boston
Excited to be featured on Rocket To The Moon’s site for artists we love! 2020 has been an interesting year with its highs and lows. Connecting with him and the worldwide production team he has was certainly a big plus to end the year! Looking forward to 2021 and the opportunities to work together on some great Food and Beverage projects. Check out the amazing talent they’ve also worked with here: https://www.rockettothemoon.net/
PORTFOLIO: https://www.rockettothemoon.net/felicia-perretti
What a fun week working with Gorton’s Seafood again and food stylist Helen Jones. We got to photograph some of Gorton’s signature fish products with new photography and updated design. Overall the imagery was beautiful, fresh, and natural feeling. A great product you can enjoy for dinner or even lunch. Can’t wait to see the final shots in stores! Check out our B.T.S. from the shoot.
It was so exciting to get the call for a new push Aramark was doing for their annual report and other advertising outlets. They wanted something fresh and to really "raise the bar" on their offerings to potiental clients. They are the 2nd largest in the food business in North America and have clients all over in different capacities. We had a day of shooting food items on different surfaces creating unique environments. Debbie Wahl handled the food styling and Lisa Russell did props. The agency creative flew in from California and Aramark came to the shoot. We had a lot of fun and came out with really exciting work! You can see a little B.T.S. below.
How did Thanksgiving start? We gather each year with family and friends on this day sharing in big feasts but do we take the time to learn its roots?
In 1620 the Mayflower, a ship from Plymouth, England went on a journey seeking a new home to practice their faith freely. After a long and treacherous journey it brought them to the New World and landed at Cape Cod. Their first winter there was very brutal and lives were lost. Once March approached the remaining ship crew; the pilgrims came ashore to settle. The Native Americans who lived there helped and taught the pilgrims how to cultivate corn, catch fish among other helpful survival tactics. The next year the pilgrim’s had their first successful corn harvest that called for a celebration! That celebratory feast was the first unofficial Thanksgiving that we know today. Source: History.com
If anyone knows me, they know I have an appreciation for good beer. Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY has a variety of some of the best beers in the country. I knew of their brews before they became famous with the Game of Thrones specialty beer they put together. HBO came to them with the idea to create beer for the show! I’ve been in contact with the brewery before about working together, and finally the timing was right. Ommegang had recently redesigned their labels and needed updating for their brochure. There are about 8-9 beers that were re-done that needed to be photographed and paired with a food entree that spoke to the beer as well as their restaurant at the brewery. We planned the shoot around half of that because some were more of a priority than others. It was great working with these guys because of the creative freedom in the food styling and final recipes as well as the general prop direction. The shots had to have a rustic feel and clean background if they needed to run text over them. The main purpose for these shots was to update their brochure so vertical shots were needed. Working with my team and the designer from the brewery was a lot of fun and the day went smooth. In the video I included just a couple of my favorite final shots.
*That cheese and meat spread was something! :)
What a great event and turnout for this past weekend's food photography workshop. It was great to share my experiences and tips I've learned over the years to help the students improve on their own photography. We had a packed afternoon of talking lighting setups, camera programs, and the importance of styling. I did a live demonstration on set shooting and building a sandwich. I also discussed the importance of hiring and working with a food stylist as well as a prop stylist.
Everyone broke out to separate tables building their own sets with props supplied and also making their own sandwich to photograph! You can see a time lapse below of the days events.
I would love to continue this workshop at other locations in New York City as well as New Jersey, and Philadelphia. If you are a food or prop stylist and want to collaborate on this please reach out! Also any studio spaces that would like to host us.
I'm so excited to be working with The Art Directors Club on a food photography workshop at their NYC headquarters. It will be an exciting day of shooting food discussing how to craft your shot providing tips and tricks! Also touch on the benefits of working with food stylists and prop stylists. At the end will have a fun critique looking at what everyone shot.
You can find more info here and register for the weekend workshop, it will be fun :)
Don't forget, ADC month of March is Photography month.
I don’t have a deep fryer at home and buffalo wings make me feel guilty enough so these baked buffalo wings were a good trade off. I was really craving the buffalo style wings with that real orange sauce so this recipe I didn’t need to add to much extra butter. You can buy this style sauce at any supermarket, it’s usually next to the Frank’s Red Hot Sauce which also offers an awesome wing recipe on the bottle.
What you will need:
3/4 cup flour (this yields for about 20 wings, depending on the size and quantity of the wings you may need more or less flour)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 or 1/4 cup melted butter (whatever your feeling!)
1/2 cup of the buffalo sauce
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and lightly grease with cooking spray. Place the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt into a resealable plastic bag, and shake to mix. Add the chicken wings, seal, and toss until well coated with the flour mixture. Place the wings onto the prepared baking sheet, and place into the refrigerator. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Whisk together the melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl. Dip the wings into the butter mixture, and place back on the baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and crispy on the outside, about 45 minutes. Turn the wings over halfway during cooking so they cook evenly.
*I also had a grate between the foiled pan and the wings just so they could get a little crispier.
This mild winter has been great so far. I’ve been continuing my personal project photographing at the farms with weather I’m able to stand in for a few hours! However I would like it to snow at least once so I can get shots of the farms in a wintery setting.
Baby calf being fed milk and nutrients by Andrew the farmer at the dairy farm
This was fun to photograph and also very challenging because it involved so much ice! I could see myself revisiting this shoot and re-doing it now knowing the difficulty of shooting so much ice at one time and it all looking good.
The history of the mint julep is interesting but the presentation to me is what really sparked my interest. The stainless steel cup and bright grouping of fresh mint drew my eye in. After doing research and reading about the drink it was almost like a slushy for adults which I think any adult would be OK with.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Mint Simple Syrup
Crushed ice
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) bourbon
1 (4-inch) cocktail straw or coffee stirrer
1 fresh mint sprig
Powdered sugar (optional)
2015 is coming to an end. I continue to grow and learn as a photographer and business owner. There are many things I can say about this past year and where I see myself in the future, however I always like to turn to inspirational quotes by successors I’ve learned from who just say it so much better. Let’s raise a glass and cheers to 2016!
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” — Walt Disney
Finally the week is coming up! I'm soo pumped to be meeting with Art Directors and Photo Editors from top agencies at NYC Fotoworks. I've been busy shooting and building new work for my book. ALSO will be premiering my new logo designed by the uber talented Nick Prestillo from AIGA. Book edit was done by my friend and photo consultant Neil Binkley
It was great to get a call from Jim at Eating Well with a fun little project photographing parsley and ice cubes. They had a general idea what direction they wanted the photos to look but the rest was up to my creative direction and super talented food stylist Lisa Russell!
We started the day with the parsley creating a poetic, flowing photo of the flat leaves moving across the plexi. This image was running 3/4 of the page and to be photographed overhead lit from underneath. I really enjoyed this because the light really made the leaves glow green and with some of the leaves overlapping made for a neat contrast. We did a few setups of that shot but could easily be altered later by adding or removing leaves for the final shot.
For the ice cubes I knew this was going to be more challenging because they melt! :) We had plenty of options and recipes to go off of provided by the recipe developer at the magazine. The clear ones with green leaves and herbs I thought came out the prettiest. The ice cubes made with the colored liquids were also pretty but not as transparent when lit from underneath. We tried a few setups like that and also let some purposely melt to create a pastel liquid forming around cubes. The challenge with this was making it look pretty not so messy with a big melting mess. After trying some with that setup we switched gears to shooting them straight on and stacking them! I was surprised they held up as well as they did and not slide off one another. In the end I thought these were the best executed and what the creatives most closely wanted for the magazine.
I thought this would be an appropriate post since Easter is this weekend. I wanted to try something out of the ordinary as far as dying Easter eggs. I’ve seen these before and thought they were beautiful. The dark brown color that created these pretty marbled lines over the egg was very unique and would make for great photos! I found a great recipe on Steamy Kitchen.
Once I started the boiling process the kitchen smelled of anise and tea. However the actual taste of the egg was not a favorite of mine. I’ll just stick to photographing them.
I recently entered the ASMP LA photo contest that had the theme "Margins" interpret it anyway you want. Whenever I have the opportunity to push the boundaries with subjects (and involve food) I like to jump at the idea. For this series of images I interpreted the word margins as the mouth. We use it everyday and really it has its own boundaries or "margins."
I thought it would be interesting to play with the edges of the mouth while someone was eating. I would photograph their movements of chewing and carefully selecting food that could create a mess or fall outside the edge of the mouth. There are a couple from the series on my conceptual portfolio and more at my APA gallery.
This year has been so amazing, and this is the perfect way to end it with my 2nd cookbook that just came out! I was able to photograph Vegan Casseroles by Julie Hasson. The cookbook consisted of recipes involving Pasta Bakes, Gratins, and Pot Pies. I was amazed at how flavorful and beautiful these dishes came out. Vegan food is something not everyone is comfortable with. I love food and it would be very hard for me to live a vegan lifestyle but these dishes were really amazing. If you've never tried a vegan dish this is the cookbook you would want to find a recipe.
Link to cookbook
Here's a lasagne dish from the vegan cookbook
I had the opportunity to photograph Culture Cheese Magazine's upcoming Winter issue on Crème Fraîche. This cream can be applied to many dishes sweet or savory. The article I photographed and styled by Lisa Russell contained sweet and savory dishes such as twice baked sweet potatoes and Sticky Gingerbread Cake with Whipped Crème Fraîche. Below is just a couple shots that will be featured in the upcoming issue. Enjoy!
Networking and getting your work out there to the creative public is an ongoing process. I'm excited to announce I have a live portfolio on the Behance network. You can find my recent work and projects in the works.
SITE: https://www.behance.net/perrettiphoto
A lot of clients have approached me for certain images that fit the mold for quick turn around projects, as well as agencies in general asking for "sell able art."
My stock photography site with Offset based in New York has been growing and becoming an amazing tool in the creative process to better serve my clients. If your looking for an image that can be applied to a general Ad, promo for one of your food clients I have a constant growing library of food images just for that.
Please do not hesitate to reach out and find more about my services to you or purchase directly at your convenience from Offset.
Jen Beauchesne
http://jenbeauchesne.com/
Photo By: Michael Indresano
1.While you were studying photography at RIT did you have a specialty you wanted to pursue?
I actually went into RIT as a freshman thinking I wanted to shoot fashion, but quickly learned I was much happier shooting still life in the studio rather than models. Once we got to start taking electives the first one I choose was Food Photography and I just knew that's exactly what I wanted to do.
2.When did you decide to change over from photography to food styling?
I decided to switch over about a year ago when I realized I was much happier on the other side of the lens and in the kitchen.
3.Who have you worked with/admired to help hone your skills as a stylist?
I work with Sunny Ricks a lot she is an amazing stylist who has taught me so much about this industry and has been the best helping me transition from Boston to NYC.
4.Do you like to cook yourself?
Yes, I love cooking for myself, although I don't always have time, I try to find time on the weekends to try new recipes!
5.Do you prefer to style one type of food over another?
No real preference on what kind of foods, I love them all :)
6.Any dream clients you would like to work with?
I would love to style for Donna Hay Magazine, I absolutely adore their aesthetic and quality of work.
Photo By: Will Styer
7.What has been the most difficult thing for you to style?
The most difficult thing for me to style was actually a bowl of mayo, the photographer wanted it one way and the client, who was weighing in remotely, wanted it another way, so there was a lot of back and forth and the mayo kept congealing, not fun, but we got thru it!
8.What is your must have tool on set?
I would say my must have tool would be my tweezers, I have about five different pairs, all for different uses.
