While I am obviously sharing this post in praise of James Worrell’s amazing images for the cover of this past week’s Village Voice, there’s a bit of an ulterior motive for this two-wheel commuting Big Leo. Cycling is seriously dangerous in NYC. No matter how safe you are; helmet securely affixed to your skull, self and spacial-awareness in tact, there are still real dangers lurking around every corner of our city and outer borough streets, both in and out of bike lanes. And, according to the Voice’s eye-opening article, “If a car slams you off your bike and into a hospital, good luck getting the cops to do anything”.

Safety lesson aside, I am always amazed at James Worrell’s approach and the conceptual nature of his work. The subjects of medicine, food, business and entertainment, as well as matters of the heart, soul, and mind are all captured with a clever and unique point of view, brought to life by James’ keen sense of lighting. Check out the post on his own blog LESS IS MORE.

Back in 2010 we posted about Jim’s DWR shoot featuring the 111 Navy Chair created from recycled Coca-Cola bottles.  See the original post here.   Earlier this month, DWR’s blog and The 111 Chairs Project featured Jim as one of 111 people they sent the Navy Chair. Check out Jim’s response!

We’ve been waiting a long time to have the opportunity to share with the world Jim Bastardo‘s incredible process for delivering high-quality, unstoppably cool images. A consummate professional and a rock-star team player, Jim has helped to produce yet another exemplary catalog with the stellar creatives at Design Within Reach. Produced by Kara Packouz, “Your First Summer Crush” presents warm-weather, Miami-driven photographs pointing to summer’s imminent threat upon the rest of us (finally!). Of course, we’ll happily take Spring first.

Credits:

DWR Catalog: Photography-Jim Bastardo, Styled by Aaron Hom, Produced by Packouz Inc.

Video Production by ZBABAM

Paul Lowe traveled to the snowy reaches of New Hampshire to shoot this story for The Nest, on how to de-clutter your home. While prop stylists are by nature collectors, they absolutely must have good habits when it comes to storing their wares. If you’ve been in a prop house you’ll understand – there are mountains of stuff but not a single object is out of place.  This is also the case for a photograph, especially when it comes to these interiors shot by the ever-sharp eye of David Land.  I love this picture of the bathroom, which is busy but still perfectly composed.

The couple that owns the 150-year old house also runs a company called Emersonmade - selling fine clothing and objects.  Here are a couple more spreads from the story:

Mad Props is a series about orphaned objects and the process of photographing them in a new light.  Read about the project.

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.  See the first entry here. Second entry.

#3. German

Sarah:  The eclectic combination of these props – lot of gold crackle detail, stylized bronze and cordial glasses, dark wood and vintage velvet – it led us straight to an imagined Austrian vignette. I had the vision that there was probably an oversized fireplace nearby, that the meal was a casual & rustic snack, and that those were simply the clean dishes on hand.

Carrie:  When Sarah found this beautiful gold crackle plate, it’s funny but we all collectively thought of sauerkraut! Something about the translucent color and jagged shapes of pickled cabbage just felt appropriate. The rest of the food easily fell into place to compliment the idea of sauerkraut and the rich hues in the props – dark purple potatoes, super grainy mustard and ghostly pale weisswurst.

Andrew:  The only feel for this photo that would work was dark and masculine.  What better way to shoot meat and sauerkraut than with dark linens and gold plates – as if all you are there to do is eat and drink like a man.  Although the props are the main concept for this project, this shot quickly became all about the food and the feel.  I wanted to have heavy shadow areas to offset the plates and really let them stand out.  Otherwise I wanted the light and the angle to really make you feel as though you were at the table ready to dig in, no matter if it was 2010 or 1910.

Just released, Clean Start is the newest cookbook from author Terry Walters and the follow-up to her successful Clean Food.  All about eating sustainable foods that are minimally processed, the recipes are filled with seasonal vegetables and emphasize supporting local farms.  In a world where industrial food production is the norm, eating healthy is as simple as avoiding purchasing anything that comes in a wrapper.  I also like the ancestor rule: never eat anything that your great-grandmother would not recognize as food.

Heidi Johannsen was a natural fit to style the amazing recipes – she has such an eye for the simple, clean lines and fresh feel that the photos required.  In a lot of respects, this kind of food styling is the easiest, because natural ingredients have an inherent beauty.  Compare that to styling anything that comes frozen in a cardboard box, and you’ll see that beauty goes hand in hand with eating healthy.

Shot by the preeminent Gentl + Hyers and styled by Helen Crowther, it is not hyperbole to say that this is the ultimate dream team for making a cookbook transcend its recipes and enter the realm of art.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the shoot, check out Terry’s posts on the making of the cookbook:  Post 1 Post 2

There is a huge Italian renaissance going on – just look at this month’s Food + Wine and the opening of Batali’s ambitious new Eataly.  The consensus from our food stylist friends – the superstore is awesome.  Not to mention the release of Eat Pray Love, and those gorgeously styled scenes where Julia Robert’s character indulged in what the director called ‘food porn.’ In line with all the Italian focus, this summer Andrea Wyner spent 3 months abroad in Tuscany, shooting a cookbook (coming soon!) and for Travel + Leisure.  Here is a taste of what she brought back:

Chef Massimo Bottura is known worldwide for his restaurant, Osteria Francescana.

Mad Props is a series about orphaned objects and the process of photographing them in a new light.  Read about the project.

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.

Sarah Cave – Andrew Purcell – Carrie Purcell

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!