italian
As someone who, long ago, lived in the East Village, it’s always exciting to see how the neighborhood transforms but manages to stay the same. It’s a fast past environment where a lot of restaurants come and go and, unfortunately, Nook NYC no longer remains but featured some beautifully plated dishes in a wonderfully magnetic space.
From chef Stefano Secchi of Rezdora comes a new Southern Italian kitchen, Massara. Featuring a wood fired grill and pizza oven, the restaurant serves grilled entrees, and a slew of pastas and pizzas.
Olivia Jane designs eye-catching and thoughtful spaces that pay tribute to their surrounding environments but also entice onlookers from afar. She has worked with Atlantic City based Il Verdi to create a massive space that opens out into a casino, and compliments the glitzy neon machines but once you reach the beachfront area, it’s airy space and dining cabana inject a calmness that may be hard to find in a casino.
I’ve rarely worked with stylists because most often I work with restaurants where the chefs or the marketing contacts are the ones styling the foods. I was lucky enough to work with the super talented Judy Kim who elevated the red-sauce food of Tony’s DiNapoli and truly elevated my photography. I almost feel like I didn’t even take these photos because Judy was the true artist who crafted such beautiful scenes below.
Nomad’s “Italian soul food” restaurant Mialino was positively reviewed by The Infatuation and I was there to shoot the restaurant, which occupied the old space of Vini e Fritti which I also happened to shoot some years back when I had clearly had no idea how to shoot food, judging by the photos! It’s always humbling to look at one’s earlier work.
Tomaresca, an Italian wine distributor, brought the flavors and food of Puglia to Eataly for a private dinner which I photographed. In addition to a spread of appetizers, the event included a live cooking demonstration of a few menu items which were then served to the intimate group of guests who, while enjoying the food, learned about the riches of Puglia while savoring some delicious wine pairings.
When photographing produce, it can sometimes be helpful to look at things on a smaller scale to photograph the details and brings those to life - making those smaller things larger than life. That was the goal in shooting for Italian grocery store, Agata + Valentina, who has a varied selection of global and Italian foods.
Agata + Valentina is a wonderful Italian market with locations in Greenwich Village and the Upper East Side and they produce, one of my vices, terrific Italian sandwiches - but, like any good grocer, they also cater and provide plenty of holiday wares for Thanksgiving or, as one does in Italy, your Feast of the Seven Fishes. Here are some photos from a recent shoot we did in the store, with the help of a 2-light set-up and paper backgrounds.
