( click to make image bigger )

Men’s Health

Creative Director: Robert Festino

Director of Photography: Brenda Milis

Deputy Director of Photography: Jeanne Graves

Photographer: Stephen Lewis

Prop Stylist: Elizabeth Press

Heidi: How long did it take to assemble this still life?

Stephen: This shot took about an hour or two. There was a lot of playing with different foods trying to come up with a shape that worked. Generally I like to start out loose and with this shot things got a little messy. The fish shape didn’t come until I had tried a few different ideas. It turned out that Jeanne Graves (the Photo Editor) wanted to see something like this so we continued to pursue this idea until we came up with the photograph that ran.

Were the items editorial driven? meaning how did you pick those food pieces?

The items were editorially driven. The article was on “FrankenFoods” or foods that combine ingredients with ostensible health benefits in different ways; i.e. putting anti-oxidants in sugary drinks. So the stylist, Elizabeth Press, with the direction of Jeanne Graves at Men’s Health, picked up ingredients that either made health claims or were suggestive of such claims or suggested ridiculousness in some way. We played it a little loose as we were going for a feeling more than a literal approach.

Who was your food stylist?

My food stylist wasn’t a food stylist but a prop stylist – Elizabeth Press. I usually do shoot with food stylists on food related jobs. Since this story didn’t actually involve cooking and there was (hopefully) a humorous element here, I chose Elizabeth because I knew she’d understand what we were looking to accomplish.