B.T.S. Clemens Food Group Campaign Photo Shoot

It was great to get a call from the Chicago office of The Food Group. It’s been a dream to work with these guys because we all share a true passion for food! We worked together on a B2B campaign for The Clemens Food Group showcasing a wide range of their quality pork products. The shoot consisted of 2 concepts over 2 days. The first day was to capture this large overhead scene of their raw pork products styled beautifully. Food stylist Nicole Twohy was perfect for the job. Her and her team in the kitchen brought out the prepped pieces while Kristine Trevino the prop stylist helped place them on the set. We had a layout to follow which was key to reference during the shoot.

The next day was fun; we got to create beautiful cooked pork recipes each plated uniquely for a table scene overhead as if you were dining at a restaurant. We had a hand model from Bella agency serving a platter into the top of the frame featuring juicy ribs, yum! Each recipe was carefully tested and chosen prior to the shoot so we knew which plating would work best and the colors all complimented each other. In the end we walked away with some great photos, couldn’t of done it without the team. Can’t wait to see these shots in the wild!

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Felicia Perretti is a commercial food and beverage photographer and director based in New York City. She works nationally with food and beverage clients in advertising, packaging, editorial, and video. She has worked with food and drink in all shapes and knows how to craft the right team to get the job done! Her passion for food and beverage shine through on set as well as outside of work in her everyday life. Whether it’s trying new restaurants, traveling, or cooking with her husband Joe. Send her an email or give a call to discuss your next project, she would be more than happy to chat!

Photo Shoot Recap: Reynard

Despite the crazy snow we had the shoot must go on! Reynard; a great restaurant in Brooklyn below the Wythe Hotel, and steps from The Brooklyn Brewery. I got to work with the new chef Christina Lecki who worked under April Bloomfield in the past. The kitchen has an amazing wood-fired hearth perfect for photo backdrops. Chef Lecki is really experimenting with simple, meaningful dishes packed with honest flavors. Keeping it simple I feel is always best and not going crazy with 100 ingredients for a dish. We were there capturing all her new dishes which are seasonal. They are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so there was quite the array of food. My personal favorite was the Socca dish. Runner up was the bone broth soup poured table side. Delicious! Especially with the snow falling outside. The plates were made by Jono Pandolfi which had some weight and earthiness to them, tying in great with the food palate. If you haven’t been here in the past make sure to stop by soon!

Old Bay Steamed Blue Crabs

It’s summer so why not steam some crabs. Old Bay seasoning is the only way to go when making these. Seafood can be intimidating to make but these are actually easy to cook.

Here’s a basic recipe for making steamed crabs:
Add 1 1/2 cups water, lager, apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons Old Bay to the bottom of the pot. Whisk to combine and bring to a simmer. Layer the crabs in the steamer insert, generously sprinkling with Old Bay on each layer of crabs. Cover the pot and steam the crabs for 30 minutes.

I also added corn on the cobs cut in half and fingerling potatoes at the top!

Traditional Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs Recipe

I thought this would be an appropriate post since Easter is this weekend. I wanted to try something out of the ordinary as far as dying Easter eggs. I’ve seen these before and thought they were beautiful. The dark brown color that created these pretty marbled lines over the egg was very unique and would make for great photos! I found a great recipe on Steamy Kitchen.

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Once I started the boiling process the kitchen smelled of anise and tea. However the actual taste of the egg was not a favorite of mine. I’ll just stick to photographing them.

Food Stylist: Brian Preston-Campbell

 www.preston-campbell.com

NYC

1. How did you get involved in styling?

Around 2000 I was a chef suffering from a natural case of career burn-out. I had cooked in and run the kitchens of several kinds of food service operations, from country clubs to fine dining restaurants to catering companies over the course of 12 year. I reached the point where I no longer wanted to work nights, weekends and holidays and couldn't bear one more special request from an obnoxious customer. It was in food styling that I found my ideal job -- one that changes almost every day, with a very livable schedule, and the best people to work with. It's refreshing to be respected by my clients and to be paid a fair rate for my hard work, something that seems to rarely happen in the restaurant world.

2. Are you originally from New York? Do you travel for work?

I grew up in a small town in central Pennsylvania. I started my cooking career there but left at the age of 18 to go to the Culinary Institute of America. I moved to New York City the first time in 1993 but took a break to spend some time in Miami in the late 90s. My wife and I moved back to Brooklyn just before 9/11 so it was a rough return initially. Now I have trouble imagining where I would rather live.

Currently I'm trying to position myself in the styling world to do more location work. In the past I've worked in the Bahamas, all over Florida, St. Louis, Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta. I have contacts in L.A. and San Francisco and am currently translating my website into Spanish with the hopes to work in Latin America.

3. Do you have a personal favorite thing to style? Food vs. drinks?

I really enjoy styling cocktails, but lately I've been pushing to do more ice cream. It represents a big challenge for most stylists and I really like working in the medium. It requires speed, organization, technique, and patience to pull off a difficult ice cream shot. Some of those I have, others I'm currently practicing.

4. Hardest thing you have styled.

The most difficult job I've had in styling was a 100 shot cookbook that needed to be photographed in one week. I had two assistants and an intern, we worked 12+ hour days and were really happy with the results when it was all said and done.

As far as the one single thing that I find difficult to style, I would have to say it is pizza. It's hard to keep looking fresh and is prone to developing orange pools of grease that congeal quickly. The relationship between the crust, sauce, cheese and toppings can be a difficult balance when the pressure is on.

5. Any dream clients you would like to work with?

I'd love to work for SodaStream -- I use mine every day! Also, In 2009 I published a book with 50 recipes of flavored water called Cool Waters, and I would love to collaborate with a company that shares my vision that everyone should drink more water.
 

6. What was it like to work on the Good Spirits book that you won a award from?

Working on Good Spirits was a lot of fun. Melissa Punch, the photographer, and I spent a week in her studio making drinks and playing around with props and garnishes. On a commercial cocktail shoot, by comparison, it is usually a very controlled and orchestrated production. The book shoot was the complete opposite, with a lot of creative freedom on our part, which I believe had everything to do with the results we achieved.

7. What is your must have tool on set?

I always have paint brushes on set. Some are kept clean and dry for removing dust or crumbs and others are used for brushing oil, water, glycerin, browning agents, Windex, or anything else I happen to need at the moment. It would be impossible to keep things from drying out and dying without the use of a good set of brushes.

8. Where do you get your inspiration for styling.

I'm really only one part of the creative team that makes the images I work on, so a lot of the time it's someone else's vision that I am responsible for creating. But to that end, I am inspired by challenging jobs that require me to figure out how I can make the food on set look the best. Occasionally I'm called to do a conceptual piece or something outside the usual realm of putting food on a plate and making it look edible. These are the kinds of jobs that excite me -- one of my former assistants used to call me the McGyver of food styling, which I take to be a compliment.