Style to Set

Episode 1: Loren Wood, Food Stylist: We "Frankenstein-ed" That Thing

• Callie • Season 1 • Episode 1

Share episode

Sometimes in life, you just have to go for it. And this is ESPECIALLY the case in the high-pressure world of food styling. Like the old adage, you never know until you try- you actually really DON'T know until you try. And let’s be real- stepping out there can be terrifying. It’s h-e-double-pretzel-sticks-a risky. But, a lot of the time- it works out. 

In this episode we highlight the most amazing mom and hardest working food stylist we know- Loren Wood. Her story of transformation is inspiring- from working as the pastry chef at a James Beard award-winning restaurant to now serving clients that range from Coca-cola to Chick-fil-A to Hammer Stahl and pretty much every single magazine you can think of. She shares about the mistakes she made;  the cake she Frankensteined together during a windstorm; how the courage she developed through the excellence food styling led her to overcome self-doubt, and when you just aren't sure, check the lighting. :)

Let’s open our minds and hearts to gain wisdom and courage from Loren’s story. I’m hoping it will make us all a little braver in our creative work today.

This is a great episode for someone looking to get into food styling or who just needs a creative career boost. Welcome to Style to Set:)

Check out Loren on IG @lorenwood.foodstyling

******

Show Notes:

*****

Want to check out this episode on YouTube? Click here! 

*****


  📍 ​

 📍  📍    

All right. I think we're recording now. Great. It's like, it's up and running. Okay, everybody guys, welcome back to another episode of style to set. I am so excited you're here and you're with us to delve into the nitty gritty of these amazing people that make these beautiful images and make shoots happen.

And today I am. Beyond thrilled, beyond honored to have Loren Wood with us today. She is a classically chained chef. She has worked in James Beard Warren winning restaurants for 10 years before she made the big leap into freelance world and food styling. And she has worked with. Some of the biggest names you can think of, you know, from Chick fil A and Coca Cola to the Pioneer Woman.

She's done editorial work and commercial work. She also has a passion for pastry and I am so excited for you guys to get to meet her, to hear some of her wild and crazy stories and then also just to hear about some of the behind- the- scenes shenanigans that can go on with food styling. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

So Loren, welcome to the podcast.

I'm honored. Very much. So, so this is gonna be great. We're going to do.

right back at you.

Really let people know it all, so.

So, okay, so Loren, start us off by telling us a little bit about you and about your journey and how you kind of got into food styling.

So, I graduated culinary school after trying a couple different things, um, that just didn't really stick. I graduated in 2002, and I immediately started working for Frank Stitt. And I was just plating desserts, you know, just really green. And I was there for probably six years total. And I kind of worked my way up to being the pastry chef there.

But when I was leaving, Frank was working on his first cookbook. And there's this phenomenal photographer there, that was working on his book, Christopher. And I was just enamored. Like they were asking me to make this food for photography and I was just making. I wasn't a food stylist. I was just making pretty food, right?

And so I kind of started seeing him mess with the, you know, the cheesecake or the cookie or style it on the plate. And I just sort of got interested. And from there, it was like, God just opened up the heavens and was like, here's your opportunity. You know, I had a friend call me and say, Oh, they're hiring at, back then it was Time Inc.

And, you know, I'm going to apply. I think you should apply. And we both applied and she got the position at Time Inc. And then, , I heard about Hoffman. Media was, had the same position open. So I applied there and I got the job there. And so that's kind of how I got started in it. I was completely new to the world of food styling.

Just knew how to develop recipes and cook food, you know. And so just trial by fire got thrown in right away.

I love that. I feel like that's the story of so many stylists I know is they're just brave. They're like, I saw it.

Yeah.

got enamored by it and I just knew I could do it. It's like, there's something in each of us. It's like, I'm just going to do this. Like

Right?

the leap. And I think that's so beautiful.

And I think that's so brave. And to give a little context to listeners who may not be familiar with who Frank Stitt is that Loren just mentioned, he is, I believe he's won the James Beard award many times.

A couple times, yes, yes, at Highland's Bar and Grill. And then his pastry chef, Doll Esther, who I was trained under too, also won, a couple years ago, the James Beard Award, so,

Oh, that's amazing. And he was responsible for like pioneering farm to table food

absolutely.

Alabama, basically.

He has a lot of little disciples, you could say, that have now gone on and opened their own, and they're starting to win awards and be nominated, which is great, so,

Yes. That's so amazing. So Loren, like really, really worked hard in a very demanding kitchen. So she brings this beautiful, attention to detail to styling. So she comes from this background in pastry that has now gone to styling. So, okay. So Loren, tell us about. So what were they doing over there?

What magazines were they making? What kind of stuff were you styling over

Gotcha. So when I came in, , imagine coming from a restaurant where you're making enough of 1 dessert to feed 36 people, right? So you're making batches of I've got 36 little blueberry, you know, lattice pies and I have, you know, 40 chocolate. flourless chocolate tortes or whatever. And so coming into recipe development for magazine, you're developing one recipe that may feed six people.

If you've got the home cook at home, you know, so that's kind of when I started there, , it was very small back then. It was only two other people, Rebecca Tuliatos at that time and another lady named Amy Bishop and me. So, out of all the recipes that were developed for the magazines back then, it was Cooking with Paula Deen, Southern Lady, Tea Time, Taste of the South.

They had a couple books, and SIPs, which are Special Interest Publications that they would publish.

it

would pull from the magazine usually for that. And so from there in 2000, I think I started there and I was, I was working both at the restaurant and there for about two or three years. Um, but I think it was 2006 I started there and, It was just wild.

You know, I knew nothing, you know, and I remember them having to sit down with me and be like, this is how you edit these recipes, you know, and this is and they give me like little notes and tell me to look back in the other magazines. But it was,

hmm.

from concept to completion, literally, like, here's what we want you to do.

You can only use these ingredients. It needs to cost this much. We need six recipes. Get it done. You know, and then you would taste it and show it to him and then we'd save it if we could and photograph it and if not, we'd make it again and go on location at someone's house and shoot it. But

Mm

so that's what that was 10 full years of that.

And we developed about 2000 recipes each a year. So it was quite a lot. Yeah,

cow.

no.

So were you developing recipes just for dessert or were you also in the savory side of

It's funny you ask because when I came in, that's what they wanted. They were like, Oh, we want you to do all the cake covers and that'd be great. And they threw me on tea time magazine, which is little foods and little, you know, uh, more ornate, um, more specialty, I guess. And then we started from year one, started picking up more publications, more names, Sandra Lee was thrown in the mix.

And then they threw in Victoria, which I worked exclusively on until I left there. But, , it started out as desserts and then it kind of branched into I really enjoyed doing like a whole meal or doing a salad story or, you know, a casserole story or whatever. So I did both. I have to say I did more desserts than savory, but I definitely did both for the 10 years.

I was there.

that's so cool. Okay, so I need to hear about this though because I feel like saying that is so impressive. And so like you went from just being in sort of the background in the kitchen to all of a sudden you're putting food in front of a camera and you're making a recipe that you're confident that your mom can go home and make.

I mean,

Right?

are really. Like hard things to do. tell me about , what was that transition like for you? I mean, do you have an outstanding memory of a shoot you're on where you were like, I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I've got to solve this problem. Like what comes to your

Oh,

think about that?

so many Callie. Girl, I was, I was thrown in. Okay. Like, I just remember I idolized Rebecca Tulliatos, you know, she came from this background in catering and like, she could just work. She's like, I've never seen anybody like her, you know, she just can get in. And I was not made that way. I was just. Do you know what I mean?

I was like, Oh my gosh, like how am I going to do this? And so I remember she had to pull me aside at one point and say, okay, you have, you are really smart and you're really good at what you're doing, but you're just like running around all over the place. And I need you to just focus in and slow down.

And it was. It was very harsh, but it was something I needed to hear. And I remember crying. I went home and cried and was like, what am I doing? You know, I don't know what I'm doing. And, um, every once in a while they would throw in a little food styling course for us. You know what I mean? Like, but, but Rebecca would get to go and I never got to go and they would come back and try to teach us stuff.

So I just watched videos at home. I was following Tammy Hardiman and all these other food stylists around the country. And just seeing their work and trying to research how to make things happen on set. You know, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Like, you know, something shiny and something that won't, you know, die or, but I, I remember being in people's homes, you know, cause like back then we did a whole lot of location photo shoots, you know, we would.

Pack up all the food that we had made and some that was just prepped and just show up at somebody's house and take over Their kitchen right or their dining room and whatever.

And

Oh

context to this, you guys, this is a huge deal. Like to think about food, like typically when people think about food, they're thinking about, I'm gonna have somebody over for supper and I'm gonna make the food. And then after I make the food, I'm just gonna put it right down and they're just gonna eat it.

Well, like with food shoots, there's such a timing to things like. Loren is beginning to in this season, I'm sure understand, I can't go ahead and bake the lasagna before I bring it over there. Like it's going to fade. So I have to, so she's not only thinking of what food she's bringing, but the steps that it takes to get it to be beautiful on camera.

There's so much to just like even packing up food to bring to a location shoot.

Transporting it. Yeah

train. Yeah. Like location shoots are so much of a different ballgame than being in a studio with a studio kitchen and having all that at your.

agree.

This is a totally different

I think it's a

interrupt you,

oh, no. I you paint such a descriptive amazing picture You're so good at doing this because I like to just talk talk talk, but you're right It's like imagine doing a catered event Mixed with a photo shoot mixed with, you know, having to be extremely diligent and almost militant and in your order of how you cook things off and, you know, I can't start cooking this yet or I have to par cook the pasta.

I can't cook it all the way

Yes.

it'll get soggy, you know, and and along the way learning things. Like what to do that pasta to make it hold longer like those were hard earned blood, sweat and tears, like true facts that I had to learn, you know, with along with you to like we some people are kind enough to tell us some photographers may share with us.

Oh, well, another stylist did this. Some people won't they'll let you just crash and burn. So. And that's really hard, you know, because

Mm

sitting there like sweating feeling like it's like we're curing cancer when it's just food. But you're like, what am I, what am I going to do? This looks awful. And they're, they're looking at me, you know, to make this work.

Yeah.

So there is a whole lot of insecurity along with confidence, I think, in it, you know, because, you know, you can cook right? Like.

Yeah.

you know, you have a good sense of style or you know how to composition, like put it out on a plate and make it look good.

hmm.

but it's a whole nother ball game, like making it all come together.

It's you feel like you're wearing a hundred hats, I guess.

Yes. Well, because you are because you are because you're keeping things organized. You're keeping mindful of like what's in the fridge, what's in the oven, what's coming out. And then in addition to, um, and I can only speak to this from, you know, growing up in, in southern Alabama, when you enter into someone's home, It's a whole other thing of like making sure that you're in someone else's kitchen.

Right.

So you're getting things running someone's kitchen. So you've got to keep it really clean. And you've got to make sure that you're not like breaking anything or like putting a hot thing where it shouldn't go.

Yes.

all these, there are all these different, elements that are added to you when you're shooting in someone's home.

It's like a physical challenge. Yeah. It's crazy.

It is crazy. Okay. So Loren, tell me about one of your biggest wins when you were in that phase of working for the magazine. Like a shoot you were really proud of or like a favorite recipe you developed. Like, do you have anything that comes to your mind?

I definitely do have. Okay, so like one time we were on a shoot. We were in a beautiful home in Mountain Brook. Everything in there was like a museum. I think she actually owned an antique store, the owner. And so you were afraid to use anything, right? Like same thing. Like, can I sit this down here? I mean, you know, you're just

Yes.

, So I'm, we're doing a shoot outside, even though we're prepping a lot of things inside and it was

and

very,

A whole other

Right? And yeah, weather, lighting, you know,

Yes.

but so it was a whole, and when we go on those shoots, just to put it in perspective, it's, there's usually a prop stylist who does the table, the tableware, you know, the linens, the background, then there's the photographer, obviously, um, who photographs and then there's the food stylist and we were never given an assistant back in those days.

I didn't even know assistants existed, you know, um,

Loren.

Yeah, doing it all pregnant, everything, you know, um, but. Yeah. So we're outside, we're setting up for a beautiful tablescape of this, like, Victoria tea, right? , And there was this cake, um, I remember it was sort of like an angel food cake consistency, but it was a layer cake.

I just remember it being a very light cake. And for some reason in this particular tea, we also had red wine on the table. I can't remember the exact details of why, um, but there was some red wine, you know, because in Victoria magazine, you definitely, it's ethyl and

Yes.

And, you know, um, so anyway, it was really windy, but we, it was time to have lunch.

And, um, a girl we were shooting with, her blood sugar was getting low. So we all went inside for a few minutes cause it was very windy just to eat. While we were inside the table, we heard a big crash and the wind blew a table, the wine thing over the craft, all over the linens and all over my cake. Okay.

There was only one cake, the hero cake, you know, that we all use the hero for. And, I wanted to fall apart, right? Like I was like, Oh my gosh, um, you know, and so everybody was panicking. And I was like, you know what, you know what, we're only seeing one side of this cake, right? So somehow I Frankenstein that thing.

I mean, shoving paper towels, um, in the back and putting icing on it. I mean, we had mashed potatoes in this thing, like in the back, like.

Oh my God.

we, we did it. We changed the linens out, but the prop styles live right down the road. And it was one of the biggest selling covers ever. And if people would have seen behind the tree, so to speak, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

laughed. I mean, it was just horrible, hideous behind that cake. It was propped up with things like pencils and I mean, insane. So I was really proud that we pulled that off and I didn't want to go home and cry. It's rare for me to cry on a set. I think I've done it twice ever and, you know, almost 20 years.

So, that was one of those where I really wanted to, but very proud of that.

That's incredible. And that's something that I see in so many creative females I talk to is I wanted to fall apart. I didn't, and I would say that one of the things I am most grateful for about being a food stylist is having to rein it in and having to learn how to keep my composure and to keep calm.

I'm telling you, I flex that muscle when I have both of my children, like that ability just to kind of go inward and be like, it's going to be okay. This, this too shall pass. We're going to make it through. I mean, it has been such a beautiful gift to me of being a stylist is. Learning how to remain home, learning how to take a breath.

Because the truth is that I feel like on so many sets I'm on Loren, you are the one by the end of the day that is sort of holding the hand of the client and taking them through these things. And if you were to break it, break down,

Hey,

it's going to really

right. They lose confidence. Yeah.

the shoot.

And so you keeping that together, kept everyone together.

Yeah, it was, it was insane because I know there have been sets where there was another set I was on. It's always a fear of mine that I'd get sick somewhere or something, you know, because I have a chronic stomach condition and.

Yeah.

Another time we were in Mountain Brook and I got very, very ill and I'm laying in this lady's bathroom floor, you know, and

Yeah.

in the floor and my husband was coming to get me and,

Yeah.

stomach virus type thing.

And I just remember being like, Oh my gosh, this is, I'm in someone's home. And they're probably like, Oh, she's going to get us all sick, you know? Um, but yeah,

Mm

know what you mean. And I do feel like it is being professional. It's not hard. It's that what we do some of the hoops were asked to jump through.

Sometimes we're like, really, you know, like, really, I'm really doing this right now. But you do it with a smile on your face because at the end of the day, you want that client to call you back. You want them to put in a good word for you. You know, you want a good reputation and it can be very challenging, but it has definitely aided me and other endeavors.

Um, Professionally and personally, just to remain calm and patient. Um, so yeah, I think food stylists have to be very patient for sure.

So tell me about that. Like, tell me about that idea of reputation, because you just mentioned that like, if I am a young stylist, I'm just starting out in this world and I'm thinking, I think I might wanna do food styling, I'm thinking this something I wanna get into. What would you tell them about how important reputation is?

Like what would your advice be to them?

Someone told me this in the very beginning, a very talented photographer that I love to work with, Ian Bagwell,

you.

right. And he goes by this, this whole idea, this mantra of, if you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late and if you're late, you're fired. So that kind of, for me, encompasses not just being on time, but everything, you know, like do it to your best, show up on time, come, come prepared with your equipment.

If something goes wrong and you don't have something, apologize, send an assistant out to get, do whatever it takes to make it work, but remain calm and professional.

Mm

Um, I think that if I would have had someone in the very beginning,

Mm

just to look at me in my face and say, Hey, Ability is important, but attitude is everything, you know, like, because your ability will grow.

You can practice and you can learn, how to do anything and you can talk to another food stylist, which that can be tricky sometimes. But.

about that

Yes, we need to, we need to have that piece brought in, but, um, but yeah, I think I wish somebody would have just said, just for just be work hard because that truly working hard, and like pound in the pavement, I would, I would literally go out and hand printed copies of my work in a portfolio.

hmm.

20 years ago, I'd go in and walk in. People wouldn't know who I was. I carry a dozen donuts and be like, hello,

beautiful.

you know, your company. And, I got a few clients like that, but I feel like just having a good attitude and staying confident, even when, you know, the phone's not ringing.

Cause there's, there, there can be a lot of politics in it sometimes too, of, you know, once a client hires someone and they, they stick with that person, unless that person gets sick and then you get your chance. So when you get that chance, you know, just stay, stay strong, you know,

Right. Yeah. me about that confidence piece for you, Loren. Like tell me about how you stay confident and you stay steady because in our world that is styling, it's. Obviously freelance it's self employed. So sometimes we have a lot of work. Sometimes we don't have any work. Sometimes the stretches without work can feel never ending and tell me about how you stay steady.

How you stay confident in the what you're doing and what that looks like for you. book,

for me, I think a long time ago I relied heavily on comparison and

happy

I would just look at other people's work and,



You know,



I'd get too much in my head. I had to grow from this and I think, oh, well I could never get that job. You know, they're, they're working with them that that's out of reach for me right now.

And it was back then, but it's not anymore, you know, so I had to really grow on the confidence level. So I think looking at someone's work and, and being happy for them and being like, wow, that, that looks awesome. Um, and just having a respect for them and trying not to be jealous or try not to compare myself really helped me.

Cause I did that at first, you know, I would, I would look at. Where I would want to be down the road and I had 10 steps to get there and I was trying to get step 10, you know Feel like everyone has a strength. Maybe your strength is organization. Maybe your strength is an amazing calm attitude you know or just a charisma like you have this amazing charisma like everybody that knows you knows it Callie and Maybe you're really good at drinks You know, well, then do that,

if

on that and then work on things on the side.

Somebody will call you to do something that you've never done before. And you'll be a little uncomfortable, but I think just knowing you're good, knowing that nobody would have called you. They won't, they wouldn't call somebody. That they have heard bad things about. So anytime you get a call, that's your chance, you know, so believe it.

Cause they believe it. So you have to

I truly believe that there is an element of styling that is fake it till you make it because if you're not put in a circumstance where you have to figure out what you're doing, you're never going to know what you're

prove

know, like, so as a young stylist, I feel like just like what Loren's saying, you encounter a situation where you're like, I don't know what to do here. I don't know how to solve this. Welcome to the club.

Right.

think we're ever so comfortable in our careers that we don't feel that way anymore. We probably need to check it, check herself before you wreck herself. Cause is such an, like Loren carries this beautifully. There's such a humility to what we do as well of recognizing, like, I'm not always going to know everything.

I'm not always going to remember to bring everything to set. Like Loren was saying earlier, like have someone go get something for you. , Are things that we're going to encounter, but like what Loren was saying, and like what she's modeling, just stay calm and know that everybody goes through this and every stylist has these experiences.

And also to Loren's credit, watching all of the beautiful work she's done, sure Loren, when you first started, maybe you wouldn't even have foreseen all the cool stuff you've gotten to do. And I think if you had let your getting 10 steps ahead, dictate your career, you wouldn't get to do these cool things.

Would you say that?

True. Or it just ruins the moment it ruins because, you know, with any job we bring at home and I think especially with freelance, you know, because especially if you're a parent, let's just add that element into it or if you have dependents, okay, it doesn't have to be a parent. If you have people that are depending on you and, you know.

My family comes first, no matter what, like, I would never look back and wish I would have worked this huge movie job, instead of being at my kids last performance of the year, you know what I mean?

yes, totally. mm hmm, mm

there's that piece to it, but yeah, I definitely think that it just goes hand in hand, I guess, you know, being on set can be so hard and.

And so I feel like if you, if you do get upset about things, if you do have a time in your life where it's, you know, we call it feast or famine, right? Like, cause the phone's either ringing off the hook or you're just not busy at all. And then all you start, that whole thing just starts to drape over and cast over you the doubt.

And I just have to remember for me, the word, like I have to remember, you know, that like you said, this too shall pass. God is faithful. It's going to come back around. It always does. Um, but if I get upset and stay in that, then it ruins my home life. And then that leaks back into my work life. Um, so it's just really hard.

Sometimes, like you said, it's, it's hard no matter what we do, right? Like what kind of hard do you want? Do you want the hard of being very busy or do you want the hard of not being busy? It's hard either way. So just tough it out. Yeah. It's, it's tough.

Tough it out. Like that is such a good word, Loren. Tough it out. Cause I think sometimes, I know before I got into styling, I looked at it from the other side and went, Oh, this looks so glamorous. Like these people are working with all these famous people and they're so beautiful and and they're so put together and it was all so sort of like. Like you were saying a little bit earlier, it's like so ethereal and it looks so magical and look at these beautiful photos, not knowing the blood sweat and tears it takes to get there. And I too relate to Loren, like in my early days, I was assisting a food stylist in Birmingham and I would regularly go home and cry because I just felt so overwhelmed by the learning curve, but also so overwhelmed by the demands of the job. um, yeah, looking back on that now. I wish somebody had said, Callie, just got tough it out

Yeah,

think it looks so glamorous, but so much of what we do, I would say also is endurance

it is.

a physical push.

Yeah,

Just keep going. Um, I think that's so good. There's

well, and just saying it may be softer than I said it, you know, because I do wish somebody and I have my mom in my ear. Of course, she didn't know the dynamics. She's my mom, right? So she'd be like, you can do this. You know, you just got to, you know, just keep pushing because I don't like to be knocked down.

Um, in fact, if I get knocked down, I'm definitely going to get back up more fierce than I was before. So some of it's proven it to myself. But there's also those hits to your confidence, you know, that happened along the way. And, and that, so again, the faking it till you make it, which I think is the best like word in this is just, if you don't feel like you're that great right then maybe you're not, but pretend like you are walking there, you know, your head held high with confidence and be kind to everybody and you know, okay, we're going to get this done.

All right. And you know, here's what I'll do. And would you like me to do something else? You know, um, it's just all about, I guess, pleasing your client. And trying to do it professionally as possible

Mm-hmm

anything gets spread quick, it's a rumor that someone's difficult

Mm-hmm

and difficult can look a lot of different ways.

Sometimes the job is difficult, but us not adding that other element to it

Mm-hmm

really does take you further. And not only that, you get in your mind. If I, if I start sweating a shoot before it happens, like if I'm really dreading it, like the shot list is just insane. And I'm like, we're never going to get it.

If I start mentally doing that to myself, I'll, I'll be in that place when I'm there. And so I've had to tell my assistant before that when she was anxious, Hey, we can do this at the end of the day, it's going to be over. We're just going to go in and do the best we can. That's all we can physically do.

We're not magicians. You know, so, um, that's, that's that other piece of it too, when you know, it's a big ask, you know, it's very overambitious and you're like, they're expecting me to do it because we're the one that gets thrown under the bus. It doesn't get done. Nobody else is prepping that food. Right? So, but yeah, so that can be,

would, and I, yes, I agree and I would say something that's helped me too and has really been good for me is to set a goal for every shoot that has nothing to do with what I can produce. Um, but it has everything to do with how I can make someone feel so, because a lot of what we do is out of our control.

Like because beauty is so subjective, I can put something on set that I think is amazing and the client can sometimes look at it and go like,

yes, I know. I don't like it at all. And you're like,

And then you're like,

yeah.

and Loren never does that cause she's

Oh, no, no, no. It works the other way to where I think it's garbage and they love it. And I'm like, really?

it.

Yeah. Yeah.

my clients has always been, I want everybody to feel loved and I want them to feel heard. And that is, it's been so helpful to me and it's helped me stay really calm a lot of days where I feel like I and my abilities have failed. Even though the client, I don't know if they think that or not, but there's that insecurity that rises up in my head of like, Oh, I don't think I did a good enough

Yeah. Right,

And did they feel heard? And I, that's something I would say, Loren, you, you do a beautiful job of making people feel loved and heard. And I think that sometimes that's why we get called back. Not necessarily because our skill was like the best stylist in the world, but as a human being,

right.

were relating human to human to someone in the best way that we could.

Would you say that?

100 percent absolutely. I mean, you just nailed it. And that's what I even try to impart on my Children too, is you're never going to go into any job or any task or for that matter, any aspect of our lives. Feeling 100 percent confident and everything go your way. Right. So it's like,

Yeah.

got to be sure that we do it with a good heart.

And I do feel the same. That's why I was saying attitude is just everything because

hmm,

say you are a fortune 500 company and you've got to hire somebody to be in charge of it all. You can have somebody that has an amazing, you know, experience and background, but if they have this horrible demeanor and attitude and they can't lead people or bring people in, then.

What's the point? You know what I mean? Like attitude is everything. And I do, I love to do that too. I always want to try to be empathetic with the client and like, even if I don't like what they're asking me to do,

yeah.

they're hearing it from somewhere up here too. Like, you know what I mean? Like it trickles down.

So they've got to get this done.

hmm,

know, I always try to see it from their perspective of, okay, well, why are we doing it this way? You know, and Even if, you know, I'm not asking disrespectfully, it's just kind of like, okay, is there a reason why we need it this way? Oh, gotcha. You know, because nobody's ever going to ask you to do something just for the sake of being, you know, rude.

mm hmm.

I mean, there's always a reason and sometimes there's an easier way through it. And so talking it out is really great. And I try to communicate. Maybe I talk a little too much sometimes. That's one of my things. So, I think communication is key for that, for sure.

and that's a great word that I'm going to take from the advice Loren just gave me, which is think about it from the client's perspective, because it is so rare that anyone would ever be asking you to do something for no reason.

Yeah.

something behind it. And to think about it from the way that they're seeing it so, so helpful.

That's beautiful.

You know, and something else that nobody really mentions. I've seen this too. So sometimes.

hmm.

I've gotten to a certain point with beverages where, um, light is, light is huge, right? We all know this. I never knew how big light was until I started styling beverages with real ice and, and prop ice. Um,

hmm.

if I'm really struggling with something that's normally very easy for me, it's usually a lighting situation.

So, like, I've learned over the last two years to put a bounce card back there or to be like, hey, do you think we could light it a little different? I don't know the answer or the formula for what they should do, but sometimes I can tell that it's, it's not me, right? So sometimes it's somebody else. It could be the prop.

It could be the product you're given to work with. So I think that piece of it is one that I was definitely not expecting. And my inexperience has also caused issues before, right? Like when we're on a set, something we're not comfortable with and we're like, okay, well, can you walk me through it?

Because this is not something I've done before. But yeah, there's just so much there's I don't think we could ever cover everything. You know what I mean? There's just so many pieces to it. Right. Yeah.

is so important too. This is another aspect of styling that we are aware of and we have knowledge of is lighting because what Loren said is a great advice. I have been, especially, I found it particularly, um, with sandwiches, like sandwiches, something Loren and I build a lot of.

So if it's something that's normally easy for me and a client is looking at it and going, Hey, that looks like dark inside of the sandwich, or I'm not really seeing the lettuce, even though you know that you pulled. to let us to the front or whatever that is, that is a lighting issue. And so that is another great beautiful bit of advice.

Ask about the lighting, if this is something you've done a lot and it's not looking like you want. Lighting plays such a huge role in um, video, photo of food, and that is such good advice, Loren. Brilliant.

Yeah, it's so crazy because I sometimes we're so busy that we don't And I'm sure this happened to you that you haven't paid attention to the little things like and I'll sit something down I may not even be done with it. You know, somebody's already put stuff out and I'm like, oh, okay. I'm, you know, I'm getting to it.

I'm getting to it. But yeah, I've learned to rotate things towards the light immediately just because before when I wouldn't have probably even thought about that, you know, over time, there are things that you pick up and you can kind of, you know, even depth of field issues, like, Things you pick up along the way.

I never thought I'd even be able to explain what that meant depth of field. Right. Until the last couple of years or the aperture or the, or the shutter speed or whatever, you know, um,

Yes.

a photographer, I know nothing about cameras, and people often confuse that and they will ask me, Oh, you're a food photographer.

No, not at all. You know, , I don't know anything about photography except for what's in front of the camera, you know, and a couple of things I've picked up.

Yeah. We're, we're not behind the lens. We are in front

Right, right.

still with that working knowledge of lighting is so huge. Um, Loren, I feel like we could just talk forever about all these

Yes. I know, I know. I feel like you need, you need like a certain episode. Let's just hit this because even if you did that, we're going to hit about a hundred things during that time too. Cause it's so crazy.

Well, the thing that I've learned about doing this too, is like, I can always have people back.

yes.

me from like us not chatting again and talking about all the things. But one thing I wanted to ask as we kind of wrap this up is Loren, like one thing I've noticed in all of the amazing stylists and creative people I've talked to is they carry this gift of beauty. Over their life. You just see the beauty in their images. You see the beauty in their work, and so I just like to kind of cap every episode with , tell me about what beauty means to you, Loren, and what it looks like in your work and in your life. Just talk to me a little bit about that.

Mm-hmm.

You know, like you said, it's so subjective, I guess. , And that is the hard piece of it, because there's some, there's some work that I leave and I'm so proud of myself, and they, it wasn't anything majorly difficult or technically hard. It's just, it was just something that I feel like maybe my organization was on point that day.

Maybe my attitude was stellar and. I was calm in the face of a huge storm. Um, it kind of changes for me, I guess the beauty of it. But I guess the thing that remains constant and all this changing and what we do, , is that if I remember when I worked for Frank Stitt, he used to say to me, do not put a, send a plate out of my kitchen that you wouldn't be proud to sit in front of your mother, you know, or this is my best work, you know, and kind of to this day, I kind of.

Use that. You know, is this my best? You know, is this

huh,

I truly have done my best, no matter what it looks like when it's done, no matter what those

huh,

because I could have been pushed to the brink and not enough time to do



To do or finish every. element on that sandwich or whatever.





For me, the beauty is when I leave, am I proud of what I did? You know, am I proud of how that day went from the start to the finish, whether it was a word out of my mouth, or not a word out of my mouth. That for me is, is it because we can create beautiful images, you know, without being a food stylist, right?

Like you can make food. I think it's all about in our effort and in our, like you said, how you bless other people or how you treat the people you're working with or the assistants. Or if you see somebody having a hard time, how you respond to that, you know, how you encourage them. That's why I love it because it's always challenging.

Always. I've never had a shoot that was just a breeze. There's always something to it that is challenging. I just like to leave there and I don't always, but I do try to leave proud of myself, but I don't always leave like, Oh, that was just wonderful. You know? But I, I do like to be responsible for my character and, no one's perfect, but.

I think that is why I've been called back to jobs. Especially with clients that I've had for 10 years, you know, is because I carry a good attitude. Even if it's hard work, you know, even if we have to reshoot it, I mean, they're forgiving. So

Yes. That's beautiful. So I think what I hear you saying is beauty is character.

yes. Thank you for summing it up.

No, it's beautiful. That character looks like a good attitude and that character looks like giving your best and that character looks like knowing at the end of the day, you did your creative expressive best with what you could do what you had to work with.

And I think that's so beautiful. I think that's something to chew on and to think about.

Yeah.

Loren, you're just beautiful. I know I've told you this, but you are a beautiful mom and a hard, like the hardest working stylist that I know

Oh, you're so sweet.

And so thank you. Thank you for sharing your beautiful wisdom and your heart and your time with us today.

I'm sure we're going to have you back. Cause there's so many other

I know.

chat about.

I hope so. You know?

Yeah, we'll have to make like an outline. We're like, okay, these are the things we're going to chat about. We're going to talk about styling burgers. We're

Yeah, for sure. Cause I'll get the squirrel gets, my brain starts running, you know, and I'm like, Oh,

Oh no, I do the same

this and this and this. Yeah. So.

right. Well, but the, and then the, just to cap it on this last thing is something that Loren really models I've watched her do is like this idea of paying it forward. And you have really paid it forward today, friend, with all of your advice and all of your. And I think this episode in particular is really going to bless people that are looking to get into styling or are into it and just need a little boost. And I think you've really, really accomplished

Well, thank you. That's the goal for me anyway, you know, so I would hope so. So great.

you so much, friend.

Thank you.

you. I will have all of Loren's Instagram account. You can check out all of her beautiful work, all of her beautiful pastries, all of her beautiful recipes she's developed will be in the show notes. to her work, ways you can contact her and hire her. And thank you again for your time, friend.

I hope you have a marvelous

Well, thank you. You too. And you're so sweet. If you don't see images you need, I have millions in Dropbox that I'm terrible about posting so I can always send work. Yeah.

I will put her contact info on their show notes so you can get in contact with Loren.

Awesome. Thank you so much, Callie. This was amazing.

Friend.

Yeah.

Have a great rest of your

You too. Bye bye.

Bye.

  📍  📍 ​