Melina Hammer - Photographing Food With Intention

03/30/21 • 64 min

Melina Hammer is an award-winning food photographer, book author, stylist, chef, and mastermind behind Catbird Cottage. After years working with the New York Times, Eating Well, Blue Apron, and others, she now curates and prepares seasonal menus for guests at the destination bed & breakfast she runs with her husband, located in New York’s Hudson Valley. At the Catbird, she grows an heirloom kitchen garden and forages wild foods, curating of-the-moment seasonal menus for guests. Her first cookbook, KID CHEF is an Amazon bestseller, and she is working on her new cookbook due out spring 2022.

In this episode, Melina shares her extensive process of writing a cookbook including framing the narrative, creating the recipes, styling, cooking, testing and photographing. Hear about her first career as a metalsmith and evolution into food photography. Melina gives you tips on transforming foods that aren’t naturally visually appealing into gorgeous drool-worthy images that will make your audience hungry. Explore her early experiences working with the NYTimes, learning by doing in a trial-by-fire way. We dive into trusting both the creative and entrepreneurial process that will leave you inspired.

This is We Are Photographers with Melina Hammer and this is her story.

Connect with Melina Hammer: melinaphotos.com | IG @melinahammer| catbirdcottage.com

At CreativeLive we believe there is a creator in all of us. If you’re looking to get fresh perspectives, inspiration or skills to boost your hobbies, business or life head over to creativelive.com and check out The Creator Pass, our subscription that gives you anytime on demand access to over 1900 classes taught by the world’s top creators and entrepreneurs.

Connect with your CreativeLive community: creativelive.com | IG @creativelive | TW @creativelive | YT @creativelive | FB @creativelive

Connect with your host Kenna Klosterman: IG @kennaklosterman | TW @kennakphoto

Subscribe, rate & review We Are Photographers wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! We’d love to hear from you.

This is We Are Photographers with Melina Hammer and this is her story.

Connect with Melina Hammer: melinaphotos.com | IG @melinahammer| catbirdcottage.com

Connect with your CreativeLive community: creativelive.com | IG @creativelive | TW @creativelive | YT @creativelive | FB @creativelive

Connect with your host Kenna Klosterman: IG @kennaklosterman | TW @kennakphoto

Subscribe, rate & review We Are Photographers wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! We’d love to hear from you.

Previous Episode

Cielo de la Paz - The Storyographist's Story

Cielo de la Paz is a photographer and mobile filmmaker whose work was featured for several years in Apple’s Shot on iPhone Billboard and TV Commercial campaign. Her work has won the Gold Cannes Lions Award and honors at Mobile Photography Awards and iPhone Photography Awards. Cielo loves to teach others to make their own mobile videos and regularly teaches at Stanford, Google and CreativeLive. When not not traveling the world to teach and speak about smartphone videography, Cielo vlogs on her Youtube channel and provides resources for her TheStoryographist.com.

If you’ve ever feared putting imperfect creative work out into the world, this episode will resonate with you. Cielo shares key insights from creating a video a day for the year of 2020. Learn how she develops content even when feeling uninspired. Cielo explores the art of storytelling including all the different ways to tell stories - from structure to visuals to voice. Find out Cielo’s go-to gear for mobile filmmaking and the exciting long-term projects she is in the process of creating.

This is We Are Photographers with Cielo de la Paz and this is her story.

Connect with Cielo de la Paz: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook |YouTube

At CreativeLive we believe there is a creator in all of us. If you’re looking to get fresh perspectives, inspiration or skills to boost your hobbies, business or life head over to creativelive.com and check out The Creator Pass, our subscription that gives you anytime on demand access to over 1900+ classes taught by the world’s top creators and entrepreneurs.

Connect with your CreativeLive community: creativelive.com | IG @creativelive | TW @creativelive | YT @creativelive | FB @creativelive

Connect with your host Kenna Klosterman: IG @kennaklosterman | TW @kennakphoto

Subscribe, rate & review We Are Photographers wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! We’d love to hear from you.

Next Episode

Richard Terborg - Portraits That Connect

Richard Terborg is a professional photographer & educator based in Amsterdam. He's a people photographer in every sense of the term. Apart from photography, he is deeply involved in the world of art in general whether it be music, fine art, or fashion. As a brand ambassador for Elinchrom and Olympus, Richard offers workshops in photography, set design, lighting, and entrepreneurship all over the world. His work has been featured in magazines such as DigiFoto Pro, Vogue Netherlands and Digital Photographer Magazine just to name a few.

In this episode Richard takes us back to growing up in Curaçao, feeling like an outsider, and moving Amsterdam at age seventeen. Find out how he became a both a self-taught photographer and self-taught entrepreneur. Richard’s open mindset, intuition and discipline allow him to accomplish most anything he sets his mind to, despite feeling imposter syndrome along the way. We talk about how he connects with people - his creative team, clients, models or students - to create experiences that keep people coming back. Learn his mind-mapping process for turning ideas, whether it's not enough or too many, into reality.

This is We Are Photographers with Richard Terborg and this is his story.

Connect with Richard Terborg: richardterborg.com | Instagram | Flickr

At CreativeLive we believe there is a creator in all of us. If you’re looking to get fresh perspectives, inspiration or skills to boost your hobbies, business or life head over to creativelive.com and check out The Creator Pass, our subscription that gives you anytime on demand access to 1900+ classes taught by the world’s top creators and entrepreneurs.

Connect with your CreativeLive community: creativelive.com | IG @creativelive | TW @creativelive | YT @creativelive | FB @creativelive

Connect with your host Kenna Klosterman: IG @kennaklosterman | TW @kennakphoto

Subscribe, rate & review We Are Photographers wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! We’d love to hear from you.