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Connecticut-based commercial and editorial photographer Julie Bidwell just recently finished up a year-long project photographing a cookbook called Eat Clean, Live Well alongside author Terry Walters. It was just released on November 1 and Julie was kind enough to share some photos with me and answer a few questions about the project.
Enjoy!
How did you get involved with this cookbook?
I’ve worked with the author, Terry Walters, on some projects in the past and shot the cover of one of her previous cookbooks. I live near her so it worked well logistically and style wise for us to work together.
Were there any challenges involved with this project?
Balancing what I find beautiful with what the book needed, some of my favorite shots didn’t make it in. But in the end it’s Terry’s book and I wanted her to love the images and tell the story she was telling.
What was involved in planning/preproduction?
Most of the shooting was pretty loose, It’s a seasonal book so Terry and I would talk about what would be visually the best things to shoot to reflect that and we would meet at various farms and shoot portraits, produce, lifestyle etc. … I also spent a lot of time with Terry in her kitchen shooting process shots of recipes and techniques. The biggest planning was for the week of hero shots where we had additional crew… food stylist, assistants, lots of propping and sourcing surfaces.
How did you balance your time if you were shooting this book over the course of a year?
I was in touch with the author on a weekly basis and we would schedule shoots depending on the season, it would be an early morning shoot in her garden, or a weekend shoot at a farmers market. Sometimes she would text me and say …”I’m testing recipes this week, when can you come out and shoot?” Most of the shoots were for half day except for the hero week and the last couple of weeks before deadline. It worked out well because we live near each other.
Did you learn anything through this project?
My favorite part was the collaboration with Terry, the art directors and food stylist. I love shooting all sides of a story, from the seeds being planted, to the process of cooking to shooting a beautiful plated dish. And I learned that I want to shoot more cookbooks!
Any tips for aspiring photographers?
Get out and shoot! Assist photographers in a variety of genres. Shoot what you love and things that interest you and eventually people will pay you to do that. Aspiring photographers have so many outlets to show their work that didn’t exist when I was starting out so take advantage of all of it.