The Messy Baker

Charmian Christie's 'The Messy Baker' has hit the shelves and we're thrilled with the final result.In shooting this book, our goal was to show baking as it happens in the real world - sweet, savoury, messy and fun. Keeping things loose & playful, chapters are broken up into crumbly, dippable, sloppy, smudgy, gritty and drippy. The book is beautifully designed by Amy King and the Rodale design team.

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Food Stylist: Noah Witenoff Prop Stylist: Madeleine Johari Retouching: Matt 'T-Bone' Gibson

The Book

Boozy Chocolate Torte

Brownies

Blueberry Lime Muffins

Basil Cheddar Scones

Poppyseed Bars

Profiteroles

Macarron Meringues

Fig Apricot Newtons

Almond & Fruit Florentines

Boozy Whipped Cream

Vanilla Palmiers

Chewy Ginger Cookies

Cranberry Orange Waffles

Roasted Strawberries

Gouda Dutch Baby

Spicy Cauliflower

Lavash Bread

Mushroom Leek Gruyere Tart

Oreo Cookies

Sweet Potato Samosas

The wonderful Charmian Christie

The Eyeball Test

We love new toys at the studio and we recently picked up a doozy - the Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm F2.It's a beautiful manual focus macro lens that shoots incredibly well wide open. So we decided to test it out with a little eyeball photo shoot. It's really unbelievable how much intricate detail there is an eyeball, and how different each person's eye is from the next.

Me

Matt

Madeleine

Noah

Agnes

Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100

Family Meals

Last November, we packed up the studio, loaded the van and headed back out to Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island to team up again with chef Michael Smith for his new cookbook "Family Meals". This book features 100 healthy, simple & delicious recipes straight from Michael's home kitchen. We shot this book over the course of 2 weeks. A personal favourite of mine is the Broccoli tofu with spicy peanut sauce.

Publisher: Penguin Group

Prop stylist: Madeleine Johari Food stylist: Noah Witenoff Retouching: Matt Gibson

Street Tacos

Flaming Banana Splits

Saturday Pancakes

Gingersnap Tiramisu

Breakfast Burrito

Fallen Chocolate Cake

Sweets & Treats

Soups & Stews

My Dad's Steak

Roast Beef Sandwich

Salt & Pepper Melon

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Kale!

Chocolate Chip Blondies

Brocoli Tofu with Spicy Peanut Sauce & Brown Rice

Gabe enjoying a Boston Cream Cupcake

Family Meals

Caesar Cookbook

The Caesar is my go-to cocktail at the bar. So when I was asked to shoot a cookbook of Canada’s iconic cocktail, it was a no-brainer - count me in!For this boozy little project we teamed up with Clint Pattemore, Chief Mixing Officer for Mott’s Clamato along with Chefs Connie DeSousa and John Jackson who created the food recipes. Over the span of 3 weeks we shot over 50 different kinds of Caesars along with 20 food recipes to pair with them.

Publisher: Appetite by Random House Prop Stylist: Madeleine Johari Food Stylist: Noah Witenoff

Here are a few of my personal favourites:

The book!

Blackberry Lemon Caesar

Fireworks Caesar

Lobster Caesar

Royal Caesar

Bacon-ato!

Black Cherry Caesar

Turkey Breast Porchetta Style with Cucumber Feta Dip

The Classic Caesar

Gin & Ginger Caesar

Caesar Sangrita

Peachy-Keen Caesar

Mediterranean Caesar

Hot Pickled Caesar

Spicy Pimento Caesar

Noah mixing up a drink for us

Back to Basics - Chef Michael Smith

Here is a quick look at Chef Michael Smith’s new cookbook, Back to Basics, released this month. We shot this book over 10 days in PEI at Michael’s fully loaded test kitchen and we're looking forward to round 2 in November to shoot his next one. Here’s a few of our favourite shots from the book. Food Styling: Unkie No-No (Noah Witenoff) Food Styling Assistant: Magical Mel Stuparyk Prop Styling: Mad Dog Johari Post-production: Meathead Gibson

Bottomless Pot of Steamed Mussels

Prosciutto Roasted Asparagus

Tree Fruit Compote

Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb

Whole Wheat Spaetzle with Baby Spinach

Brazillian Grilled Steak with Salsa Criolla

The Team!

The Flavour Principle

Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol's new cookbook, The Flavour Principle was just released a few days ago. Last fall, I had the pleasure of shooting this book with an all-star team which made my job pretty easy.I'm really proud of how this one turned out. Here are a few of my favourite shots from the book.

Art Director: Colleen Nicholson Food Stylist: Eshun Mott Prop Stylist: Madeleine Johari Digital Guru: Mathew Bartholomew Gibson jr.

Publisher: HarperCollins

The Book!

Steak

Buffalo Mozzarella & Pickled Fennel

On the Rocks

Spicy Chilled Pea Soup with Crisp Mint

Korean Beef Noodle Sitr-Fry

Warm Lemon Poppy Seed Cakes

Ardbeg Whisky

The Definitive Stockyards Spareribs

Cherry Tomatoes

Mango Ice Cream

Oysters with Horseradish Gelée

Warm Chocolate Caramel Cakes

Saffron Risotto with Scallops

Warm Lemon Poppy Seed Cakes

Toronto Life Cookbook 2013 - Food

Every chef puts a bit of their personality and attitude into his or her recipes. I try to keep that in mind while I'm working on a project like this, because the food can be just as much fun as the people who create it.Here are a few of my favourite dishes from this year's batch.

Patty Melt - Rose & Sons

Minestrone Soup - Samuel J. Moore

Steak with Shishito Peppers - Bar Isabel

Scalloped Sweet Potatoes - The Grove

Laksa - Hawker Bar

Creole Corn Fritters - Leslieville Pumps

Chai Spice Doughnuts - Glory Hole

Panna Cotta - Toca

Macaroni & Cheese - The Gabardine

Mexican Corn - La Carnita

Bangcakes - Origin Liberty

Roasted Scallops - Bent

Paella - Patria

Duck Trio - Farmhouse Tavern

Spaghetti all'amatriciana

Toronto Life Cookbook 2013 - The Chefs

The Toronto Life Cookbook hits the shelves this week. This is my second year shooting this project and it’s quickly become one of my favourites. I get to work with 40 of the city’s top chefs, shooting their food along with a portrait of them in their restaurant. First up, here' a look at a few of the portraits of this year’s chefs. I’ll post another blog in coming days to show off the food. Enjoy!

Teo Paul - Cote de Boeuf

Susur Lee - Bent

Basilio Pesce - Porzia

Chris Jang - A-OK Foods

Didier Leroy - Didier

Kristel Placida - Le Ti Colibri

Monica Miller - Saving Grace

Alex Molitz - Farmhouse Taven

Alec Martin - Hawker Bar

Danielle Oron - Moo Milk Bar

Andrew Carter - The Oxley

Greg Flom - Leslieville Pumps

Eron Novalski - Aria

Matt Petit - Rock Lobster

Jonathan Hamilton & Andrew Richmond - La Carnita

Ashley Jacot De Boinod - Glory Hole

Anthony Rose - Rose and Sons

Tye Thomas and Bryan Lavers - Thomas Lavers Cannery

Steve Gonzalez - Valdez

Alexandra Feswick - Samuel J. Moore

Craig Harding - Campagnolo

Gihen Zitouni - Toca

Attilio Pugliese - Happy Hooker

Grant Van Gameren - Bar Isabel

Let's go to the Ex!

Celebrating the Ex's intestinal terrorist and his band of brothers. anti-food styling: Noah Witenoff anti-assisting: Matt Gibson

The Jumbo Corn Dog

The Caramel Apple

Corn on the Cob

The Jumbo Turkey Leg

Cotton Candy

The Mini Donut

The Donut Burger

Chef Michael Smith

We were thrilled to be invited out to Prince Edward Island this past January to shoot Chef Michael Smith's latest cookbook.Not so thrilled about the blizzard we got caught in on our way there (see the photo below).

Once we got settled in, it was a fantastic shooting experience in the beautiful town of Bay Fortune. Michael and his wonderful team set us up in an amazing cottage right next to the studio. I really can't say enough about how great we were treated while we were out there. It felt like we were on vacation.

A few highlights for me included:

1. Drinking PEI Moonshine. 2. The endless games of ping pong. 3. Madeleine discovering a new constellation - 'the mini dipper' 4. Noah taking on the nickname of 'lettuce leaf' 5. Watching Mel go up and down the stairs from the kitchen to the shooting area 900 times.

The book won't be out until later this year, but here's a little preview of some of the shots we did:

Prop Stylist: Madeleine Johari Food Stylist: Noah Witenoff Food Stylist Assistant: Melanie Stuparyk