Q&A: 3rd Ward's Max Kelly On The Flavor of Food Photography

All photos by Max Kelly

With 3rd Ward's Culinary Incubator on the horizon, food has been on our minds quite a bit (read: nonstop--someone make us something now.) Anyhow, as we yearn for that mouth-watering future, we've been busy feasting our eyes on the food photography of 3rd Ward member Max Kelly. We caught up with him to find out more about how it all began.

You can check out some of Kelly's delicious shots both below and on his new website--but first, our Q&A:

3rd Ward's John Ruscher: So how did you get into food photography?

Max Kelly: I've always known that I wanted to work in a field in which I could physically see my accomplishments at the end of a day's work. Before food photography, I worked as a camera operator on commercial film sets, and realized that while I enjoy video, still photography is where my true passion lies.

The thing I love most about photography is that it's a gateway to any other subject matter that you find you're passionate about. I'm fascinated by the mechanics of cameras, the ways in which light can interact differently with a subject, and the effects of composition on a viewer—and it's a privilege to explore my other interests through this lens.

JR: Where's the passion for food come from?

MK: I grew up in Brooklyn, in a very food-minded family that cooked and traveled often—so I had the benefit of being exposed to many different flavors and cultures at an early age. Food is a vast topic, and one which is universally shared. I'm captivated by the fact that there are infinite possibilities and variations for any dish, and that two people from different parts of the world can look at the same ingredient in totally different ways.

JR: Does food photography require a different approach from shooting other subjects?

MK: Still life photography is more focused on creating an environment than other types of photography. Sometimes, this means rearranging or adding props to a real-life location, while in other instances, "locations" are fabricated from scratch. Creating environments and choosing props that impart visual cues about a dish is a large part of food photography.

Beyond that, there is of course the factor of having a small window of time to photograph the food before the ingredients wilt, dry or otherwise lose their fresh appearance. For this reason, communicating well with your team and having a clear vision of the final product before beginning to shoot is essential.

JR: Did anything at 3rd Ward influence your work in particular?

MK: I found 3rd Ward's classes and coworking space to be a great help when I first struck out on my own as a freelancer. The Branding Your Vision class for photographers drove home the point that it's essential that your work have a unique and consistent look. It helped me create a style that was my own, and not rooted in what I thought was "popular" and "marketable". 

The Business of Photography class gave me insight into how publications hire photographers, as well as the most effective ways to get my work into the hands of photo editors and creative directors.

...and now for some of Kelly's gorgeous attempts to make you eat your laptop:

-- John Ruscher

Built By Hand: Pro Member Sawyer DeVuyst Carves Out His Own Career

Photo Credit: Allison Michael Orenstein

Upon perusing the brand new (gorgeous) Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, we came across side tables we were convinced had to be the work of 3rd Ward Pro Member, Sawyer DeVuyst.

Turns out we were dead-on. DeVuyst and his furniture company SAW were commissioned by the hotel for a number of pieces. With the hotel officially opening May 1st, you'll soon be able to see his work first-hand.

In the meantime, we grabbed a Q&A with the man himself. So read on for some true, be-your-own boss inspiration (and catch a glimpse of DeVuyst's artistry down below.)

3W: If you had to try and describe it, how would you define your work's guiding aesthetic?

SD: I like balance. I strive for balance. Where there's an element of perfection in one of my pieces, there also has to be something about it that is imperfect--whether it's a metal finish that's not completely symmetrical in tone or a wood top with loads of reclaimed character. Nothing can be perfect because that's just not how life works. I think you can see a lot of parallels between an artist's work and how they live their lives.

3W: When did you have that moment where you understood this was something you could truly do professionally?

SD: My dad is a millworker, so I grew up around tools. Having never gone to college, I began working in an architectural metal shop in 2007 as an apprentice, mainly doing metal finishes and installations. In my spare time, they taught me how to weld and when the buliding industry tanked, I was laid off. It was a sink or swim moment. I could've either been in the world sitting around, soaking up unemployment or I could've built my own world of creativity and self-sustainment. I chose the latter.

3W: How did you get hooked in with the Wythe Hotel?

SD: I was contacted via the SAW website. [The hotel is] an incredible space and the design as well as the thought process behind its interior really had me smitten. Within the hotel, SAW nightstands and the coffee table bases (the marble tops were not provided by SAW) can be seen in most Manhattan-view rooms and a handful of Brooklyn-view rooms on floors 2 through 5.  Also, in the suites on floors 7 and 8, the blackened steel coffee tables and side tables were bulit by SAW.

3W: A number of folks might have abandoned something like this midway. Though you've followed through and are now experiencing some real recognition. Any words to those hesitant about diving into an endeavor like yours?

SD: Follow up and follow through! In any project you're working on, in any business interaction. If you say you'll do something, stay true to your word and do it. That's my primary piece of advice. Secondarily, be considerate. I can't tell you how much people appreciate a considerate builder/business owner/subcontractor/coworker. However, I can tell you how much return work I've gotten because of this--and it's a lot.

(See, people? Living proof. Hone your craft, hone that online portfolio and get yourself moving.)

...And now for a closer look at DeVuyst's work:

Crated Coffee TableCrated Side TablePallet TablePallet Table DetailConcrete Side TableManhattan Kitchen RemodelGatsby TablesCoffee TableCrated Media ConsoleStill life with DeVuyst

A Cut Above: Kai Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano's Intricate Artwork, From Papel Picado To Downton Abbey

"Skeletons in the Closet' by Kai Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano

3rd Ward member Kai Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano can trace her artistic roots back four generations. "None of my family members would identify themselves as artists, but they are all intuitively creative people and they have always nurtured my passion for art," she says. "My great-great grandmother was an amateur photographer, she choreographed elaborate scenes with members of her family during the 1920s, and these photos are definitely a source of inspiration for me. Her daughter, my great-grandmother, made collages and was often the model of her mother's photographs. My grandmother (a nuclear physics professor) used to draw and paint, and my mother (a law professor) creates found-object art, collages, and graphic art."

Kai Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano"My family also has a tradition of story telling that has deeply informed my aesthetic and identity," she adds. "These stories tell my family history, but also the family mythology which in turn has informed our family consciousness. This unique relationship to my roots plays a huge role in my work."

Growing up in New Mexico, Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano was exposed to the Mexican folk art of papel picado, or paper cutting. "In 2008 I took a workshop at a local art center with papel picado master Catalina Delgado Trunk," she says. "The medium came easily to me, and I realized I could really use this technique to combine my multi cultural roots with my interest in politics and popular culture." Read more about Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano below and hit the jump to see more of her intricate work (including some fantastic embroidery pieces).

"I use this ancient art form to discuss sex, politics, pop culture, my family history and my own experience of walking the line between cultures, while maintaining a sense of wit and irony," she explains. "I also establish inter-generational collaborations by referencing photographs taken by my great-great grandmother."

3rd Ward has inspired Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano to further expand her skills. "I wish I could take every class!" she says. "The great thing about taking so many classes is once in a while you really find something that speaks to you, that's what happened when I took Extraordinary Embroidery with Iviva. I never embroidered before, and now I can't stop."

"I am finishing two embroidery series of Downton Abbey and Parks and Recreation which I'll submit to Bust Magazine's Craftacular fair this spring," she tells us. She just completed artwork for Brooklyn band Elliot and the Ghost and is brainstorming with her mother on some collaborative projects. Her work is also currently featured in Cutting Edge: Contemporary Paper Cutting at the Boise State University Visual Arts Center. "This is particularly exciting for me because it includes such paper cutting greats as Beatrice Coron and Nikki McClure!" she says. "It is a huge honor to be showing with these talented women."

And now for two of Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano's Downton Abbey embroidery pieces, the awesomeness of which we can't begin to adequately describe, followed by a couple of her equally amazing papel picado works:

'The Dowager Countess' by Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano

'Lady Cybil' by Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano

'Manchild' by Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano

'Ozon' by Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano

-- John Ruscher

3rd Ward Member Barnett Cohen Named A "Contender" For His Southern Gothic-influenced Photography

'Bust' by Barnett Cohen

3rd Ward member Barnett Cohen was recently named a "Contender" in Hey, Hot Shot!, an international photography competition presented by Jen Bekman Projects, so we asked him, how does it feel? "The opposite of Marlon Brando," he said. "I feel like a somebody."

In that witty and poignant response we see the spirit that makes Cohen's work so powerful and unique. The most frequent subject of his photographs is Oliver, who seems like a quintessential "Southern Eccentric," but Cohen's photographs don't simply affirm that stereotype. "They reflect an intimate relationship based on even needs: He wants to be seen and acknowledged, and I want to see him in the starkest of terms," Cohen says in his Contender post. Check out more of his photographs after the jump.

Here's how the Hey, Hot Shot! folks described Cohen's work:

In seeking out "eccentrics" from the South, Contender Barnett Cohen met and befriended a man named Oliver, the subject of much of his portfolio. Rather than creating images that focus on his subject's eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, however, the series offers an intimate look at a willing subject, complete with relics and glimpses at a past life.

While Cohen has been pursuing photography for a long time, he dispenses with any sort of myth-making or exaggeration in describing how he got started. I found a copy of COLORS magazine many, many years ago and was hooked," he says. "I did not grow up with a brownie box camera in my hand or drenched in processing chemicals."

Cohen continues to travel between Brooklyn and the South for his photography, and in June his will be featured in Small Works, a group show at Boston's Flash Forward Festival. "The show is curated by Jon Feinstein and Amani Olu of the Humble Arts Foundation in conjunction with the Magenta Foundation," he says. "I am pretty stoked about it." Then, in the fall he's headed for grad school to get his MFA in Photography. "No names just yet but I am going somewhere for sure," he says. "As always, stay tuned."

We will, and in the meantime we'll be rooting for him in Hey, Hot Shot! The competition's grand prize winner gets $10,000, a solo exhibition and two years of representation from Jen Bekman Gallery.

'Mailbox' by Barnett Cohen

"Oliver #1" by Barnett Cohen

'Oliver #8' by Barnett Cohen'Toothbrush Holder' by Barnett Cohen

'Present Tense' by Barnett Cohen

'Mark' by Barnett Cohen

'Shaka' by Barnett Cohen

-- John Ruscher

3rd Ward Member Goes From Big Bird To Big Time: Meet Illustrator and Caricaturist Cathy Nolan

Cathy Nolan and her showcase table at the Craft and Hobby Association Winter show.3rd Ward member Cathy Nolan made her first illustration when she was 18 months old. "Of course it was a bunch of scribbles and circles," she says. "I waddled up to my mother and my first words were 'Big Bird.' A million years later she still has that drawing!"

By eight she knew that she wanted to be a caricaturist. "As a kid growing up in the Chicagoland area my family would often go to Great America amusement park," she remembers. "When I first saw artists drawing people I was mesmerized. I couldn't get pulled away from watching the process of someone sitting there and getting drawn. My siblings had to drag me away from the caricature booth to ride the cool rides."

At 18 she turned pro. "I did my first county fair drawing people and made $1000 in five days," she says, "so I thought 'Hmmm... I could get used to this!'"

Nolan has been drawing ever since. Her caricatures allow her to engage and connect with her subjects in a unique way. "I love talking to people, putting them at ease to talk about themselves and their passions and then drawing them doing what they enjoy doing in life," she says. Hit the jump to read more about Nolan and see some of her work.

Nolan's career has naturally led to some fascinating experiences, such as her caricature of one Vietman veteran:

I was working at a county fair and he came up to my booth and told me his life story. He asked me to draw all of the aspects of himself with his different personalities.  I wasn't sure if he was schitzophrenic or crazy. I drew him in the middle of the page and drew all the different personalitlies around the main image. When I began to draw his evil crazy side, I was a little bit nervous while drawing him because I didn't want that particular personality to appear. He loved the drawing and later that day his wife came up to me to thank me. She said, "He has NEVER told anyone about his time in Vietnam and of his personality disorder! Great art!"

We often think of a caricaturist as someone that we'll only encounter on a stroll through Central Park, but many major clients have commissioned Nolan's work, from American Airlines and Citibank to Highlights for Children and the New York Rangers.

Working for Scholastic Media she also picked up valuable skills in licensing and product development. She teaches student illustration workshops and has presented her work in showcases such as the Brand Licensing Show in London and the Craft and Hobby Association Show in Anaheim, California. At 3rd Ward she's also honed her skills even further through Photoshop and Illustrator classes.

You can see Nolan's work in person at Connecticut Muffin (423 Myrtle Ave) in Clinton Hill. She'll be hosting a reception there on Friday, March 30 from 6:30-8pm.

"All are welcomed to attend!" she says. "If I'm feeling inspired, I might be drawing caricatures of those who attend too!"

Cathy Nolan with author Elizabeth Gilbert.

-- John Ruscher

Lost and Found With Coworking Member Nickerson Hill

Stop to talk with anyone in our ever-buzzing coworking space, and you'll surely find a fascinating story. You might encounter an awesome science writer, an e-book entrepreneur, an award-winning web designer/music maker, or, as you'll see right now, a licensed social worker who's found a second calling helping people find things they've lost. All while she's applying to public health PhD programs. Meet Nickerson Hill (and get to know her more after the jump).

3rd Ward's John Ruscher: So you work for Foundit! Tell us a little bit about that.

Nickerson Hill: Essentially, FoundIt! is an automated (fast, safe & easy) lost and found system. We believe that people generally want to do the right thing, including returning things they find. Lost and founds are full of good intentions. Stats say that 70% of items turned into lost and founds never make it back to their owner. Sometimes stuff isn't returned because it may seem difficult or time consuming.  FoundIt! eliminates these barriers by making it easy and quick for people to do the right thing and return things they find.

JR: How does it work exactly?

NH: Our members each have a unique FoundIt! ID, which is printed on super-durable stickers and tags and they affix these stickers/tags to things they might lose. When a member misplaces something they labeled with their FoundIt! ID, the Finder simply enters the info into FoundIt!'s secure system via text or on our website. Our member then receives an instant FoundIt! Alert via text and email sharing the Finder’s contact information and/or message. Many of our members have reported getting a FoundIt! Alert even before knowing anything was missing!

I'm also excited about our next generation of stickers, which include QR codes as yet another, even faster way to make a FoundIt! report. When scanned, a FoundIt! QR will automatically send the SMS message of the Member's FoundIt! ID to our system.

JR: So how did FoundIt! find you?

NH: FoundIt! was originally conceived of by a close childhood friend of mine and my father (the two of them are close, as well). I initially got involved with the business just talking with them and the (small) staff, as I had some thoughts on FoundIt!'s marketing and branding. As a licensed social worker and academic, I didn't necessarily plan on joining in an official capacity, but the more I worked with them, the more excited I got about the prospect of being involved. This past fall I decided to apply to PhD programs and so I found myself job searching for a 1-2 year position. At the same time, FoundIt! was looking to hire a second full-time person (the initial 2 founders/idea men are still involved, but have other projects). As I was already involved, I was a good fit & ended up joining the FoundIt! team. The timing was just right and I feel like I kind of got lucky. I have always had a personal interest in technology, marketing, design and small businesses, but I saw this as a rare opportunity to explore this kind of work before venturing farther (possibly crossing the Rubicon?) into the world of academia.

JR: Could you tell us about that side of your life?

NH: I have a masters in social work (MSW) & a masters in the history & ethics of public health (MPH), and I am hoping to begin a PhD program in the next year or two.  My work is interdisciplinary, involving histories of mental health/psychiatry, transgender health & rights, critical race & gender theory, eugenics & human classification, activist rhetoric, radical feminisms, nostalgia & technology, public health ethics, privacy, young philanthropy, and social justice movements (I know that is a lot, but it actually comes together...).  Recently, I have been revising a few papers for publication, focusing on the history of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the evolution and revision process of gender and sexuality diagnoses and activists concerned with these revisions.

JR: Sounds amazing! How do you like coworking at 3rd Ward?

NH: I certainly benefit from having access to this space. Most of my work is otherwise done from home (FoundIt! is based in Seattle), so it is extremely helpful to have an alternative, quiet workspace. The main things that stand out are the amount of light in the coworking space—those windows are amazing—and how focused everybody is. Of course, people do have conversations and speak on the phone in the shared space, but I always feel able to concentrate. The free coffee doesn't hurt, either.

JR: Absolutely. Anything else on the horizon?

NH: The big event I am looking forward to with FoundIt! is SXSW. We are participating in SXswag and will be running a few events during SXSWi, so it should be great exposure (in addition to being fun).

I also recently started playing around with Arduino, so who knows what will come of that.

Nickerson has also kindly offered a discount on Foundit! membership for her fellow 3rd Ward members! Use the code "3RDWARD" to get 25% off.

-- John Ruscher

MEMBERS WITH 9-to-5's // Heather Ripley Balances Tax Law And Visual Art

Heather Ripley's Yeah, You.

A lot of the 3rd Ward members we feature on this blog are full-time creators, spending their days adjusting lights and snapping shots in the photo studio or forging and crafting things in the shop, but many other members come to 3rd Ward to pursue passions that fall outside of the scope of their day jobs. Take Heather Ripley, for instance, who spends her days as a tax lawyer but is also an active visual artist.

One might not typically imagine a lawyer shedding business attire for an artist's clothes at the end of the work day, but Ripley sees her professional and artistic pursuits as quite similar beyond that surface level. " My hope is to fully invest in whatever is in front of me at the moment, a quality that both creating art and practicing law often demand," she says. "That level of investment can be tough to achieve and sustain, especially with a million other things going on. But there is a cycle of intensity, restraint, and release common to both fields, and I want to learn as much as I can about how those patterns play out. Plus, art and law each entail creativity, problem-solving, setting priorities, and communicating with an audience."

Hit the jump for more about Ripley and the relationship between her work and art.

While a 9-to-5 job might require her to separate her creative and professional time, Ripley says her mind is often occupying both realms. She might be drawing on her notes during a stretch of tax research, or using the bulky Internal Revenue Code to prop or her art materials. "I can't just shut down the lawyer-y parts because I'm holding a paintbrush," she says. "Ah, if it were so easy!" But that overlap can results in some unique connections. "For example, my work includes line drawings where I set up arbitrary constraints or problems and then work my way through them," she says. "Not to say that law is a set of arbitrary constraints, but the notion of working in and through (even around—legally!) restrictions and limitations appeals to me."

Ripley was first drawn to 3rd Ward by Drink N' Draw. "Less for the drinking, more for the drawing," she says. "The existence of this low-cost, high-quality time and space to draw and engage with others was utterly fascinating." Since becoming a member she's found that it offers much more. "The simple premise of artists coming together, making art, and having a good time sort of sums up the place nicely," she says.

Her most recent project was crafting holiday cards for her friends and family. "I really wanted to do linoleum block printing, which I hadn't done since, oh, elementary school," she says. "As sometimes happens, the demands of law practice set me a little off-schedule with the cards, but I got them done!" For the last Member Show Ripley showed her painting Yeah, You (pictured above), which "considered the juxtaposition of being loud/in-your-face with being quiet/subtle, definitely a tension I experience in my lawyer life."

"That dichotomy is something I want to examine more," she says. "And there's a modest queue of portraits to get to." Ripley will surely explore and expand her work this year, but, as always, she's also keeping her professional work in mind: "April 15th is just around the corner!"

Check out more of Ripley's artwork below:

-- John Ruscher

MEMBER-MADE // Michael Wong's Brass Bronze Bark Dining Buffet

 

Back in May we showed you a wonderful Walnut Waterfall Table made by our very own Michael Wong, and now we're pleased to present another one of his amazing creations, an Antique Brass Dining Buffet with Bronze Birch Bark Doors.

A collaboration between Wong's ETHER Atelier and MR Architecture + Decor, this private commission features an exterior consisting of a light antique brass waterfall surround, natural bronze cast birch bark doors and metallic bronze lacquer. Inside you'll find ultra-suede silverware drawers as well as a remote-controlled security lock. We can't imagine a classier addition to one's dining room.

Wong has recently been exploring new techniques with bronze, and this piece brings together his expertise in woodworking and metal fabrication in a unique and profound way. He also got some assistance from 3rd Ward's ever-present network of support, including Lenin Hercules, Johnny White, Luis Herrera, Jamie Partington, Lee Stehly and Ellen Rosenberg.

Check out more images of this beauty after the jump and head to the ETHER Atelier website for more of Wong's superb work.

-- John Ruscher

MEMBER PROFILE // Photographer Shirley Rodriguez Finds the Magic Formula

We're fuzzy on the exact statistics, but for every 20 or so photographers tending bar, waiting tables, or even filing tax returns to make ends meet, there's one Shirley Rodriguez--one person who's been showing since her teens and actually makes a living solely off her art. Proud to call her a 3rd Ward member, Rodriguez appeared on the scene with her series "LatiNatural." She shot portraits of 150 Latina women nude or draped in a white sheet with a blank background and zero make-up. Showing at New York galleries at age 18 or 19 is nothing to scoff at, but Rodriguez explains "That's the thing about growing up in New York. When you start showing in galleries, they're here, and people here see them."

A Rodriguez portrait of rapper Asher RothComing off of that success, she co-founded a commercial studio called Somos Arte, which landed jobs for Olay, McDonalds, Simon & Schuster, Vibe magazine--a bit of everything. And then Rodriguez left.

"I wanted to work with more artists," she says. "It will still be a commercial studio, just a different one." While Shooting Range, her new studio in Williamsburg gets off the ground, Rodriguez is working on a series called "The Master's Tools," which will focus on ways that physical labor has disfigured people. 

Rodriguez is one of those archetypal modern artists, finding a way to support herself by retaining a style she believes in. We're rooting for both Shooting Range and "The Master's Tools"--and hoping, just a little, that she'll maybe bottle the secret to success.

--Layla Schlack

NEW MEMBER PROFILE // Jeweler Eva Marcus Hits the Big Time

Eva Marcus models a necklace for her lookbook

It was less than a year ago that Eva Marcus left Los Angeles and an acting career to come to New York and start a jewelry line. She searched and searched for a place to go make jewelry, until she found 3rd Ward and got to work. Now she has a shop on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and Women's Wear Daily gave her line a glowing review. Apparently a lot can happen in a year.

"I'm not a very patient person," Marcus tells us. "Once I decided this is what I want to do, I didn't want to drag it out." 

Marcus learned how to make jewelry in Italy from a woman experienced in cuttlebone casting, which is the material her pieces are made from. Initially, she did it purely as form of meditation, though eventually people began asking her where the jewelry came from. "I thought it was kind of like how your mom hangs your pictures on the fridge when you're little," she says. "I didn't think people actually liked it." Meanwhile, disenchanted with show business, she decided to give the jewelry line a go. 

Hit the jump to find out more and catch a glimpse of Marcus' work.

                             

When we ask about the relatively primitive nature behind actually making the jewelry, Marcus explains, "What's funny is I'm not an outdoors person at all, and I don't really pay attention to the trends. I'll just put on a song or something and start sketching and carve that right into the cuttlebone." She loves the rustic, imprecise nature of the entire process and how substantial the finished products actually feel. Her prices range from about $200-$2,000 (hey, it's the holiday season, people.)

We, for one, are thrilled to have Eva on board as a member--and for your further enticement, here's one more gorgeous piece of hers:

--Layla Schlack