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Kingston, Massachusetts-based photographer Joseph Keller recently completed a photoshoot for Discoveries Magazine, a publication by Cedars-Sinai that covers medical research, innovative treatments, and healthcare advances. Joseph worked with the Seven Elm agency to illustrate the concept of stress eating in a single image that was used in an editorial titled “The Weight of Stress,” featured in the July 2024 print and digital issue of the magazine.
Robert Parsons of Seven Elm reached out to me about the project. We’ve worked together since the late ’90s, back when he was the art director at Natural Health Magazine. Now, Robert designs Discoveries Magazine for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He came to me with a general concept of shooting a messy desktop to represent stress eating. Given my background in shooting food and still life, I was excited to take on the challenge, as I love illustrating conceptual ideas like this.
After discussing the client’s needs and the goal of the project, Joseph suggested hiring a food stylist in the early stages of planning.
Robert and I had an initial conversation about the idea. I then brought food stylist Joy Howard into the conversation. We had a couple calls to discuss creative details. The intent was to illustrate the concept of stress eating. The article is about new research that shows the effect of stress on metabolic rates.
The client’s brand is that of a world-class hospital and research facility. Discoveries Magazine showcases articles about Cedars-Sinai’s doctors’ and researchers’ accomplishments. Robert wanted the desktop to be as messy and stressful as possible. I’m rarely asked to shoot messy, crumbled, and eaten food — most of my work is designed to show the beauty of food. I relished the opportunity!
The shoot took place in a studio, where the energy was fun and collaborative. Joseph was joined on set by the magazine’s Creative Director, and the food stylist.
We were excited to dive into creating a “controlled mess”! Joy brought fantastic desktop/office props along with colorful, messy junk foods. Once we had chosen the props and foods, we set to work creating our stressful mess! Robert wanted both a stop-motion video for the website and a still photo, so we had a lot of fun capturing the mess in various stages.
The only constraint we had was budget, so I worked without an assistant or digitech. Joy acted as impromptu hand model in a few of the frames and she happened to have the perfect nail polish color! The shoot was full of fun little details, such as the broken pencils, coffee rings on the legal pad, and stress-inducing post-it notes, all adding to the chaotic scene we were creating.
See more of Joseph’s work on his website.
Credits
Creative Director: Robert Parsons (Seven Elm)
Food Stylist: Joy Howard
Further Reading
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