Last days of Summer/ Tomatoes

Photography: Anna Williams, Out take from Williams Sonoma shoot, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

With the Labor Day weekend, Here in the US it is unofficially the last days of Summer and it's with a touch of sadness we leave Summer, 2014 for a cooler but equally as fun Fall. Here at Studio Marcus Hay we had the pleasure of working with Photographer Anna Williams on summer tomatoes for Williams Sonoma and boy have they been great this Summer, We have had some amazing tomato dishes this season. 

We hope you all had a great Summer, 2014 and here's to a wonderful Fall. 

Williams Sonoma/ Tomatoes/ Summer 2014

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Not many of you may know this but I love tomatoes, everything about them! One of my most favorite smells in the world is the smell of tomato vines and leaves. I love that earthy tangy fragrance that is like no other. 

When Williams Sonoma asked me to style the Summer Tomato program for their latest catalog, I was very happy. Not only did I get to work with the ever amazing Photographer Anna Williams but we spent close to a week and half photographing all varieties of tomatoes possible an believe you me, there is a lot of them. We got to shoot on a very inspiring property in San Francisco that looked straight out of Tuscany

The food was styled by the wonderful Sandra Cook You have to agree those tarts looked amazing!  

Hope you enjoy the shots, We had a great time creating them. 

Williams Sonoma/ Thanksgiving & November, 2014, Part 2

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: John Kernick, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Just when I thought that was it, Another batch of great images I did for Williams Sonoma hatches in the new Holiday Catalog which I picked up in their stores. 

Once again these were shot largely in San Francisco except the Blackberry Farm portion which was shot in TN, I was so glad to see our dusk shots of the outdoor bar made it in, We work till 10pm that night getting that shot so I glad to see it got included, there was something very magical about the sunset that night! 

These shots were photographed once again by John Kernick, Anna Williams and Romulo Yanes. Food Styled by Alison Attenborough, Maggie Ruggiero and Merilee Bordin 

Williams Sonoma/ Thanksgiving & November Catalog, 2014 Part 1

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Left: Romulo Yanes, Right: John Kernick, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Right: John Kernick, Left: Romulo Yanes, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

This could be my very last post on the work I did for Williams Sonoma for their Thanksgiving and Nov Catalogs. Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and Wiliams Sonoma have some very interesting technology when it comes to cooking a turkey, Check out how to cook a turkey with the aid of your IPhone or iPad. Of course the challenge was to make this technology not look like The Jetsons, but friendly and inviting. 

Other spreads here include blenders and waffle machines.

It's always amazing to be part of the process of presenting cookware to customers and to see how the mastery of Food Styling is put into place, I worked with many talented Food Stylists to produce these pages including Alison Attenborough, Maggie Ruggiero and Merilee Bordin 

These pages were photographed by John Kernick, Anna Williams and Romulo Yanes, All of whom I loved working with once again. 

Williams Sonoma/ Thanksgiving, 2013

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: John Kernick, Styling Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Romulo Yanes, Styling by Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: John Kernick, Styling Studio Marcus Hay

Is that time already!?, Nearly! Fall is in the air as it gets chillier and we start thinking about the Holidays! At Studio Marcus Hay we have been thinking about the Holidays since June. 

As we did a series of trips over many States for Williams Sonoma including New York,  San Francisco and Tennessee, shooting Turkeys in every port. 

These images appear in the first run for Thanksgiving online at Williams Sonoma and also in the Catalog out now. 

Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at Thanksgiving for Williams Sonoma as the Season draws closer. 

All these images were shot by the amazing Photographers, Anna Williams, John Kernick and Romulo Yanes. 

Food Network Magazine/ Summer Potatoes

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

The humble spud, who knew you could have so much variety with the same recipe, A potato salad. For the latest July/ August issue of Food Network Magazine, I was asked to style by the magazine, 5 different Food Network stars recipes, Sunny Anderson, Bobby Flay, Alex Guarnaschelli, Robert Irvine and Anne Burrell. 

Many of the stories I find myself working on are interpreting a celebrity chefs style in terms of what plate they would use, the style of napkin etc if in fact they had been able to be there. As many of you would know each star has a particular flavor to their personal style and cooking, It's the job of the Prop Stylist to be instinctive and interpret this often without ever meeting them. I often wonder when a shoot comes out, do these celebrity chef's ever think we channeled their spirit in the best way, hopefully so,  Food for thought? ; )   

The feature was shot by the talented Anna Williams  and the food was styled once again by the very seasoned Susan Spungen  

Trisha Yearwood/ Food Network Magazine

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams 

Photography: Anna Williams

Trisha Yearwood as many would know in the U.S  is a country artist that has also ventured into Cook Books, Her collaboration with Food Network and  Food Network Magazine lead me to style a feature of her recipes in the June Issue out now. 

Trisha books consists of recipes passed down through her mother, aunts, cousins and longtime friends, with a heavy focus on Southern Style Cooking. An interesting recipe she does which we styled in accordance is Low-Country Style Boil which is simply served on newspaper in the middle of the table kind of like how the British eat their Fish and Chips. 

I took the lead from her books and tried to give the feature a casual feel with a slight reference to the outdoors and a casual Southern way of living and cooking. 

The feature was shot by the wonderful Anna Williams  and the food was styled once again by the very talented Susan Spungen  

Strawberry Shortcake/ Food NetworkMagazine

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams 

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

When I was a kid my sisters Kristy and Bec had those dolls called Strawberry Shortcakes, For years their bedroom smelt like a synthetic Strawberry Shortcake and Key Lime Pie (Strawberry Shortcakes Cousin) It is a Franchise that still exists today although Strawberry has been updated and had new friends called Ginger Snap and Angel Cake. 

Growing up in Australia, These types of deserts were actually quite foreign to me, We had our own famous deserts such as Lamingtons and Pavlova. It was actually quite delightful to be able to tap into styling these for the June Issue of Food Network Magazine with a regular co-contributor, the amazing Photographer Anna Williams  They were made and Food Styled by the very talented Susan Spungen who did an outstanding job considering strawberries were not at their peak 3 months ago. 

Hope you enjoy and Yes they were delicious! 

Good Housekeeping/ Salads

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

For The latest June issue of US Good Housekeeping, Studio Marcus Hay got the opportunity to work again with the lovely Anna Williams. The story was on Salads and we were working to the theme of the Salads being inspired by different parts of the world. In the U.S one thing I have learnt from living here is that Salads are big as meals so these are all Salad recipes you can make for meals rather than just sides.

Summer is on it's way and finally all my Summer stories are hitting the newsstands.  

Williams Sonoma/ Easter

Photography: Anna Williams 

Photography: Anna Williams 

Photography: Anna Williams 

Shot by the wonderful Anna Williams, Food by the ever talented Alison Attenborough, We had a wonderful team working on part of the Easter section in the current Williams Sonoma Catalog. Shooting in San Francisco, we had a very creative week. 

I actually hand painted the background myself that was use throughout this section. Working with such a vivid blue was a lot of fun, We largely took a very graphic approach, I wove in fabric napkins hand sewn by my crafty Assistant Heather Sanksy

Williams Sonoma/ January 2013

January Cover (Not styled by me)

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Anna Williams

Photography: Eric Piasecki

Photography: Eric Piasecki

Photography: Eric Piasecki

Photography: Eric Piasecki

Photography: Romulo Yanes

Photography: Romulo Yanes

Most of November last year I spent in San Francisco working for a new client Williams Sonoma. Many may know that Williams Sonoma the brand is actually the company that also own West Elm and Pottery Barn, Both of which I have worked many times before. 

The work in November was for Williams Sonoma, the store. According to Wikipedia: Williams-Sonoma was founded in 1956 by Charles E. (Chuck) Williams, selling professional and restaurant-quality kitchenwares for home use. Chuck Williams was one of the titans of the American food revolution. With over 620 stores in the U.S, The brand is enormous and one of the most successful high-end American consumer retail company that sells kitchenwares, furniture and linens, as well as other housewares and home furnishings, along with a variety of specialty foods, soaps and lotions.

I worked on these pages for the January Issue of their Catalog, Here you can see some Bridal, Salad and Coffee pages and sneak peaks from the Easter shots to follow in the next Catalog that already appear on their website. 

It is exciting times at Williams Sonoma with new Creative Direction, I enjoyed working once again with Photographers Romulo Yanes and Anna Williams and also for the first time with Eric Piasecki.