I’m a chef turned food photographer, working in Philadelphia. I got my first restaurant job when I was 16 in my little central New Jersey home town, and have cooked professionally for over 40 years in casual and formal restaurants, cafés and bistros, catering and retail. Since graduating from the CIA in Hyde Park, New York in 1989 I’ve cooked in New Jersey, San Francisco, New England and Philadelphia, and I spent a year in southwest France cooking Gascogne cuisine with 2 Michelin stars at the Hotel de France, in the quaint village of Auch. Fine dining taught me how to plate with intention, and the French brigade system taught me how to manage a team. I’m still a chef, and always will be, which is why I believe in keeping food natural. Food needs to look real, and the only way to accomplish that is to use real, natural ingredients. I can honestly say about 90% of the food I shoot in my studio is eaten afterwards. I enjoy shooting for businesses that value sustainability, seasonality and freshness. Shooting fast food doesn’t do it for me. A quality chef-driven restaurant or sustainable food brand is my ideal client.
When I’m not busy shooting or working on improving my skills, I enjoy spending time outdoors, hiking in the woods and soaking up the beauty of nature. I’m addicted to Thai food, can’t get enough of it, but as a good Italian boy I pretty much live on pasta. And yes, I call it gravy. It’s a Jersey thing.