Good Housekeeping/ Farm-Fresh Suppers

Photography: Con Poulos, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Con Poulos, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Con Poulos, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Con Poulos, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Con Poulos, Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

For the latest issue September issue of Good Housekeeping Magazine, Studio Marcus Hay was asked to contribute once again with the team at Good Housekeeping and wonderful Photographer Con Poulos. The Food was styled by the very talented Christine Albano. 

This story is made up of entirely of vegetarian meals, The palette for the story was initially  to be just yellow and gray but as the story progressed, we felt it needed a pop of blue to help lift it and reinforce a Summer vibe. Making a dash to S.M.H prop cupboard helped solve that issue, We never have too less a blue prop at Studio Marcus Hay : )

The first 4 spreads shown here are the story plus two extra shots shown on the last spread that show 2 other pages in the magazine we shot including a beautiful Caramel Apple Skillet pie on a aqua colored platter by my friends at Dinosaur Designs 

Hope you enjoy the last of the Summer vibe as Summer slowly turns to Fall.

Good Housekeeping/ Easy as Pie

Photography: Con Poulos, Prop Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Con Poulos, Prop Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Con Poulos, Prop Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Con Poulos, Prop Styling: Studio Marcus Hay

Who doesn't love a pie?! At Studio Marcus Hay we sure do, in fact we all had to have a sample a little of all of these beauties baked and styled by the amazing Christine Albano. I have to say the plum was a personal favorite! 

It was great to be involved in this pie making story for Good Housekeeping Magazine. What was first a smaller story that we had originally shot at the end of another larger story became it's own feature due to the fact that back at The GH office, our pie shots were so well received they wanted us to shoot more shots to extend the story including a new opener and ice-cream companions. 

When producing this story we had a struggle finding 4 identical vintage pie dishes, It was our mission, It is kind of ironic that you can't really see them due to the angle we took but believe you me they are there, Thanks for Christine's patience as we hunted and gathered these. 

Photographer Con Poulos did an wonderful job shooting this feature which can be found in the August issue of Good Housekeeping. 

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! 

Martha Stewart Living/ Yogurt Story

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

For the December issue Of Martha Stewart Living, Out now on news stands, I was asked to contribute on Fit to Eat section of the magazine. It was great to work once again with the very talented Kate Mathis. 

For the Yogurt story, The colors were soft blues with a little hit of turquoise, a great compliment to the color of Yogurt. The recipes were made obviously all out of yogurt and included Panna Cotta, Pasta, A Dip and A Lassi recipe.  

It was also great to work with on staff Food stylist Greg Lofts with whom I worked with when he assisted and now is doing his own thing at MS.   

It's hard to believe but this is my first story for MSL, I have worked on the now sadly defunct Everyday Food for many issues, but was excited to re visit the brand and work on such a lovely story, I hope you enjoy and are inspired.  

Good Housekeeping/ Pasta Meals

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Taking a different approach this month for Good Housekeeping, The brief for this story on Pasta was to simplify on the propping and keep the palette neutral. As magazines ever evolve with their approach and layout, this story is a result of re-looking at the regular format and changing it up. I have been styling stories for the magazine for a few years now, it's always nice to be able to reinvent a regular section and re invigorate it. Usually the stories in the past were a bit more themed, layered with a more distinct color palette.

Usually some magazines can shy away from too many over the head shots, perhaps it's seen as too graphic, Personally I always like them. This time we were also able to incorporate a lot more of these airiel views of the food. 

The propping was a lot more simple and I was able to use some really lovely textured linens and hand spun ceramics.

The story was shot with the ever talented Kate Mathis, Hope you enjoy!..Carb up! 

Women's Health/ Stone Fruit & Cocktails

Photography by Romulo Yanes 

Photography by Romulo Yanes  

Photography by Romulo Yanes 

Photography by Romulo Yanes 

Main Photograph: Romulo Yanes

Main Photograph: Romulo Yanes 

For the July Issue of Women's Health, I was asked again to contribute to their food pages for the July Issue. Once again I got to work with Photographer Romulo Yanes and it was once again such a pleasure as always. The stories we shot were on Skinny Cocktails and Stone Fruit, everybody's favorite in Summer. The palette was relatively neutral for Some Fruits but I was instructed to pick up the colors of the fruit themselves ever so slightly so I wove in some pale lilac's and pinks, but offset it with some blues and greens on neutral backgrounds, For cocktails it was all about choosing the right silhouettes for the drinks, Making sure they all looked different and had a mixture of classic but interesting shapes. When shooting cocktails you often need a ready supply of many multiples of the same clean glass as they need to be refreshed in the shot often 2/3 times before getting the perfect one. This is harder when three are in the shot at the same time : )   


The food  and drinks were styled by the very talented Victoria Granof who is well known for working with the late and great Photographer Irving Penn for over a decade. Her approach to food she sums up as saying on her website "It's about the emotion" I would have to agree, her passion shines through, I always love watching a Food Stylist at work, It is indeed a very specialized profession as some would say is also mine, We all in this industry get paid to make often difficult things look very simple.   

Food Network Magazine/ Pasta Salads

Photography: Yunhee Kim

Photography: Yunhee Kim

Photography: Yunhee Kim

Photography: Yunhee Kim

In the latest issue of Food Network Magazine for the July Issue. I had the chance once again to work with Photographer Yunhee Kim Yunhee and I had not worked together for many years since our work with Real Simple. 


As we are in the midst right now of Summer in NYC, It's hot! Pasta Salads seem so appetizing right now, I don't actually eat Pasta but if I did! : ) The palette quite often in July Issues across the board in the USA is red, white and blue. July 4th is a big holiday here and so these colors are often evocative of that season. Other stories in the issue also reflected this color palette so in a way this story was an extension of these.


I was very happy to be able to use my 1950's salad individual bowls found in St Paul, Minnesota with the Orzo salad.


Food Stylist Maggie Ruggiero once again worked with me on the food and did a wonderful job, She teases me on set for being so Blog/ Facebook orientated, So Maggie this one is for you! : )  

Good Housekeeping/ Bobby Flay Feature

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Photography: Kate Mathis

Ok, If it would just stop raining we might start to feel Summer! A couple months ago when shooting this story with the wonderful Photographer Kate Mathis, squint and you swear it was Summer in the studio. We were matching shots of Bobby Flay's previously shot on location in his kitchen (These images not shown) A feature on a Summer menu recommended by him. 

Michael Pederson was the Food Stylist and he did a great job bringing Bobby's classic recipes to life. Grilled Corn on the cob, Pork sliders, Watermelon with Lime/Honey Syrup, Skirt Steak, You can just smell it, right!? 


I was also delegated to being Bobby's body double in parts, wearing the same shirt as his cover, but unfortunately you won't be seeing these shots here either! : ) 

Good Housekeeping/ Budget Meals

Photography: Con Poulos

Photography: Con Poulos

Photography: Con Poulos

Photography: Con Poulos

For the June issue out on the news stands now, We shot the current food story for Good Housekeeping. The theme was Budget Meals (A common theme it seems these days ; ) It was shot with a regular Co-Contributor Photographer Con Poulos. The colors for the story were pre determined somewhat by the team at the magazine, They were to be Yellow, Orange and Blue/ Green. The article is in a Summer issue, so the photography and styling was to feel summery, light and inviting. I wove in some stripes and a slight Ethnic feel with prints on napkins and backgrounds. It's always so refreshing to embrace a summer story after such a long Winter in NYC.

One of my favorite Editors I have the pleasure to work with each time I contribute to Good Housekeeping is Susan Westmoreland, The magazines Food Director, Susan is is responsible for planning and producing the food features, She also appears in monthly television pieces for Good Housekeeping Reports, a syndicated news service featuring tests and consumer news from the Good Housekeeping Institute, She is a very busy woman but always gracious, generous and at ease. 

Food has always been a part of Westmoreland's life, before entering the publishing profession 25 years ago; she was a chef in Long Island, Massachusetts, and Greece. She remains an active member of the food community and has served on the Board of Directors of Les Dames d'Escoffier and the New York Women's Culinary Alliance. Her knowledge of Food is inspiring and it's so great to work with someone who really loves what they do and it shows on every shoot we do together.

The food was styled by the amazing Anne Disrude.