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Olive Oil, Sea Salt & Pepper is a collection of simple, basic, healthful recipes and cooking tips using those three versatile ingredients, written by chef/author Jenn Crovato. The look and feel of the book go with the philosophy of the author. It is for all of your senses.

The straightforward, elegant design was created by my longtime friend and collaborator, Kate McConnell, an art director and fine artist. This was one of those projects where everyone was perfect for the task. The success of the whole package comes down to the design—attention to detail, the color palette and the type. The design makes my photos look so good.

Look how simple and elegant the recipe page is.

Olive Oil, Sea Salt & Pepper is simple, easy and beautiful, through and through.

It’s so exciting to stroll grocery-store aisles and suddenly see packages featuring my photographs! Glutino is a major gluten-free product line, and I get the pleasure of seeing them often, as many stores carry their goods. For Glutino’s extensive rebranding campaign, my images are being used in their simple, elegant new packaging as well as on their terrific new website. I shot 75 of their delicious products, in many categories, from snack-foods to frozen meals to baking mixes.

Creating images that help to redefine an established brand is a satisfying project. Part of that challenge is to convey an impression of a simple, casual world—one that I want to hang out in. I start out with testing alone in the studio, taking the clients’ descriptions and layouts and interpreting them into  something remarkable. Lighting is my way into that world—the most important aspect for me. It is a language all on its own that communicates so much depth and feeling.

Next come the props and textures—the addition of something tactile that invites you into the scene. Then, the foundation is ready for the main course. I collaborated with expert food stylists Lisa Cherkasky and Debbie Wahl. Their casual styling perfectly complements Glutino’s foods, as well as the details in the fresh lighting and layering of textures—and you want to eat what is on set.

When the set is lit, props are selected, food is placed, details are scrutinized, adjusted and scrutinized again…finally, the camera captures that image. Then, the creative contributors step over to the monitor to see the results of their efforts pop up on the screen, in a moment of shared anticipation that Lisa Cherkasky calls, “waiting to be dazzled.”  I am dazzled everyday!

Thank you to Creative Director Eric Donsky and the rest of the talented group at Glutino for such a beautiful  project.

Passover is all about family, food and friends. For me, it’s a tradition filled with fond memories—and hope for a future of more good times. Assembling this montage, I reflected on our Passovers past, present and future.

Some photos were taken at our home:

• Dov making matzoh balls (which he won’t be home to do this year)

• Elan, our nephew collecting pinecones (He’s been cleaning out the pinecones in our yard for four years during his Passover visit.)

• Marty roasting chickens, the egg and the shank bone for the Seder plate on the big green egg

Some of the photos are from our trip to Jerusalem in 2011:

• A pomegranate growing at Bet She’an

• Spices at the Mehane Yehuda market

• Rosemary growing in Jerusalem

• Fresh fruit plate on a bench outside of our apartment

• Matzah Brei Omlet at a restaurant in Caesarea (This is something we make at home, but it was particularly delicious in the sunshine by the sea.)

• The spots of blue in the background are the Mediterranean Sea…a place I hope to return to soon

Some of the photos are recipes I shot for The New Jewish Table cookbook by Chef Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray of Equinox Restaurant, cowritten by David Hagedorn. We’re looking forward to adding some of the recipes from this great book to this year’s seder.:

• Matzoh Ball Soup, the cover image

• Tsimmes

• Poached Salmon Mousse with Cucumber Salad (see this recipe here)

I hope everyone has a great Passover with family, friends and food—and, that you’ll remember this year fondly at Passovers to come.

I love cookbooks! We have a great collection at the studio and at home, but always seem to be adding more. For people who love growing their cookbook collections, USA Weekend Magazine is running a great sweepstakes until the end of this year. In this contest, very week brings a new chance to win a featured cookbook—and the chance to be automatically entered into a drawing to win the grand prize at the end of 2013: all 52 featured cookbooks!

Having shot last year’s series of tasty, health-minded recipes by registered dietician Ellie Kreiger for USA Weekend (always along w/stylist Lisa Cherkasky), this year’s new scheme of shooting recipes from all different sources is a fun change for us. Some of the rich treats in the new cookbooks we are helping to show off include the adorable and just plain delicious “Brownie Roll-Out Cookies” from the very popular The Smitten Kitchen, above; and, The Liddabits Sweets Cookbook Chocolate Nonpariels, which I featured in my Valentine’s Day post.

Another highly popular cookbook featured is Ina Garten’s Barefoot Countessa Foolproof. My shot of her recipe for “Endive, Orange and Roquefort Salad” is above. Refreshing any time of year, the fresh, colorful combination of ingredients suggested Summer to me.

I shot “Baked Potato Soup” from Unbelievably Gluten-Free!—a hearty recipe, perfect for supper on a chilly night, below.

The range of specialities in the cookbooks featured is diverse—from Tequila Mockingbird “literature-inspired cocktails” to The Food Truck Cookbook Waffle Breakfast Tacos. Check the USA Weekend website weekly for new recipes—and enter for chances to win one—or 52—cookbooks!

The New Jewish Table cookbook is finally published! I kvelled in a previous post about photographing this collection of more than 125 recipes by Chef Todd Gray and wife/partner Ellen Kassoff Gray of Washington DC’s Equinox Restaurant. Co-written with David Hagedorn, the concept of the book was inspired by the couple’s  cross-cultural relationship. Ellen’s Eastern-European Jewish family background is a dynamic counterpoint to Todd’s Virginia heritage. And, their credo of farm-to-table, seasonal, regional, sustainable cuisine forms a unifying element. Some of the fantastic recipes include a baked veal roast, above; and, stuffed cabbage with onions and ground beef, below…

Grilled New York strip steak with carmelized artichokes…

Summer brunch homemade dill pickles…

And, chocolate rugelach…

To check out sample pages (and some recipes), view The New Jewish Table in preview here.

Several appearances and signing events are scheduled to promote the book, including these events:

March 11, 7 p.m., Washington, DC: Sixth & I Historic Synagogue  (Rescheduled from March 6):

March 14, 7 p.m., Baltimore: Temple Oheb Shalom

March 17, 5:30 p.m., Baltimore: The Ivy Bookshop

March 21, 5:30 p.m., New York City: DeGustibus

March 24, 7:30 p.m., Washington, DC: Politics & Prose Bookstore

April 17, 5 p.m., St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands: Undercover Books

After March 5, you may find The New Jewish Table at your own local bookstore. Or, check the Equinox Restaurant website for more even more options, including links to ebook formats.

 “Cooking at its core is about love,” said Liz Guzman, co-author (with Jen King) of the Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook, featured in USA Weekend magazine. Making a batch of their chocolate nonpareils for a special person would be a sweet way to express love on Valentine’s Day. Styled by Lisa Cherkasky and photographed by me, they inspired me to add my own touch to the image, just for fun.

This little unexpected treat happened on another shoot…

Sometimes work—and life—presents us with “happy accidents” like this. It reminds me of the happy accident that changed my life forever: Many years ago, a man’s flight was cancelled and his hastily revised travel plan was a new ticket for a seat that happened to be assigned next to mine. He talked for two hours after I told him that all I wanted to do was to sleep…That man became my husband!

So, here’s to happy accidents—and Happy Valentine’s Day!

George Washington’s Mount Vernon just published their new Official Guidebook, and I’m very proud to have my photograph of the estate on the cover (and many of my images on inside pages as well). Over the past several years I’ve contributed to a variety of projects for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which is the organization that oversees the preservation of the Washingtons’ home. For their annual report and for this guidebook, I’ve had the opportunity to capture all aspects of the estate grounds, from the tip of the distinctive weathervane to rich soil in the gardens. I’ve also photographed the mansion—inside and out—and many historic recipes for the Dining with the Washingtons cookbook. The cookbook is related to research brought to life in “Hoecakes & Hospitality, Cooking with Martha Washington,” their exhibit on domestic life, dining and foodways at Mount Vernon.

These projects have offered me such a great variety of experiences: I got to spend the night in the mansion so I could rise early enough to catch the dawn light; and, I got the unique thrill of shooting from great heights to capture the sweep of the estate for the bird’s-eye view of this image. Having spent many happy days working there, I’ve come to love this very special place. I’m glad that my work helps others appreciate it also.

Drink wine! Eat chocolate! Fortunately, those recommendations are two of the “10 Healthy Resolutions You’ll Love” depicted in the image I shot for this AARP Bulletin cover story. I thought these suggestions are almost too good to be true—but the article backs them up with “solid new science.”  The research tells us wine is “heart-healthy…protects against diabetes and some cancer.” And dark chocolate can “help cells resist damage that may contribute to cancer and other maladies…protecting against heart attack and stroke.” This is all good, as someone had to clean up after that shoot. Some of the resolutions in the article that I will strongly consider in 2013 include: “Drink Coffee Daily,” “Go Outside” and “Take a Nap.” Not necessarily in that order…

I love it when a simple shot is like a puzzle broken into parts. It is a matter of looking and seeing the details. Each element of this cover shot for AARP Bulletin needed something different to make it look its best: The wine needed that glow to make it look alive, the glass needed a more subtle touch, and the chocolate needed just a touch of glare. With stylist Lisa Cherkasky’s delicate addition of a few bubbles to say “freshly poured”… now, I want some wine and chocolate!

“Knock the salt shaker off the table”! That’s the aim (and back cover blurb) of this lovely cookbook, You Won’t Believe It’s Salt-Free. I worked with a really talented group on this project: author/nutritionist Robyn Webb, culinary literary agent Beth Shepard, food stylist Lisa Cherkasky and prop stylist Audrey Weppler. We created simple soothing photos of delicious low-sodium or no-sodium recipes offering flavorful alternatives to salt, including the images in the collage below. Bon appetit—salt-free!

I tend to E-A-T  A-L-O-T during the holidays! While sharing tons of treats with family and friends is indulgent fun, it’s good to learn that many tempting, colorful foods may have even more goodness than we knew. According to recent studies discussed in AARP Bulletin, they may also help to prevent some cancers. It was fun shooting the illustrations for this story. All of these photos appeared in the AARP Bulletin print edition, as shown here, and on their website. Read the full article here, or view it in condensed form as a slide presentation here.

Lisa Cherkasky styled the beautiful “E-A-T” image, and Jenn Crovato styled the tasty hotdog and veggie kabob shots. I recently enjoyed shooting Jenn’s upcoming book, Olive Oil, Sea Salt & Pepper: Healing With Fresh Foods. Due for release in February, 2013, it will be a good resource for more info on how to cook and E-A-T delicious A-N-D healthful foods. I’ll be sharing more info and photos from it here soon.

The AARP Bulletin article shares this dietary recommendation—easy for an artist to remember: “…look at the big picture and consider your total diet. The easiest way to do this is to think colors. Your plate of food should have a rainbow of them — deep-coral baked salmon with a mix of dark green lettuces studded with ruby-red cranberries and a scoop of orange mashed sweet potatoes. The more colors, the more nutrients.” I can do that (especially after the holidays, when we all resolve to rein in our appetites)!

I wish all a happy, healthy—and colorful–2013!