Note this drawing is now closed. I’ve been counting the days until April 29th for a while now. The first cookbook by Iron Chef Marc Forgione (cleverly titled Marc Forgione) was a long time in the works. The photo shoot for example happened well over a year and a half ago. If you see the book in person, you’ll understand right away why this book took so long to produce. The Daily News calls it “epic,” and I’d have to agree. So much heart and soul went into making this book a reality. There are a lot of people I would like to thank, but here I want to tell you about the photo shoot. That’s Marc of course above, along with photographer Evan Sung. They’re both very careful and thoughtful guys when it comes to photography. No detail goes unnoticed. Here’s an extended look behind the scenes, and skip to the bottom if you live in the U.S. or Canada and want to be entered into a drawing for a copy of the brand-new book.
This is the kind of thing I can’t do at home with my photography. I just don’t have the right gear to get those overhead shots like this.
Here is photographer Evan Sung capturing an overhead shot freehand on a ladder. It was my first time working with Evan, and he would do just about anything to get the photo just right.
And that’s prop stylist Kira Corbin at work with Marc on set. I can’t say enough great things about Kira, working under challenging conditions on set at the restaurant. We had to finish up the shoot every day on the early side, because of course the restaurant had to open for business at night. There was a lot of running up and down stairs with props. But more important, Kira has impeccable taste.
I don’t even know how to describe some of the crazy stuff we were doing on set, but you’ll see for yourself when you check out the book — the photos are so cool. Of course these are just my snapshots from behind the scenes. For Evan’s real photos, you’ll have to see the actual book in a store. (I mentioned it’s officially being published today, right?)
The food was so amazing, I have to admit nothing we photographed lasted belong before someone on the crew ate it. And Marc’s styling on the photos is beautiful.
I have so many photos like these, of Marc and Evan putting tremendous thought into the next shot, working closely together. I can’t say enough about what a great team this was and how proud I am of the book now that it’s published.
Marc was like an artist at work. He styled things in ways for the book that would be totally impractical for serving at the restaurant, but all I can say is that I was incredibly impressed.
There’s the whole team figuring out how to capture this next image, the tomahawk chop, which turned into a gorgeous double-page spread in the book thanks to designer Alison Lew of Vertigo.
Again if you think any of these food photos are pretty, you will be so much more impressed when you see the real photos in the book. And as mentioned above, if you live in the U.S. or Canada and would like to be entered into a random drawing for a copy of the book, please post a comment below. A winner will be selected at midnight on Friday, May 2nd.
