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Q&A with Ben Fink
New York-based photographer Ben Fink was born in Baltimore but describes himself as a “young transplant” to Memphis. He went to junior high and high school in the area; he attended the Memphis College of Art and the University of Memphis, where he studied painting and graphic design. Fink began taking pictures of food in Memphis, and has since had an impressive career working with some of the biggest names in food, including Bobby Flay, Ina Garten, Jacques Pépin, and the Lee Brothers. He has prominent corporate clients as well and has shot the cookbooks for celebrities Eva Longoria, Trisha Yearwood, and Teresa Giudice. Fink’s latest editorial project brought him back to the area. Mississippi Current: A Culinary Journey Down America’s Greatest River is by Regina Charboneau, the culinary director of the American Queen, and the cookbook spans the length of the Mississippi, from its source in Minnesota to the Gulf Coast.
Flyer: How did you go from painting and graphic design to photography?
Ben Fink: I studied painting and graphic design, and then, you know, I had to work. A friend of mine [asked], “Do you want to take over my job as an assistant photographer for Jack Kenner?” I said, “Oh, sure!” That’s where I got my love for photography. I worked for him for about a year, and then started doing my own thing.
You got into food photography fairly early in your career. How did that come about?
It was with Mary Ann Eagle. Mary Ann started doing a monthly column in Memphis magazine, and she and I teamed up to do that column. Then I started doing the top-100 and the best restaurants, so I did all the restaurant stuff for Memphis magazine.
This was the early ’90s. We said, “Why don’t we try querying these big magazines?” The first one we queried, we were like, Let’s just go for the best, the one that we dream to work with, and that was Saveur. They bought the first article that we queried.
How did you get from Memphis to New York?
After getting hooked up with Saveur, they started having me travel the world. Then I started working with other magazines.
I was working a lot in New York and Europe and California. I traveled a lot from Memphis, which seemed like such a fluke. Then I was like “Okay, I’ve got to make that leap.” I was so scared of failure.
I never skipped a beat. I was so lucky. Then suddenly in 2000, it skyrocketed. It never stopped.
Do you think the 2000 boom coincided with Food Network?
Yes. I started with those people. I got connected pretty early. I did Rachael Ray’s first four books. From there, I worked with Bobby Flay. I just completed my fifth or sixth book with him. I just started doing a lot of Food Network people — Ted Allen, Anne Burrell …
Then I started working with major corporations. The last couple of days, I’ve been working with Burger King. I’ve worked with Hellmann’s, Nestle, and Kraft.
Are you known for a certain look, or do you go in and say, “Let’s do this together?” Does it depend on the client?
Ben Fink
Samples of Ben Fink’s work
Ben Fink
I do have a certain look that always comes out, and it’s probably very approachable. Ultimately, my love of whatever I’m doing comes through. But, that being said, the projects that I’m working on are not all about me. They’re about the people I’m working with. There are always conversations before we ever start. My approach is I sit down with people, and I say, “What do you see coming out of this?” And, I usually get, “I don’t know. What do you see?” I say, “No, what I want to hear is your story.”
Whether they realize it or not, they do have ideas on how they see things. My job is to pull that out. Do they see this rustic-looking? Do they see it slick and refined? Do they see it dark and moody? Do they see this light and airy?
There’s plenty that can go wrong with cooking. I’m sure you’ve encountered mishaps.
Mistakes are sometimes our friend. Funny things happen, and if we can capitalize on those, that’s great. A subject who admits their mistakes and takes and embraces them, it makes them more real. But if it’s a horrible mistake? Start over. Just don’t get caught up in it personally.
Any moments that were very difficult? Something you thought would be easy but didn’t turn out like you expected?
Something that didn’t turn out as expected … There’s a really good, motto … I may not say this right, but the gist of it is: Career-wise, look up to people you admire, push toward that, and surpass it until that person you admire becomes your competitor.
That’s intense!
That doesn’t always happen. There are so many people I admire. I’m in awe of people — there are many, many talented people, and some get overlooked.
And, I’m in awe of all I have achieved. If I could say anything, I’m in awe of my career. Who would have known that a little guy from Frayser would be shooting and working with some of the top people in the food world? I’m blown away by it, and I live with myself and think, “Some day everybody’s going wake up and figure out who I really am. That I fooled everybody.”
Let’s talk specifically about shooting food. Do you have certain tricks you use, or is it, What’s on the plate is what’s on the plate?
When I shoot for editorial books, we cook it, we set it down on a plate or platter, I find the angle. I shoot it as a whole platter, then I put a fork in it and shoot that, and then I take a bite of it. And then I shoot that, so it looks natural. If you can have it made, shot, and eat it, and it’s still good, then you probably have a good shot.
You’ve been around food constantly. Do you know everything?
Do I know everything? I do cook. My husband is a better cook than I am. But, I’m around many great cooks. I shot books for almost 12 years for the Culinary Institute of America. I probably shot 30 or 40 books for them, so I feel like I went to school for 10 or 12 years. I learned a tremendous amount of just basic knife skills, cooking skills. I shot three professional How to Cook Everything books.
Let’s talk about the Mississippi Currents book. How did that work? Did you get on the boat to shoot this project?
I did three days on the boat with Regina, but we did it mostly in her house at Natchez. I love shooting cookbooks. That’s my roots, and I hadn’t been down South in a while. So, we talked on the phone, and we had a mutual admiration. I went down. My husband helped style the book. With Regina, we all styled and shot it together.
What was it like being on the boat?
I wanted to figure out how to stay for a week. It was really relaxing. Sort of a throwback — so slow and kind of a nice experience.
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Answering the “Summons”
- JB
- Landrieu at The Peabody
Only a Zen Master would begin and end a public appearance in Memphis by paying tribute to the ducks of The Peabody as a key to urban success.
Only a Zen Master or Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans, who portrayed the hotel’s amphibian wobblers, famous in the tourist trade, as a case par excellence of creating “something out of nothing” — the apparent nothing having been something all the while, just waiting there to be discovered as such and leveraged for a whole community’s benefit.
Landrieu used the analogy to explain the extravagant success that his city, which was “17 feet under water” after the devastations of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, has enjoyed in becoming, eight scant years later, “the Number One place to do business in America” according to Forbes Magazine.
Granted, the Big Easy’s advantages have always been there — indigenous music, cuisine, Old World charm with New World attitude, an intellectual life, a burgeoning sports culture, and a reputation as “a place to have a good time” — but rarely have they been combined to such effect as in the city’s stunning rescue from near-ruin.
Recent visitors to Landrieu’s city (like myself) have seen the revival for themselves — the gleaming shards, the bright lights of entertainment, the burnished glow of restored history — and reveled in the distinct tastes of New Orleans.
Some of the latter were generously sampled by members of the capacity crowd of blue ribbon paying guests, a cross-section of the city’s leadership, that gathered to hear Landrieu in The Peabody’s Continental Ballroom for Thursday’s first annual “Summons to Memphis” luncheon, sponsored by Memphis Magazine.
The menu: “salad of romaine, arugula and red oak, avocado, and Tomatoes; gulf shrimp remouilade; muffaletta sandwich slice, freshly baked rolls and breaks with sweet cream butter; chocolate caramel turtle tart; vanilla anglaise and bourbon Chantilly….
Yeah. Laissez le bon temps rouler, citizens.
Landrieu was the inaugural “Summons to Memphis” speaker — the event titled in honor of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by the late Peter Taylor, the eminent Memphian who was himself feted at a Memphis-sponsored banquet a generation ago. Like all “Summons to Memphis” honorees who will follow him in years to come, Landrieu offered encouragement by word and by example to a host city questing for its own mojo.
The ducks, the Grizzlies, the river, the people, the barbeque, the city’s disproportionate number of Fortune 500 companies — all these were cited by the mayor. And, of course, the music. Landrieu, an artful politician indeed, may have gotten his biggest hand when he made reference to Memphis’ rivalry with a sister city: “Nashville — claiming to be the music capital of the world. It’s not.”
(It should be noted that Landrieu said that in the course of praising Tennessee’s capital city for having marshaled its assets toward the creation of a formidable music industry.)
Landrieu has a talent for rounding things out in the unexpectedly simple phrase, concept, or example.
To wit: “Less is less;” “It’s possible for government to be too big and too small at the same time;” “We all live together. Or do we? If we don’t, we don’t. If we do, we do;” “Everybody who thinks they can do everything by themselves, build a road, build a bridge, call me later;” “Nobody’s coming to save you. You’re it.”
That Zen thing: He spoke of “The Way of getting to the thing,” pointing out that “if you develop your golf swing, you can use it on any club.
In the case of city-building, this means discovering your assets, letting them mix and thrive symbiotically with each other, and, most importantly, working together, across racial, geographic, and economic lines. “If you leave anybody behind, they will be behind.”
Oh, there was a lot of nitty-gritty practical talk, too — about how to balance the private sector’s contributions with those of government, understanding the pluses and minuses of each, about reforming public pensions, choosing priorities, and expanding only that which you’re willing to pay for.
In sum, Mitch Landrieu, rumored to be a potential candidate for governor of Louisiana in 2014, was a revelation: a formidable speaker, a convivial guest, a dispenser of useful advice, and a perfect lead-off man for a series that will attempt to do on a year-by-year basis just what the mayor suggested: Bring everybody together.
Ken Neill, the editor/publisher of Memphis Magazine and the CEO of Contemporary Media, Inc., the parent organization of both the magazine and the Flyer, concluded the event by paying a well-deserved hat-tip to Ward Archer, Jr., chairman of CMI’s board and, as it happens, son of Ward Archer, Sr., a close friend of Taylor, the title of whose prize-winning novel will continue to adorn the series and summon distinguished visitors to Memphis.
And see and hear extended excerpts of an interview with Mayor Mitch Landreu, who will be guest of honor and featured speaker at Wednesday’s inaugural “Summons to Memphis” luncheon. The event, sponsored by Memphis Magazine, will be held in the Peabody’s Continental Ballroom. VIDEO:
And reed the Flyer report on the interview here.
Mayor Landrieu discourses candidly on Katrina, crime, city financing, “dysfunctional government,” and the value of sports franchise to a community, along with much else.
Tickets for Mayor Landrieu’s appearance , as and if they remain available, are $50 per person, $450 for a table of 10, advance sale only at summonstomemphis.com. The event is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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Steve Jobs and Sun Records Studio
The new biography “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson includes more details of his stay in Memphis including a visit to Sun Studio that resulted in an employee being hired by Apple.
The book came out Monday and was the subject of a piece on CBS “60 Minutes” Sunday. Isaacson had 40 interviews with Jobs after the Apple cofounder was diagnosed with cancer. In both the book and “60 Minutes” segment, Issacson discusses the life-saving liver transplant that Jobs received in Memphis in 2009. Some of the story, including details of the house where Jobs lived in Midtown, was previously reported in The Memphis Flyer and in an interview with Dr. James Eason, who did the liver transplant, conducted by reporter Marilyn Sadler for Memphis magazine this summer.
New details in the book:
As Eason and officials at Methodist Hospital have maintained all along, Isaacson says that Jobs did not “jump the line” to get a transplant. He did, however, register in both California and Tennessee to improve his chances. The donor was a car-accident victim in his mid-20s. As the Flyer reported, Apple attorney George Riley, a former Memphian, made the connection and helped Jobs settle into the house he bought on Morningside Place.
Jobs was cared for at Methodist by two nurses from Mississippi. They were not awed by him and Jobs liked that.
Jobs and his wife and others made a secret visit to Sun Studio, where Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash and others recorded. Jobs was so emaciated that the staff did not recognize him, but the tour guide did such a good job that Jobs offered him to hire him.
Jobs’ wife took responsibility for getting him a liver transplant and monitored his position in the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease system (MELD). While the book insists that Jobs did not buy his way to the top of the list, the “60 Minutes” segment has Isaacson recounting how Jobs drove a Mercedes sports car with no license plate and “felt like the normal rules just didn’t apply to him.”
On the liver transplant, at least, this authorized biography may not be the last word.
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Memphis Magazine Earns Top Honors
Memphis magazine received a first-place Gold Medal for General Excellence at the 2008 City and Regional Magazine Awards, presented during the final night of the City and Regional Magazine Association’s annual convention held May 31st through June 1st at The Peabody. Memphis, produced by Contemporary Media, which also publishes the Memphis Flyer and Memphis Parent, also earned a Gold Medal in the ancillary publication division for Memphis Business Quarterly and a third-place Bronze Medal in the cover design category for its June 2007 “Fat City” issue.
Judges noted: “Memphis magazine hits the high notes of any top-notch city magazine, with attractive and intriguing covers, lively coverage of local celebrities, and mouth-watering food photography. But what really sets Memphis apart is the audacity of its goal: It strives to be the authority on all things Memphis, and to a large degree, it succeeds.”
More than 60 magazines competed in this year’s contest. The competition is organized by the University of Missouri School of Journalism, which selected judges from Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The New York Times, and other national publications.
Memphis magazine has been honored with more than 40 regional and national journalism awards since being founded in 1976. This is its first Gold Medal for General Excellence from CRMA.
Abe Gaustad has won the grand prize in the 2007 Memphis Magazine Fiction Contest for his story “The Torso.” It will be published in the December issue of Memphis.
An honorable mention winner in 2002, Gaustad holds a master of fine arts in creative writing and expects to receive his doctorate in English in 2008 from the University of Tennessee.
Gaustad’s work has appeared in a variety of nationally distributed literary magazines, including Other Voices and New Orleans Review. He has also won awards for his fiction from the University of Tennessee, Orchid: A Literary Review and Glimmer Train magazine. He is looking for a publisher for his book of short stories and working to complete a novel set in Brasilia and Memphis, tentatively titled Building Cities in the Dark.
Honorable mention winners this year are Marsha L. McSpadden and Court Ogilvie. The annual contest, now in its 18th year, is sponsored by Burke’s Book Store and Davis-Kidd Booksellers.
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Gritty Memphis News
Memphis has a new biweekly online magazine. Actually: Memphis has its first and to our knowledge only biweekly online magazine. It’s called CultureGrits.com, and it promises a “mouthful of Memphis” with each issue.
The first issue has a personal essay by a home-invasion victim from Humes Heights, a spotlight on Memphis Teen Volunteers, the back story of Memphis Farmers Market, and the introduction to a multipart story on the “Evolution of Memphis Soul.” Future issues will follow suit, with essays, nonprofit profiles, and the stories behind the story of successful businesses and individuals.
The site is founded and edited by Mary K. Levie, a former writer for the University of Memphis’ Daily Helmsman (ain’t Google grand?). CultureGrits.com says they’re hoping to add sections on local fiction and photography.