Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Happy Batch Day!

It's here! It's here! It's here! FINALLY the day has come! May I present to you - Batch: A cookbook from the dynamic duo behind Well Preserved, Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison.


We shot this beauty over a year ago and I've been counting down the days since then. Not only are Joel and Dana the nicest human beings you'll ever meet, they are both disgustingly talented. I truly am honoured to have been a part of their epic adventure. This book is a labour of love. From the minute Dana and I met, we've been talking about one day shooting a cookbook, half kidding, half not. Well, we ain't kidding no more! Did I mention that it's here! The day is here! We shot a cookbook and it's pretty freaking rad. 

Batch is not your run of the mill preserving cookbook. It is most definitely not about putting things into jars and leaving them there. Batch takes you further. It takes you to new levels of preserving excitement. It brings you into a whole new world using what you've preserved to create delicious meals. Chef Curtis Stone sums it up best:

"What Aaron Franklin is to Texan Barbecue, Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison are to preserving - the masters, the authority, Batch packs everything you'll ever need to know about preserving into one cohesive bible. Joel and Dana's passion project takes a deep dive into the fundamentals of preserving and offers both simple and adventurous, and total flavor-forward recipes."

I'm really excited to be sharing the pages of Batch with Margaret Mulligan. I'm a big fan of her work and she shot some beautiful photographs for the book. She's flooding her instagram with outtakes this week. I highly recommend you take a look.

Here'a a peak at some of the photographs I made for the book.
Food Styling - Claire Stubbs & Prop Styling - Laura Branson

oh and, pssst... you can buy the book online here.












Thursday, April 23, 2015

Spotted, In Real Life!

In this digital age of instant gratification, I find it thoroughly frustrating that we can produce, shoot, and post-produce a project so quickly but still have to wait and wait for months or even a year (ahem.. cookbooks) to be able to share the work we've been doing. That being said, I've got a handful of fun projects on the go that I have to keep my lips zipped about, so I'm pretty excited to finally be able to share some new work with you!

Lately I've had the pleasure of working with a super rad team over at Ariad, headed by the talented and oh so cool Art Director Marianne Lau. We've been shooting a campaign for Knorr called "What's for Dinner" and our first ad has started to find it's way into stores. We've got three more coming so keep your eyes peeled over the next year!



Marianne recently spotted our work at Lowblaws


Thank you to:
Client: Unilever Canada
Marketing Manager: Gina Kiroff
Sr. Assistant Brand Building Manager: Eva Kyleman
Agency: Ariad Communications
Sr. Account Director: Josh MacKinnon
Sr. Account Manager: Carolyn O’Grady
Account Manager: Kate Warnock
Head of Design: Marianne Lau
Production: Sparks Photographers 
Food Styling: Michael Elliot
Prop Styling: Christina Yan
Producer: Aarin MacKay
Exec Producer: Pamela Hamilton



Friday, October 17, 2014

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.

Now that we've established that dreams do come true, I'm excited to announce that my dream seems to be a reoccurring one. I'm going to be shooting ANOTHER cookbook! I am super stoked to have been brought onto the Well Preserved cookbook team by Dana Harrison and Joel MacCharles. You can follow Dana and Joel on Instagram to watch the book come together over the next few months. I can't tell you much right now, but I can tell you that this book is going to be epic.

Dana and I thought we'd do some pre-cookbook-shoot-day-tests and made some lovely pictures. Some that we can share and some that you'll have to wait for. Enjoy!




Thursday, September 25, 2014

Dreams Do Come True!!

I have forever been obsessed with books. Since the day I could lift my head they have been a love of mine. Whether I'm opening a book for the first time or the millionth, the feel of the pages and the weight in my hands always takes me to a special happy place. Over the years I've figured out how to combine three of my passions into one tidy package. COOKBOOKS!!! Beautifully designed, well written, stunningly photographed cookbooks. How could a girl who loves to bake, eat, make photographs and sit reading for hours on end not fall head over heels madly in love with cookbooks??! Every time I sit surrounded by my stacks of books I can't help but dream about shooting one someday, about one day walking into a bookstore and seeing my photograph on the cover amongst the cookbook greats. Well, that day has come!!! I shot a cookbook!

Rob Firing, Ivy Knight and Kerry Knight's The Everyday Squash Cook.
Food styling by the lovely Chantal Payette.

Here's a peak at what we did:















Wednesday, July 2, 2014

RIP The Grid

Today is a sad day in publishing. The Grid, is no more.

I'm grateful to have had the pleasure of working with one of the hardest working, most talented and dedicated teams in publishing. Thank you to our fearless leaders - Photo Editor, Shelbie Vermette-Grant and Creative Director, Vanessa Wyse. You hit it out of the park.

Here's a little stroll down memory lane, starting with the first and last assignments I shot for The Grid. Oddly enough, they were both chef challenges. Funny how things just sort of wrap themselves up.









Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Eat all of Italy!

I've had to keep this project all hush hush for the longest time so I'm very excited to share it with you! I've been working on an app, called Product of Italy, with the most awesome-tastic team a girl could ever dream of! Chef Massimo Bruno, Shawn Bailey of Orangepaperclip, Art Director Dana Harrison and I took on the task of capturing the unique feel of 20 different Italian regions in still and animated images for the most amazing cooking app you'll ever get your hands on. I had a blast shooting a little stop motion for the app's opening page as well as a cover for each delicious region of Italy. Product of Italy is an interactive food series and cooking app all in one. This app will chaange the way you think about recipes and revolutionize the way you cook.

I can't thank this team enough for bringing me in on what has turned out to be one of my all time favourite projects. Thanks you guys!!

Massimo is the real deal and so is this app. Now go get cooking!!
http://productofitaly.ca/






Friday, January 25, 2013

All Hail The Internets!

A funny thing happened the other day, and then it happend again. I found it so amusing that I thought I should share. Here's a photograph I made for this week's issue of Maclean's Magazine:


In order to keep what I was working on all top secret like, I created an instagram alias for the purposes of our shoot. Thus, cakegirl89 was born. The day Maclean's hit newsstands "cakegirl89" started receiving likes and comments. Which of course, is the part that I find to be quite hy-sterical.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to thank "pinkcutiepie13" for having my back and letting me know that my instagram shot was being used in Maclean's, and of course to "theclappingwalrus" who hit the nail on the head.


Keep it coming social media!  You never cease to amuse me.