This project is a self-published book, a collaboration between longtime friend and writer Lucy Conte and myself. Sharing a love of food and books we wanted to showcase our talents and decided to produce a book together. This was a great project for me to work on as i was able to fully use my photography and design skills.
Creative Direction
This book is a collection of recipes passed down to Lucy from her Italian grandmother. The cookbook is more than a collection of recipes: it is a recollection of childhood memories and a way to pass down memories from one generation to another. In essence, this book is much like a memory play. I wanted the book to reflect the sense of the old world as it manifests in the new and to have a sense of nostalgia without being old fashioned.
To represent this visually I used a few guiding principles to direct both the photography and design:
• Light: Throughout the book I wanted the food to be lit with natural light. Soft shadows are used to evoke a sense of gentleness. These are treasured family memories.
• Colour: For the most part neutral colours are used for props and backgrounds. This helps to emphasize the food itself. After all it is through the food that a connection is made between the old and new, and between generations.
• Props: I didn’t want to use overly ornate props. I wanted to mix older-fashioned looking pieces with contemporary ones. Although these are heirloom recipes, they very much fit into a modern sensibility.
Photography
Putting on the photographer’s hat now, it was my job to make the whole book look like a cohesive whole. The photographs were made over a period of a couple years. I had to ensure the last image was in the same look and feel as the first. Following the creative direction of the piece meant careful consideration of the lighting, food styling, propping and layout of each photograph.
• Lighting: All images were photographed in my home studio. I have a large front window which acted like a large diffuser and lit the scenes beautifully.
• Food Styling: All food was prepped as it was being shot. I wanted an editorial feel so it was important to photograph the food as it was being made. Nothing was done to the food except make it look its best. Many of the dishes were eaten after the shoot.
• Propping: The number of props used for a project of this magnitude was considerable. Luckily I already had a collection of cookware that complimented the creative direction, and I was able to supplement it as needed. I used some props throughout the book for consistency, and others were used only once or very few times. i scoured both second hand and regular retail stores to build up the collection.
• Layout: In this context layout refers to the placement of elements within each image. Having a design background enabled me to arrange all pieces within a photograph to give it movement and to look organized, even when a large number of pieces are shown. Both symmetric and asymmetric layouts are used for variety.
Design
The design of the book itself reflects the general direction described earlier. As book designer, I am telling the story by the movement from the cover, to the title pages, the introductory pages, the table of contents, and then the recipe pages themselves. A flow and rhythm is established from one spread to the next. Images are full bleed and follow a very strict layout. For example, most recipes have the type on the left page, full page image on the right. Sometimes a collection of 3 images is shown on the right, and sometimes a double page spread is added to help illustrate how a recipe is put together.
When more than one image is on a page, there is no line between the images. I wanted to give a sense of flow between the images, and not be blocked or stopped visually by using lines. The lack of margins on the full bleed images is meant to not confine them.
The typography both aids in the comprehension of the recipe and gives a sense of lightness to the page. This enforces the creative direction as well: its lightness reflects the kind of light used in the images.
