marcus hay fluff N stuff: Real Simple

Showing posts with label Real Simple. Show all posts

Friday, February 20, 2015

Winter Images/ Ice Storm

Photography: Anna Williams, Styling & Art Direction: Studio Marcus Hay

Many winter moons ago, I worked on a fantastic shoot with the very talented Photographer Anna Williams, It was again recently featured on Popist, Check it out!

Popist writes: In a striking editorial series of still lifes, acclaimed New York-based photographer Anna Williams captures natural elements—leaves, branches, and twigs—caught within blocks of ice.

The shoot, she explains, was commissioned by RealSimple to illustrate an article about skincare in frigid winter climates. She executed the project collaboration with Art Director Marcus Hay, who selected each element and chilled them in his own freezer, a surprisingly complex feat. The texture of ice, notes Williams, varies vastly based upon how it is frozen. To create transparent ice, the water must be filtered, heated, chilled, and heated once more. If one deviates from this process, the mass of ice will be colored by layers of mist and fog, caused by entrapped air and minerals; in this case, the nuanced areas of clouds and clarity served to heighten the perceived depth of each organic object.

No matter what the assignment, Williams constructs her photographs to tell stories. Here, with these shrouded petals and branches, she evokes sensations of wintertime and the mythos of arctic climates.

It seem so appropriate right now as the weather in NY hits an all time low in temperature. Hope you enjoy these images, We loved creating this Winter Wonderland.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Real Simple/ Weeknight Meals/ Sep

Photography: Anna Williams

Fall has come and gone in the world of styling and photography in the editorial and advertising world (well mostly) I think we are hovering between the end of the holidays and the beginning of Spring. However a couple of months ago when I reconnected once again with another magazine I have had a long history with; Real Simple we were in the middle of shooting Fall.

The nice thing about Real Simple is they always let me suggest the color palette, So I was quite excited after shooting Summer for a long time to delve into a warmer, richer palette of browns, tans with hits of aqua.

Anna Williams shot the story and it goes without saying without her touch, the story would not have the richness and layers that are so accustomed to her work.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Real Simple/ Weeknight Meals/ May

Photography: Con Poulos

Back to my roots once again for another "Week of Dinners' now actually called "Weeknight Meals" This time shooting once again with the amazing Con Poulos and also working with a Food Stylist dear to my heart, Alison Attenborough Food Visionaire, check out her website and blog, It's a great read.

With Real Simple "Weeknight Meals" its is a very paired back experience, It takes great restraint on my part as a Prop Stylist to really only present the bare minimum, It's a different approach then to other magazines, At least in this section. The props are not really telling a story, other than a different meal for the 5 nights of the week. So in order to produce a shoot that feels elevated, the props need to be dead on. I like to use plates that have a little character, rather than ordinary, and keeping an eye on the minimal use of color is also important, If anything it's the food that is allowed to sing.

I really enjoy working on these shoots as usually I am thinking about a whole room or huge table scape which can be very layered, this type of shoot allows me to really focus on editing only the best, there are not too many "styling tricks" obvious here, It's the bare roots of styling at it's cleanest.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Real Simple/ Week of Dinners/ December

Photography: Jonny Valiant

An all too familiar revisit happened when I worked on Week of Dinners for the December issue of Real Simple which is out now. I had never really worked as the Stylist on this section but when I was on Real Simple as Style Director, I would be responsible in overseeing the styling of this section with another Stylist. Of course it has bee a number of years since I was there and although the concept has not really changed having been a regular staple section of the magazine for many years, it has moved on aesthetically quite a bit.

Shot by the ever wonderful Jonny Valiant jonnyvaliant.com.au , We started with the Process Style shot that appears on the opener, This represents some or most of the ingredients featured in the recipes before cooking them, I always love working with the raw food elements, The colors and texture of raw food is always inspiring. The other shots are simple and clean. I really liked the palette on this story, Being a winter story we were able to go and bit dark and moody.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Anna Williams

I stumbled across Anna Williams website the other day, annawilliamsphotography.com, maybe I was feeling sentimental but I have not seen her for ages and wanted to see what she had been up to, My other friend Anna (coincidently) had told me she has been doing some amazing work and I have to agree.

Anna Williams and I used to work together on many projects for Real Simple and it was always a pleasure. Maybe it’s the “Southern” thing, but as I hail from one of the most “Southern” places there is, Australia, somehow I always seem to click with that similar energy we seem to share, us southerners! : ) Anna is super talented but so calm and down to earth, It’s a great combo. Of course like me she has been living in NYC for many years and I believe gave birth recently to her second child, a boy! Congrats!

Anna has been shooting commercially for over 10 years for clients such as Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, O Magazine, Food & Wine, Beringer, Wal-Mart, Target, Fisher Price, Kmart and Williams Sonoma. She has also been recognized by PDN's 30 under 30 for her outstanding work in food and lifestyle photography.

Here are some examples of work that Anna and I have worked together on, hopefully again soon!