B.T.S. Photo Shoot: Love For Pizza

When creatives get together! Pizza was on the mind, and no better team to call upon than Janine Kalesis, and Penelope Bouklas to bring it to life. We brainstormed indulgent pizza slices and created unique environments around each concept. Incorporating talent was important to tell the story of each slice. We have Molly and Licha from Vie Agency who brought their A game! Dominique Noelle did an awesome job on hair and makeup and their looks worked well with each setup. Experimenting in the studio with lighting and cameras is part of the fun. We were able to get funky wider shots that created completely different vibes. It was one way to stretch the scenes and make them more versatile, things clients are always looking for. Love this series, and there were too many to post here!

Thank You Crew!!!

Studio: Simple Studio

Food Stylist: Janine Kalesis

Prop Stylist: Penelope Bouklas

Hair and Makeup: Dominique Noelle

Talents: Vie Agency - Molly Brodowski and Licha Gonzalez

BTS Photos and Photo Assist: Jarrett Murphy

National Pizza Month - Pizza Promo

October is National Pizza Month! Of course we need to dedicate a whole month to our favorite food group. There are other pizza holidays throughout the year, but this is the big one. I’ve always wanted to do a fun over the top printed promo and this was the perfect opportunity.

This month was not just about any pizza, but a great way to showcase my shoot I did overseas for Domino’s PIzza! Get right to the heart of the project and show the tasty, beautiful, cheesy pizzas we shot over the month. YUM!!

To make this promo really fun and creative I worked with graphic designer Amanda Stringer on a concept of a pizza box with my branding and a photo booklet to go with it. In addition to the booklet to make it run and interactive I had a QR code made that would take you right to my website and the BTS Video from the shoot. Also I found this really cool pizza frisbees, and build your own pizza stickers!

The promos were sent to a super targeted list of pizza brands across the country and their coinciding agencies that also work with them. I sent out for the month of October my newsletter highlighting the pizza shoot and talking about the promo.

B.T.S. Domino's Pizza MENA (Middle East North Africa Division) International Advertising Photo and Video Shoot

This project was a great way to finish out 2021 and ring in 2022 with a month long advertising project in the Middle East. I don’t know where to start with this amazing opportunity to shoot for a dream client! I hope all the behind the scenes will help do it justice. There were months of pre production planning this shoot while still dealing with international travel during COVID. In the end everything came out great and the client loved the shots.

The first half of the shoot was the still components. We went through and captured fresh imagery for their menu showcasing all the different pizza offerings and sides. Beautifully styled by Jamie Kimm. In addition to the menu items we captured combo deals that they regularly advertise. The New Yorker pizza was a very prominent pizza we shot. Really great hand tossed pizza with big slices just like in New York City! The most exciting and challenging aspect of this shoot was getting the cheese pulls right. Jamie’s attention to detail and experience was paramount in getting these shots right.

After we captured the still components the last 2 weeks we shot various short video moments of cheese pulls, wings dipping, sauces being poured onto pizzas, and beautiful details of the regional ingredients. These videos will be used on their digital sings in store as well as social media. I couldn’t of done this project without the local rental house Action Filmz who was able to put together all the lighting and grip I needed and deliver to Abu Dhabi. Highly recommend!

We had 3 core surfaces we used for the different channels the images and video were going to be showcased on. I had a super talented local prop stylist fabricate these. Again highly recommend Caroline of Food Art Concepts. Domino Blue Color was very important!

We had just a couple days off to site see and enjoy the local food. Some of the best I’ve ever had. The weather was in the 80’s and sunny, no humidity Every Single Day. What a beautiful place.

Hope you enjoy these images as much as we do. Any questions on this project or if you have similar needs please feel free to reach out.

Photo Shoot BTS: Finlandia Cheese

This past shoot for Finlandia Cheese was so much fun. When your given the freedom to create the best sandwich using quality cheese the possibilities are endless. We got to spend the day making tasty heroic sandwiches using a variety of Finlandia’s new line of pre-sliced cheeses. They had great varieties and of course swiss! Working with Lisa Russell at her new studio was a great experience. The kitchen to shooting space is seamless. We had Apple TV wireless connection to show the shots large as we were shooting. Also the cool thing about the space is it’s inside center city Philadelphia’s String Theory School. We had high school students who are currently majoring in broadcast come in throughout the day to see what we do. The students were engaged and anxious to watch us work. It’s really nice when you can create work and give back to students at the same time. So rewarding!

B.T.S. Photo Shoot: Alouette Cheese

    What an exciting end of the year. It’s certainly not slowing down! I had a great shoot with a favorite past client of mine, Alouette Cheese between Christmas and the New Year. They have been putting out some great new lines of cheese and also creating some nice recipes with their products. We shot 2 days in studio photographing some fun and refreshing recipes using various cheeses of theirs.
    A personal favorite I think was their brie wheel. It was wrapped and baked in a Pillsbury dough and came out like a pull-apart bread. The brie inside was warm and gooey. If you really wanted to take it up a notch dip it in the cranberry sauce paired with it. It really was tasty and a perfect choice for a holiday appetizer. Another recipe idea was using one of their cheese dips to fill the bottom of glasses then pair on top with some cut vegetables. It’s a cute and fun way to serve it at your next party.
    Check out some B.T.S. having fun with cheese! :)

Happy New Year and looking forward to 2017 projects!

B.T.S. Cheese Connoisseur and Grana Padano Cheese

What a great crew to work with. This past shoot working with Cheese Connoisseur and Grana Padano from Italy was such a blast. These type of projects remind me how fun my job is! We created various recipes using Grana Padano cheese product for the next issue of Cheese Connoisseur and for use directly with Grana Padano. These recipes showed how versatile a savory cheese can be. Some of the recipes we photographed were quesadillas, farrow salad, and apple galette. The mixture of the melted cheese with these acidic foods really worked well. The cheese itself was good on its own and created beautiful toppings to the dishes. For the photo shoot these Grana Padano cheese wheels and cuts were hand picked from Italy and delivered to the states for this shoot. They take their product very seriously and are proud of what it is all about. That type of passion for food really speaks levels and made the day all that much better. The beautiful cheese rinds were apparent in every photo, so you know to use the best when making these recipes. To finish out the day we did a gorgeous stack of cheeses with a rich slate as the background and a huge rustic chopping block as the base. This translated to authentic Italian.

I was able to try and practice my Italian at the end of the shoot, and sure enough I still need practice.

Ironically the next day Food and Wine Magazine featured Grana Padano cheese as a good way to prevent high blood pressure.

Food Styling: Jen Beauchesne

Prop Styling: Deb Donahue

Assistant/BTS Photos: Kat DeLeon

Studio: Neo Studios

Pasta and Pesto Tips and Recipe

Pesto is a great addition to any pasta dish. Pesto can be high in fat with the oils and pine nuts mixed into it so you have to take it in small amounts. To help lighten your meal use a whole grain pasta instead of a white pasta. In addition to pasta you can use pesto on chicken, crusty bread, or a spread for a sandwich. If you want to have pasta but a sauce that’s a healthier option it’s best to stick with a tomato sauce.

What goes into a basic pesto sauce?

-basil leaves
-garlic
-pine nuts
-olive oil
-cheese

Find a great recipe at Food Network.

Grana Padano photo shoot for Cheese Connoisseur Magazine

Just in time for the holidays, a few quick cheese recipes I shot for Cheese Connoisseur magazine. These were prepared with Grana Padano cheese, which is similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is made in northeastern Italy. The recipes were really a nice selection to showcase how you can use this cheese. We made a simple quesadilla with roasted red peppers, a squash soup, and an apple crostata!

We had to make sure and leave room for titles and recipe text when these run in the magazine.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Memorial Day Weekend Recovery!

What a crazy, jam packed, long, restful weekend I had! We started by seeing the new movie Mad Max which I highly recommend. Also ordering the pretzel bites with cheese (that took me way back). I continued the weekend by cooking with Joe making a huge tray of lasagna for a really fun personal project I’ve been working on. I can’t say anything yet because I’m still working through it and don’t want to spoil any of the fun! Among the BBQ’in, drinking frenzy I managed to make some of my favorite eggplant.

It’s good because it’s so darn easy. For me eggplant is healthy candy. I could eat it all day anyway. If there’s one way though I would cook it for the rest of my life it would be pan seared with breadcrumbs. Just slice the eggplant about 1/2in thick or thinner and let rest on some paper towels for 20min. While the eggplant is resting scramble 1-2 eggs in a bowl and pour italian breadcrumbs in another bowl. Heat a all clad skillet with vegetable oil until it’s hot! Take a fork a dip the slice of eggplant in the egg than into the breadcrumbs till both sides are covered. TIP: You can add an extra step and do flour between the bread crumbs to add extra flavor and crunch. Repeat the step until you fit enough eggplant flat in the pan and cook each side until browned. Remove the slices from the pan and drain on a brown bag. Once they have cooled and the extra oil has seeped out enjoy a crunchy slice of goodness :)