livebooks blog

My name is Kari Alana Heron. I am a storyteller. I tell three-dimensional stories about food, culture, people, travel, and life using images and words. My portfolio site is www.kariheron.com and award-winning food blog is www.chefandsteward.com.

I started out taking photos of food when I decided to delve into my ambition to start a food blog with my chef husband some six years ago. As expats, it was a great way for me to introduce myself to Dubai, which was my new home and to merge our skills, expertise, and interests. I have been shooting since I was 9 on a 24 mm and eventually inherited my father’s 35 mm in my teens. I trained in photography from age 16 and went pro when I left the Caribbean and moved to Dubai. Why food? It doesn’t talk back. Seriously though, food is one of the most challenging subjects and I love the reward of conquering something that is so dynamic. Food and culture have always intrigued me.

I have a mad love for the Middle East. I fell in love some years ago. There is so much there – even though it may seem very basic to Western eyes. I felt I had my greatest personal growth in the Middle East. Jordan has been my most sacred place to shoot so far.

Since I have an extensive background in Media and Communication, I have learned that relationships are everything in business. It is the same with small clients and those names that make your client list look lush. Waldorf Astoria was a brilliant brand to work with and their Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates location is one of the most spectacular hotels I have ever shot in or had the pleasure of staying at. Red Bull is a fun brand and I headed up Marketing Communication for their largest Soapbox Race in Latin America.

I consider a perfect food photograph one that makes you want to reach through the screen and take a bite or want to go to your kitchen to cook or book a reservation immediately for that restaurant. A perfect food photograph is an invitation to treat.

Like most creatives, I am multi-talented. The body of my work that I am most passionate about includes photography, video production, writing recipe development, and food styling. I am a content producer. It is a blessing to be able to move seamlessly through the arts and not only express my God-given gifts, but earn a living income internationally from them. I love to travel for work and hop across the Atlantic up to three times a year. Travel is the best school life can offer.

I was commissioned to collaborate on a book which will be published soon. My husband and I are looking for some cookbook deals as we have got a few great books inside us. Food is a universal language that unites people from all over the world and as people who have lived our adult lives outside of our home country, it has been an integral part in our travels in our travels. My work is based on my respect for food, people, their culture and where they live. I am pretty big on social media and love connecting with people on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, and Periscope.

Emily Dryden is primarily a food, product and portrait photographer based out of Brooklyn, New York. She has worked for world-renown clients and was awarded second place in the International Photography Award 2015 for the Food/Advertising category. To see more of her work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.emilydryden.com

I am primarily a food, product, and still life photographer, though I also have a penchant for editorial portraits and storytelling. Most recently my photography has been exhibited in Luchon, France, and in New York City. My clients include Uncommongoods, Wine Enthusiast, Citibank, Staples, Mercer, Kroger, Horizon BCBS-New Jersey, BNY Mellon, Edible Brooklyn, Edible Manhattan, and Atlanta Magazine. Originally from Georgia, I began taking photos seriously while I was a student at the University of Georgia. I graduated with a degree in Journalism (specifically in video journalism), but quickly went back to school at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, Georgia where I focused on photography. After I graduated, I began working with editorial clients in Atlanta but after a year, I decided to move to New York City where I have been based ever since.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

ED: Clean, Minimalistic, and Professional

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

ED: I like to update it with new work every few months. I think it’s important to always show new work as it comes out and I’m constantly refining my portfolio. Fortunately, the liveBooks interface makes it very easy to do this.

Q: How do you choose the photos you display on your homepage?

ED: For the homepage, I wanted to pick a mix of images that show a range but that also work well together as a group.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks?

ED: I love the new galleries. It’s great that you can view an entire collection as a contact sheet but you have the option to click and view each image one at a time if you choose to.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

ED: I would encourage them to spend time experimenting with the different gallery options to see which one shows their work the best. I can imagine that a landscape photographer might need something different than a food photographer – just like a portrait photographer would need something completely different. There are definitely plenty of options to pick from.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Renee Anjanette is a food photographer based in Los Angeles. Born in Missouri, Renee grew up on the banks of the Mississippi and moved to California later in life to create her career in photography. She has worked for clients all over the United States. To see more Renee’s work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.rafotostudio.com.

I came from a small town in middle America with no access to the arts. I thought I might love photography because I mentally composed images in my mind, enclosing the world around me in little boxes, so I took a community college course – Photo 101 and fell in love. I chose Brooks Institute of Photography back was when it was a small, private photo school in Santa Barbara, literally in a mansion on a hill overlooking the ocean. I cried and cried when I first arrived, thinking I had never seen such beauty. I finally ended up in L.A. working as second shooter for other photographers, a common method for developing your book and your skills on camera in a commercial studio. I now operate and also rent to other photographers, my own studio – Historic Hudson Studios in Hollywood, the incredible Herb Ritts former studio space. I primarily shoot food and table top for clients all over the country.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

RA: Elegant, chic, quiet.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

RA: Every 2 years.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

RA: I choose my favorites from each section (sweet, savory, etc.) to go into an “Overview” section, which is what I show on the “Homepage”.

Q: What is your favorite new features of liveBooks8?

RA: The new page designs available and it really is easy once you learn the basics.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

RA: Work with a designer, I did. I worked with the liveBooks designer to get more of what I wanted.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.