Currents Magazine | New Jersey's #1 Lifestlye Magazine Now Serving Monmouth County NJ!
The creative team at Currents Magazine is very proud to bring you our cover shot and feature story on the locally grown Mr. Green Tea Ice Cream Co. based in Keyport.
Shooting ice cream is a tricky proposition, so rather than experiment a delicious afternoon away, we turned to an exceptional team of professionals to bring you the cover photo and article pictures for our annual “Wine & Dine” issue.
The cover shot features scoops of the original and most popular flavors of Mr. Green Tea Ice Cream — Green Tea, Ginger and Red Bean.Those small red things you see in the foreground are Japanese Asuki beans, which are the raw ingredients and flavor drivers of their Red Bean ice cream. And the ice cream on the cover is not really ice cream, but a masterfully crafted and authentically colored combination of fondant mixed with flavor and color agents. Since this picture is not used in actual advertising, we were permitted to use this likeness. Had we used the real thing we would have gone through gallons, since only one to two scoops from a single gallon are used to create perfect ice cream photographs.
We were also delighted to partner with the talented area photographer Andrei Jackamets. If you have ever seen some of the delicious food closeups on Bravo’s Top Chef or the competing chef’s creations for the hit show Rocco’s Dinner Party staring Chef Rocco Dispirito, then you’ve seen the work of this extraordinary photographer. Andrei’s work is displayed on many of the menus and websites of the top restaurants in Manhattan. His artistic, creative eye transforms whatever subject he is shooting, from glorious food shots to portraiture, into exquisite art pieces. Andrei’s romance with what is in front of his camera is evident in all the work that comes from his busy Asbury Park studio.
Andrei joined creative forces with high profile food stylist Gigi Alterio, who has worked as a Culinary and Food Technology Consultant and sales representative to some of the world’s leading food and ingredient companies like Dunkin Donuts. Gigi’s work is seen in print advertising, commercials, cooking shows and demos and she is the Food Stylist and Culinary Consultant to Emeril Lagasse on the Food Channel and Good Morning America. She believes that food styling is an important component of meal service, and that chefs can enhance their diner’s experience by using some of the techniques she teaches. Home chefs who have been lucky enough to attend her seminars and classes in artistic food styling have learned to make everyday meals, extraordinary. “Artistic food styling and plating is a distinctive design discipline that can make culinary masterpieces look as good as they taste. A successfully dazzling presentation has the unique ability to trigger the senses in ways that words can’t express.”
Together, Andrei and Gigi’s specialized photos are favorites with top notch clients in the area.. “We have created a team that translates the clients menu into food photography for print and web that looks as good as it tastes” says Andrei. “And the chef and restaurant partners have a distinct look that distinguishes them from all the competition” adds Gigi.
Their work can be viewed at www.PhotographersHere.com. You can book an appointment for a personalized assessment of your print and web needs. The studio telephone number is 732-905-5425. For information on Gigi’s food styling services and classes email gigicompton@aol.com.
