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I’m thrilled with Staci Valentine’s food photography in The Seasonal Kitchen! And this two-page spread of deliciousness is one of my favorites. Whenever I flip through the book (making nice to each page is more like it), I’m reminded of the extraordinary creativity, teamwork, and generosity it took to pull off a complicated shot like this.

Curious to know how we did it? It began, of course, at the farmers’ market. I asked Vicki Murray, of Murray Family Farms, to supply fig leaves, made sure Jerry Rutiz, of Rutiz Family Farms, would have my favorite calico corn, and asked Kong Thao if he’d bring me cherry tomatoes on the branch for grilling. Not only did he say yes, but when I picked them up the Saturday before the shoot, Kong had calculated how ripe/unripe to pick them so they’d be perfect for the shoot several days later! I tell ya, farmer friends are the best!

On shoot day, my husband Ralph, AKA master fire-builder, came home from work early enough to stoke the flames in our backyard fire pit.

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Food stylist Karen Gillingham and I grilled the components separately on a different grill. And Karen assembled everything on the beauty-shot grate (that I borrowed from my friends Sandy and Ralph). Even food needs to hit its mark—you can see where prop stylist Kim Wong used blue tape so the shot would be properly framed. Yup, Karen needed to move fast; fire waits for no stylist.

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The grate went onto the fire; we built up some smoke:

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Then Staci hovered well over the heat to get the shot. Thank goodness her gallant assistant Ilan Davidyan kept her from falling in!

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Best part of our photo shoots? Eating the leftovers! Here’s Staci digging in with photo shoot helpers Alison Ashton and Hilda Leiva.

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