I’ve been working on an ongoing documentary food project called Midwest Food Stories for the last 5 years or so. I’ve been researching some ideas I have for a new film and started thinking about the catalyst for this whole project, which was a really cool collaboration with local chefs. And it wasn’t just commercial chefs, the project also included some inspired home cooks, as well as culinary students. They all had one thing in common: they simply love to cook. Each person was asked to create a seminal or formative dish at my studio, which at the time, was an old Danish Lutheran church that I converted into an event space, office, and production space. The project consisted of a short film, a collection of still images from each cook, a gallery show, and a book. Proceeds from the show went to support an amazing local non-profit, No More Empty Pots.
For the photography side of this project, I sourced or created a surface that I thought would compliment or enhance the dish. I distressed and oxidized metals, experimented with painting techniques, and found some really cool pieces that spoke to me.
I had some distinct ideas for the design of the book and my friend Quentin at Hanscom Park Studio did an amazing job bringing my ideas to life.
You can view videos of each of these cooks, as well as new content I’ve produced at Midwest Food Stories.
For the cover of the book, we used a soft touch laminate that had a really incredible feel to it. The book was printed locally at Printco Graphics Inc.
Below are some spreads from the book that was produced for this project. Inside of the front cover was a really cool 1/4 page flap that had some copy that I wrote describing the project.
