Blog — STEVEN SEIGHMAN

New work: VegNews magazine, Summer 2020 issue

It never stops being exciting to see my work in VegNews magazine. And I’m grateful to have not one but two images in their 2020 summer issue. Both are for recipes I absolutely loved making—and eating.

The magazine received a design overhaul last year year, and I really love it. In addition to shooting images that are included, I really enjoy just flipping through the pages when my copy comes because it’s so lovely and contemporary. And the content is always amazing.

The first recipe I shot for this most recent issue is chef Eddie Garza’s elotes street corn, and the second is Heather Bell and Jenny Engel’s Mango-Jicama Ceviche.

Every Single Street Montclair

This isn’t food photography related, but it does tie into the larger picture for me of compassion toward animals—one of the main reasons I started my business.

Living in the NYC/northern NJ area, my wife and I have been pretty locked down since early March. One of the ways we cope is through socially distant running; we go at off hours and avoid people as much as possible. One way we determined could make running even more fun is if we started a project like the one Rickey Gates did in San Francisco, where he ran every street in the city. So that’s what we’re doing here in our town of Montclair, NJ. And because I like to use wacky things like this as a way to raise money for animal sanctuaries (they need help now more than ever), I’ve turned it into a fundraiser for Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in upstate NY. The goal was to raise $100, but we exceeded that early on. So now I’m setting my sights on $500. I think we can get there.

This project is going to be a lot of fun. There are roughly 125 miles of roads in Montclair, and we’ll do five or more miles per day, four days each week through the first week of June. I can’t wait to explore new areas of the town we’ve lived in for over a decade but haven’t spent much time wandering through.

Take a look at the map of our route below, and check back here for updates as we go on this fun and exhausting journey. And if you’d like to donate to the cause, click here.

New Work: VegNews Magazine

The new issue of VegNews is on newsstands and I’m excited to see another one of my photos in its pages. This time around I was hired to make and shoot a recipe for Baja Cauliflower Tacos, created by chef Eddie Garza.

The process this time was a bit unique in that close to the issue’s close, the dimensions of the spread changed to accommodate a last-minute ad. That meant the styling I used for the shot didn’t quite fit into the new space. There wasn’t enough time to reshoot, so the art director did a bit of Photoshop magic to erase a condiment I’d put into the scene. It looks great in the magazine, though it was strange to see a different version of what I’d set up.

New Work: VegNews Magazine

I’m very excited to have worked on the latest issue of VegNews magazine. As a vegan photographer they’ve always felt like my white whale when it came to editorial work. But I’ve had the great fortune to work with them on their past three issues and it was really a lot of fun every time.

I worked closely with their food editor and art director, both of whom were delights. They knew what they wanted and sent me on my way. Remote collaborations helped me to deliver finished products that they were happy with and that I’m very proud of.
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Catskill Animal Sanctuary Visit

After one whole post I’m taking a break from food photography to put something up that’s slightly different, but but still on brand.

This past weekend I celebrated my 44th birthday. And yesterday,as part of an amazing upstate New York weekend filled with hiking and a ton of vegan food (mostly at one of my new favorite restaurants, Garden Café at Woodstock), my wife and I visited the Catskill Farm Sanctuary. It was of the best days I’ve ever had, and that’s not hyperbole.
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The Start of Something New

At the beginning of last year I decided to step back a bit from my work in graphic design. I still have my day job designing books, but I left the freelance market (for the most part) to focus on something else. And while I wasn’t quite sure what it would be at the time, I knew I wanted it to involve my camera. I never imagined it would end up being food photography.

What I landed on had to help in some way. For a while I considered traveling to shelters to photograph the animals and hopefully help them get adopted. But as someone with pretty severe allergies that didn’t seem feasible. In the end those allergies would be precisely what I’d focus on.
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