Speakers
John F. Carafoli
Cofounder, International Conference on
Food Styling & Photography
John F. Carafoli is an internationally known food stylist, consultant, and food writer who has been featured on the Food Network and NPR. After graduating from art school, he was an art director/designer and creative director for advertising agencies and publishers in Chicago. Returning to his East Coast roots, he began a career in food writing and food styling, starting with the Boston Globe. He then wrote the seminal book Food Photography and Styling, and worked on major national campaigns with such clients Stella Artois and Rioja Spanish wines, developing recipes while styling their ad campaigns. Other clients have included Absolut, Dunkin' Donuts, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Smirnoff, Miller Lite, Tanqueray, Jose Cuervo, Au Bon Pain, Kraft General Foods, and Dannon and Columbo yogurts.
He has taught cooking and food styling classes at several universities, including Boston University and New York University, and has been published in the New York Times and Gastromonica, in addition to presenting papers at the prestigious Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, in England.
His recipes and design work have appeared in Bon Appétit, Ladies Home Journal, Weight Watchers, Yankee, House Beautiful, and Prevention Magazine. He writes the quarterly feature "In Carafoli's Kitchen" for the magazine Edible Cape Cod, and this year won an award for one of his articles.
Lisa Golden Schroeder
Cofounder, International Conference on Food Styling & Photography
Lisa Golden Schroeder has been in the food industry for 29 years. She specializes in consumer marketing services, with an emphasis on food styling. Her consulting business includes styling, food journalism, and strategic recipe and new product development. She's founder of Foodesigns.com, an online resource for food stylists and photographers, which includes her blog, the Tweezer Times. A longtime advocate for food styling education, Lisa served for ten years as program chair and presenter for the successful biannual seminar Food on Film®, and now teaches food styling at the University of Wisconsin–Stout, regional community colleges, and privately as a workshop coach and online instructor. She is the past chair of the Food Photographers and Stylists section of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). Her food photography clients include the Target Corporation, Just Bare and Gold'n Plump Chicken, General Mills/Betty Crocker, Land O' Lakes, Sargento Cheese, SuperValu Foods, Caribou Coffee, and Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
Steve Adams
Photographer Steve Adams combines his passions for food, wine, and travel in his work. After a college career spent pursuing fine arts photography, Steve learned the basics of commercial photography while working in a St. Louis photo studio. From a beginning of photographing toasters and mattresses for a department store, his career has evolved into assignments for many leading food and beverage accounts, including Nestlé Purina, Panera, Robert Mondavi Wines, Kraft, Grey Goose, Anheuser-Busch, and Bacardi. Steve has taught studio photography at the university level, and at the Maine Media Workshops. As past chair of the Photography and Food Stylists section of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), Steve remains committed to maintaining a high standard of photo excellence.
Nir Adar
Nir Adar is a New York-based chef, food stylist, and artist. His artistic vision, together with his classic culinary training, shaped his unique approach to food styling. He continues to create his art alongside his commercial work. Many of his conceptual pieces have been featured in galleries, restaurants, hotels, and homes, as well as dozens of magazine covers and articles for Food Arts Magazine, New York Times, New York Magazine, and various international publications. In May 2004, Adar was chosen to be the first artist of Cointreau's "be cointreauversial" campaign, featuring his work in New York City. His giant video installation called "heat as directed" was displayed at the Dining Design show in Milan, and won him the environmental graphic award. His series named "deliciously disgusting" was on display at the French Biennial.
His work ranges from editorial, packaging, advertising, and TV to conceptual art. Adar moves easily from an editorial shoot to the meticulous detail of a package job or long days on TV sets, never compromising the quality of his work. If there is one area where Adar has particularly excelled, it is in the field of styling ice cream and frozen desserts.
Kate Baldwin
A native of Seattle, Kate Baldwin has owned and operated Kate Baldwin Photography since 1995. Kate specializes in food and lifestyle photography for editorial, packaging, and advertising. Her mix of fine art and commercial training enables her to bring a sense creativity, depth, and grace to her subjects. Kate's images have been used by companies such as Canon USA, Nissan/Renault, and Starbucks, and have been featured in publications near and far, including Seattle Magazine, Modern Bride, PDN, and Stern Magazine Germany.
In addition to teaching and lecturing at numerous Northwest colleges, Kate currently serves on the National Board of Directors for the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), and is the current ASMP Foundation president. Kate is also a traveling, volunteer educator for ASMP's successful "Registration ©ounts" seminar.
Noel Barnhurst
Noel has 36 years of experience as a photographer, most of it exclusively photographing food. He shoots strictly with available light and has designed his San Francisco studio for that purpose, with two separate shooting areas and kitchens, each providing a different quality of light. Over the years, he has worked for a vast range of food companies, including Häagen-Dazs, Kashi, Williams-Sonoma, Tyson, and many others. His images have been used for packaging, advertising, editorial, and cookbooks. Noel teaches beginning and advanced still-life classes at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Ilene Bezahler
Ilene is the publisher and editor of Edible Boston, a quarterly magazine that focuses on the local food movement in the Greater Boston area. Ilene's mission is to expose and educate people in the greater Boston area to the positive health, environmental, and social benefits and rewards that come from supporting local agriculture and food production. Ilene is also vice president of the Board for the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets.
Antoinette Bruno
Antoinette Bruno, editor-in-chief and CEO of StarChefs.com, travels throughout the country and the world to meet countless chefs, pastry chefs, sommeliers, and mixologists—and to taste their food and drink. In 2002, Bruno and StarChefs.com launched the Rising Stars Awards to recognize the young talent encountered on these tastings, definitively putting StarChefs.com on the culinary map. In 2006, Bruno and partner Will Blunt founded the StarChefs.com International Chefs Congress, an annual gathering of 3,000 culinary professionals for three days of industry discourse.
She's been a judge on Iron Chef and a guest on morning programs across the country, and as well as nominated for James Beard Awards for Best Multimedia Feature and Best Food Website. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), the James Beard Foundation, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, and Women Presidents' Organization. And with new projects and opportunities always on the horizon, Bruno and StarChefs.com continue to be at the forefront of the culinary conversation.
Viktor Budnik
Viktor Budnik's work gives him the opportunity to travel for great assignments—Boston, New York City, Italy, and beyond. Over the years, he has been very lucky to be part of a valuable team creating wonderful food images. Every time he starts production for commercial, film, or editorial project, the food stylist is his key team player.
Budnik's clients range from advertising to editorial, and include Pillsbury, Nestlé, Chronicle Books, Sunkist, Hershey's, and many cookbook publishers. Over the last ten years, Budnik has photographed over forty cookbooks.
Diane Cu and Todd Porter
tdphotographers.com | whiteonricecouple.com
Diane Cu and Todd Porter are photographers, filmmakers, and founders of EvoMultimedia.com, based out of Los Angeles. Fueled by their love of local people and culture, they strive to document powerful food stories from around the world. Some of their advertising, editorial, and publishing work includes the Los Angeles Times, Sunset Magazine, Los Angeles Weekly, Sterling Publications, Wiley publishing, Lark Books, the French Culinary Institute, Thermador Appliances, and Dole Foods. Diane and Todd share their personal food stories and other behind-the-scenes snippets of their professional work on their award-winning food and photography blog.
Delores Custer
A freelance food stylist and culinary educator since 1978, Delores works for magazines, cookbook publishers, and in print advertising, public relations, television, and feature films. She is an international consultant to advertising agencies, public relations firms, magazines, and numerous food companies. She has taught courses in professional food styling, recipe writing, and food demonstration techniques for television at New York University, the Culinary Institute of America, the Institute of Culinary Education, and culinary schools around the world. She develops recipes for various food companies, has contributed to several cookbooks, and is author of Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera (Wiley & Sons, Spring 2010). Her food clients include Kraft Foods, General Mills, Unilever, Campbell's, ConAgra, Nestlé, Häagen-Dazs, Red Lobster, Subway, Cuisinart, Bacardi, and Budweiser.
Clark Dever
Buffalo, New York, photographer Clark Dever is best known for his "Twelve Hours in a City" project. Utilizing only Twitter, a Facebook Fan page, and an "All-You-Can-Jet Pass," Clark and his crew flew over 65,000 miles around the United States throughout September 2009.
Effective use of social media led to the project being featured on CNN, Time.com, ABC World News Tonight, and in article published internationally by the Associated Press.
Nanci Doonan Dixon
Nanci Dixon has been with General Mills' photography department for the past 25 years. In her current role leading the General Mills photography studios, Nanci is responsible for the execution of food photography and styling for packaging, cookbooks, web, sales materials, and lifestyle for all General Mills brands and external clients. She manages six state-of-the-art studios and kitchens with thirteen digital sets at two General Mills locations. She oversees a staff of photographers, food stylists, digital specialists, image administrators, and coordinators as well as extensive freelance resources.
Prior to her tenure at General Mills, Nanci held positions of increasing responsibility in photography with Pillsbury, Oscar Mayer, Creative Resource Center, Giannetti Photography, the Minnesota Museum of Art, and The Science Museum. She has also been a photography instructor at Macalester College, the Minnesota Community Technical College (MCTC), and Southwest Community Education schools, and has presented at a variety of technical conferences.
Clare Ferguson
London-based Clare Ferguson was born and educated in New Zealand, but for the last 25 years has been writing and food styling her own cookbooks and creating columns for magazines in the UK. She works as one of Europe's top-rated food stylists for stills and TV commercials and this work has taken her all over the world, from Moscow to Mexico City. She collaborates easily with directors, art directors, photographers, and stylists. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers (UK), the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), and is a Certified Culinary Professional (CCP). She is regularly invited to be a guest judge for cookbook awards, food awards, and related topics.
Lara Ferroni
Lara is a former tech-geek-turned-food-geek who spends her days exploring the food culture of the Pacific Northwest. A food writer and photographer, she might be found learning to make kimchee in the back rooms of a local church, foraging for wild berries, or snapping away in some of Seattle's finest kitchens. You can find her work in publications such as Epicurious.com, Gourmet.com, Edible Communities (Seattle, San Francisco), Seattle Magazine, Seattle Metropolitan, as well as numerous cookbooks, including her own Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home. You can find more of her tasty photos and recipes on her blog, CookandEat.com.
Sarah Fletcher
Sarah Fletcher, whose mother was an art director, literally grew up in the art department of an advertising agency. After a brief rebellion she began her career at age six, stripping boards and organizing type. To date she has worked in almost every capacity in the business, from production assistant to copywriter to photographer to creative director. Her main focus for the past twenty years has been catalog design and development. Her clients have included the DMA, the New England Mail Order Association (NEMOA), International Paper, Scholastic, Mrs. Beasley's, Harrington's of Vermont, the Vermont Country Store, Smith+Noble, Junonia, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, SmartPak Equine, and Penn State Industries. Her articles have appeared in Catalog Success Magazine, Multichannel Merchant, and DM News. She has spoken at the Annual Catalog Conference, the New England Mail Order Association conference, and the GCIC. Sarah is a judge for both the MCM Awards and the International Echo Awards.
Tim Foley
Tim Foley is a founding partner and creative director at Boston-based Full Contact, overseeing art direction and design for clients such as Cumberland Farms, Zipcar, and Safety 1st. Over his 20-year career, Tim has earned a reputation both as a valued business partner to his clients and a consistent, creative award-winner. Tim's work spans multiple media channels, from television to print to interactive, and covers many industries. He has created work for a long list of clients in the food/beverage/restaurant categories including Au Bon Pain, Dunkin' Donuts, Highliner Foods, Olivio, and Budweiser. Tim was behind the recent multichannel campaign for Cumberland Farms' coffee including the company's first-ever television advertising. Foley was also the art director and creative director on the highly successful launch of the "America Runs on Dunkin'" campaign for Dunkin' Donuts.
Leslie Harrington
Leslie Harrington is the executive director of the Color Association of the United States (CAUS), the oldest and most reputable color trend agency specializing in women's, men's, and youth fashion, as well as interiors/environments. Throughout her 25 years in the industry, Leslie has held various senior management positions in the area of color strategy and color marketing, including 16 years as the color and design director for Benjamin Moore Paints. In her capacity at Benjamin Moore, Leslie worked with technical and lab teams in the development and management of color systems and programs. She has also worked in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, durable goods, consumer goods, and technology industries.
Leslie has led numerous new product introductions, as well as the development and launch of many product brands and color systems. She has been quoted and published in New York Times, Chicago Tribune, New Yorker, Oprah Magazine, Men's Health, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and US News & World Report, to name a few. Leslie is the author of four books on color, and has appeared as a color authority on CBS's Live it Up with Ali & Jack, ABC's Good Morning America, WNBC's Today Show, and programs on HGTV, Discovery, CTV-Canada AM, and City TV.
Deborah Jones
Deborah Jones graduated from the Brooks Institute in the late 70s, and left immediately for Manhattan. After a few years in New York, she found a fertile photo community in San Francisco, where she continues her commercial advertising career with clients All-Clad, Kashi, Kikkoman, and Williams-Sonoma. The advertising is balanced with a healthy dose of editorial and catalog work. Cookbooks include Thomas Keller's French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc, as well as Boston chef Barbara Lynch's Stir.
Her photography has been honored with many awards (we are the most self-congratulatory group of all professions). Future projects include a modern Moroccan book with Chef Mourad Lahlou and a Bouchon Bakery cookbook to be published fall 2012.
Jeff Kauck
Jeff Kauck's food and still life photography has been gracing the pages of national advertising, magazines, cookbooks, and packaging for over twenty years. It has garnered numerous accolades, including a James Beard nomination for his work on The Spiaggia Cookbook. Known for his ability to bring his subjects to life in a way that is influenced by his training as a watercolor painter, Kauck's unique compositions and lighting style elevate his subjects and his storytelling ability. Among the many books for which he has contributed his distinct photography are Patricia Wells's Salad as a Meal; The ¡Salpicón! Cookbook: Contemporary Mexican Cuisine; Stonewall Kitchen Harvest; Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match; Williams-Sonoma Mastering: Soups and Stews; and Chocolate and Vanilla. Whether it is creating a global standard for a brand or telling an editorial story, Jeff's international client base depends on his collaborative working style to bring their artistic vision to life.
David Ledsinger
For over fifteen years, David Ledsinger has explored different mediums to help tell different stories. With a varied career as a graphic designer and stage designer, David is now a strategic art director for the Target Corporation, serving as lead art director on the Essentials team. With his primary focus on the grocery business, he specializes on promotions, ISM, and food packaging, delivering smart, strategic solutions that hit the mark creatively while still feeling fresh, innovative, and delicious. In addition to contributing to Target's gift card team, he also spearheads their owned-brand food labels, Archer Farms and Market Pantry. He recently finished a brand refresh for Archer Farms to introduce new packaging and an updated food photography style that amplifies flavor, freshness, and appetite appeal. Prior to joining Target, David lived in San Francisco, where he contributed to a number of local agencies, taught part-time as an instructor of advertising and communications, and tried to keep up on the constantly changing food landscape of San Francisco.
Neil Martin
Neil is currently an Associate Creative Director at MMB Advertising in Boston. Prior to that, he was the Associate Design Director at Hill Holliday in Boston. For the last 10 years, he has been an expert in the retail food industry, art directing print and live action shoots and managing creative for such brands as Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts, Chili's, Magianno’s Little Italy, On the Border, Baskin Robbins and Togo's. Other client experience includes CVS Pharmacy, Bank of America, Old Mutual Insurance, Proctor and Gamble and the Massachusetts State Lottery.
Michael Piazza
Michael Piazza is a freelance photographer currently based in Boston. Originally from California, Michael studied art history and film before settling into still photography and moving to New York City. Somewhere along the line he merged his love of cooking and food with his love of making pictures. He is currently chief photographer and creative director of Edible Boston Magazine and blogs on cooking and gardening (sadiestable.blogspot.com). He also contributes to Boston Magazine, Yankee Magazine, Improper Bostonian, and Budget Travel. He has worked on several cookbooks, including Simple Italian Sandwiches, Simple Italian Snacks, and A Ligurian Kitchen.
James Scherzi
Jim Scherzi is a commercial photographer with more than thirty years of experience producing award-winning images for national and international clients. He has been commissioned to provide still photography for cookbooks such as Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse; Joey's Italian; and Simple, Fresh& Healthy. He also brings motion to his food work with TV spots, how-to presentations, and corporate videos for his food clients.
In late 2010, Jim completed a farmers' market cookbook called Simple, Fresh & Healthy, featuring recipes using fresh, local food, and an introduction addressing "The Disappearing Dinner Hour"—and how individuals can change their habits and cook healthy recipes in season.
Jim's work appears in many publications including Bon Appétit, Cuisine Magazine of New Zealand, Gourmet, Gastronomica, Nation's Restaurant News, Metropolitan Home, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times Magazine.
Jamie Tiampo
Jamie Tiampo loves to make food look great. He publishes eattv.com, which tells stories from the edible landscape; owns see|food media Kitchen Studios, a state-of-the-art facility for food TV productions;and is a partner in New York's Dell'anima and L'Artusi restaurants. see|food media produces custom still and motion imaging solutions for consumer food brands in their 2,500-square-foot kitchen studio facility, which includes four kitchens optimized for TV production. Jamie is the chair of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP),Food Photographers and Stylists section, and a general member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP). With his extensive knowledge of food and technology, he helps clients navigate the complex world of food imaging in the digital age.
Karen Tully
Karen Tully is a freelance food stylist with over twenty-five years of experience working with leading food and beverage clients and food photographers. She commands an attention to detail that was essential for styling in the pre-digital era. Karen also consistently demonstrates unique experience and talent in propping and camera angles. Her food styling career began in San Francisco, working on print ads and product packaging images for clients such as Tropicana, Mumm Champagne, J.M. Smucker Company, California Beef Council, and United Dairy Farmers Ice Cream. Karen spent the next nine years in Minneapolis, devoted to product packaging images, print ads, and film for food manufacturers such as Hormel, Land O'Lakes, General Mills, Pillsbury, and Häagen-Dazs. Her next stop was Chicago, where she styled food for clients such as Sara Lee, Con Agra, Light Life, Farmer John, Armour-Eckrich, World's Finest Chocolate, and Coca-Cola. Karen's trek across the U.S. now brings her to New England, where she continues to style food for print, TV, packaging, and cookbooks. Karen has provided recipe development and food consulting for restaurants, including Pearl's Oyster Bar in Palo Alto, CA. She has also styled and propped over a dozen cookbooks, including The Art of Grilling, The Grill Book, The Bread Book, The Ice Cream Book, The Cheese Book, Meat and Game, East Meets West, Ken Hom Chinese Cookery, and The Shrimp Book.
Jeremy Zilar
Jeremy is the blog specialist for the New York Times. Over the last five years, Jeremy has started over 170 blogs on nytimes.com. He works with writers and editors to shape and grow their blogs and assess the media landscape that they exist in. He blogs at silencematters.com.