Team CLEAN FOOD!
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a week since our CLEAN FOOD photo shoot. I’m constantly receiving compliments on how beautiful my books are, so it seemed appropriate to introduce you to the people who make them that way. All I do, after all, is write them!
It seems fitting to start with photographers Marty Hyers (there in the center of the photo at 12:00) and Andrea Gentl, just to Marty’s left. These two are like royalty in the world of photography, but when you’re with them, they feel like long lost best friends. Together they make photography seem like magic using nothing but natural light and a camera, turning simple recipes into works of art. You’re liable to know their work from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, dozens of cookbooks (including CLEAN START), and that barely covers the depth and scope of their work.
Continuing clockwise is Alpha Smoot – prop stylist extraordinaire (as you might already have noticed from last week’s blog pictures), and below her, Meredith Munn, digital goddess and one of the most patient people I know! Next to me (I’m in the blue scarf) in the natural linen apron is Hollywood food stylist Susan Spungen. You may not recognize Susan, but if you saw Julie & Julia, Eat, Pray, Love or It’s Complicated, then you definitely know her work. No doubt, it was more than a little step down for Susan to go from working with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts to me! To the left of Susan are her two awesome assistants, Maria and Lauren. These three women work like a finely tuned machine in the kitchen, preparing more than 40 recipes for the camera over the course of just 4 days!
Finally, all the way on the left is Rob Magnotta of Edge Reps and Kacy Strand (not pictured) without whom this shoot would never have been possible. And last but certainly not least, in his signature bandana, Tony Gardner, my agent, trusty advisor and dear friend.
Jeff Batzli, Art Director from Sterling Publishing is not pictured, but was great support through the week (as always). And I wish I had held up my phone in this picture to represent Andrew Brown and Kurt MacKenzie of MacKenzie Brown Design in Chicago, who art directed the entire shoot long distance – iPhone to iPhone! Andy and Kurt are the original Team Clean Food as we’ve been working together even before the self-published edition of CLEAN FOOD came out in 2007.
I am humbled and grateful to be part of this incredible team and can’t wait for you to see the mouth-watering results of our collaboration this fall.
Eat clean, live well and be nourished by those with whom you share the journey!
stir in a buzzing kitchen…
