, Pamela was able to keep the palette consistent through the entire series, so much so that the only narrative that ties it altogether is visual.
Compare this to the New York Times slideshow on aphrodisiacs. Sure, it is just a normal story for this time of year – see this article from 1990 on the same subject. They collected various recipes that had been previously published, using photos that were taken without a sexual concept in mind. Let’s talk about this oyster shot:
First of all, I can’t believe that the original article was about ‘things to pair with absinthe’ and did not even mention that both of them are aphrodisiacs! This photo was done quickly for a recipe, and then pulled much later for an article that had a different concept entirely. It is no wonder that not only does it not fit a visual theme for the slideshow, but it only applies to the concept in the most obvious way. It is a perfect example the limitations of choosing an image to match the story.
Ok, so this is ridiculous, it is like comparing apples to oranges. One is an assignment by a team of professionals with much planning and direction, while the other is just a web-only feature using pickup for the images. EXACTLY. The power of assignment photography is undeniable, and that is why I sincerely believe that there will always be a need for amazing images tailor made to fit an idea. There will always be a need for artists who are at the top of their field. If you really want to stop someone in their tracks and make them see an idea, sell them a story, then you need the best artists to transform your idea into pictures. And never the other way around.
Chocolate? Absolutely!
Hot off the press, Absolutely Chocolate: Irresistible Excuses to Indulge.
Food styling by Heidi Johannsen, photographs by Anna Williams, prop styling by Helen Crowther.
Design and layout are so important on this kind of project – Alison Wilkes did an exquisite job on the design for Taunton. The photos (over 70 full pages of chocolate images!!!) are given a lot of room to shine. Hopefully we’ll have a video preview of the book up shortly so you can peek inside.
And since we’re on the subject of chocolate…
…here are two recent Godiva images styled by Pamela Duncan Silver. Photos by Antonis Achilleos, food styling by A.J. Battifarano.
There’s really nothing more to say – how can language possibly sum up the taste and visuals of the images above. It can’t. But does Big Leo know chocolate? Absolutely!
