Did a cool story for mens health magazine about the other white meat, pork. When I got the call from Lila, it was basically, “some of the best chefs in the city have a whole pig (dead), and a master butcher that is going to cut him up as only a master butcher can. We want you to document the butchering process. Then a couple of days later they’re all gonna get together and cook their favorite dish and sit down family style for a pork feast. We want you there for that too.” Cool. The task was going to go down in the kitchen of one of the best digs in the city, The Gramercy Tavern. This was one of those stories I was so excited to do because I wanted to hear all about the best parts of the pig from the butcher and the chefs who were all there as well. Not so much morbid curiosity but culinary quizitiveness. One of those stories where I learn a ton and am asking questions as I’m shooting. The thing about meat, whether it be fish or mammal, is it’s an animal. SO many people in the world, and especially the USA, and especially especially NYC, have a total disconnect with the bacon they had for breakfast or the steak or chicken for dinner. They think meat comes from plastic packs. Guess what. It don’t. I hunt and fish so I know it doesn’t come from plastic packs. I get the death part of eating meat and wish everyone got it as well. Its basic responsibility, knowledge and decision making. Your actions have consequences. Eat a steak, kill an animal. Very simple equation really and rock solid. Whenever I’m out and someone starts badmouthing hunting as killing innocent animals I ask them what they had for dinner that week. Guess what they usually say. You got it, chicken, steak, fish. Its then that I inform them that they too kill animals, they just pay some guy 7 bucks an hour at a farm somewhere to do it for them so they don’t have to see it or deal with it. When you hunt and fish, its hard to explain, but you feel connected to the whole life cycle, especially your own, and understand the universe and your place in it just a little bit better. The people that answer my question that they are vegetarian are actually the ones I truly respect. They have an argument. They made a decision not to eat meat because they don’t agree with the idea of killing animals for food. I get that. Don’t agree but do get. Ok enough of that. So we get to the gramercy tavern (beautiful place) and go down to the basement where the big walk in cooler is, and there she is, a 200lb pig hanging by her hooves. When everyone gets there, we pull her out and put her on the butcher block. I’m thinking a great opener would be 2 chefs and the butcher holding her horizontally, a portrait really of three guys holding a dead pig. Shes heavy and hard to hold, but we get it, great shot. Then back on the butcher block she goes and the butcher gets to work. He grabs a saw, and cuts her head off. Yikes. Then starts hacking away at her with various knives and cleavers to quarter her up. Meanwhile I’m thinking “does mens health have any idea how visceral a butchering is? Theres no way in hell they’re going to run any of this.” But Matt (writer) assures me they will run the story, maybe just not the most graphic images. The butchering goes off with out a hitch, got great pics, and hoping the magazine would run them. Truly an amazing educational experience. The story was being written by Matt Goulding, food editor over there at MH, and he was writing it from a first person perspective, where he delivers parts of the pig to all the chefs all over town so they can concoct their mastery with the meat. So to illustrate that point, we went out on the street with the pigs head to get a cab and photograph matt getting in like hes delivering it to a chef. The great thing about ny cabbies is first of all most of them are from the middle east, east Africa, or Haiti, and have slaughtered a goat or two in their day and secondly, nothing, and I mean nothing can upset a nyc cabbie (except another cabbie, or even worse a livery cab, driving like shit and cutting him off, then watch out, as all bets are off. But all cabbies drive like this In nyc so I’m always amazed when they start screaming at the car that just cut them off because he did the same thing to another guy 5 blocks back). So me flagging down a cabbie and asking him to just stay there for 10 minutes for $20 while my friend got in and out of the back with a pig head while I took pictures didn’t faze him. In fact, I remember him eating a sandwich and reading the paper while we worked. I don’t think he looked back more than once and I doubt he even mentioned it to anyone, just another day in nyc as a hack. A few people on the street walking by, however, had a totally different take. I remember some people saying stuff like “is that head real” and some drunk kids walking by laughing. And a couple of grosses as well. Matt was a good sport as it was freezing and this was a spring issue so while the rest of us had parkas on he had a lightweight on. Great fun and shots looked great. Done for the night. Fast forward a week later, we’re all set to meet at super chic it spot restaurant Eletaria at 11pm after the restaurant closes for all the chefs to finish preparing their dishes and having a feast. Matt got the night off to a good start by showing up with a bottle of really good bourbon that he “infused”” with bacon. I asked him how he did it, he tried to tell me, but either I got bored or he got long winded and I never really figured that one out. Sounds funky and weird at best and gross at worst but tasted damn good, especially on top of the oxycontin I took for the bruised ribs I sustained in my soccer game two days earlier. Chefs are a great fraternity. I’ve shot a lot of them, wolf puck, bobby flay, Mario batali, alain ducase, Anthony bourdain, and tons more. They all have a love for food and taste, and the best love to share it. They also are all obviously in competition with eachother, especially a place like nyc where food is king, but they love talking with eachother and sharing with eachother. I’ve seen it time and time again, chefs seem to have no secretes when it comes to their craft around their peers, or maybe the just like to brag. I pre lit the whole kitchen well before everyone arrived as I knew it was going to be a bit of frenetic dance with 6 great chefs moving around each other doing their thang, and I would be moving seamlessly in and out of them too, so the lighting had to be done before hand. It was like a ballet. But no primas here, just scruffy dudes in whites. When the shit is going down in the kitchen, the only voice a chef hears is his/her own. Its beautiful to watch them in their zone. I get there, too, when I’m shooting. I only hear the left side of my brain talking to my right side. Had fun dancing around this picture for about 30 minutes telling the story with my camera, and trying to get all the chefs in one shot. Then all the final dishes were plated, brought out to the table, the wine was opened, the glasses clinked, and the eating was on. It was kinda like that movie “Big Night”. If you’ve seen it you know what I mean, if not, rent it, its on the short list. It was joyous, uplifting, just good living and good company. The chefs all sampling each others fare, and sharing techniques and ideas. I could see them all scratching their heads when they tasted something they really liked trying to savor and figure it out. I only shot the meal for about 4 or 5 minutes, just 20 frames (I knew I had the shot!). Then I put down my camera and joined them. I felt I owed it to them. for putting up with me and my strobes for so long in the kitchen, and to enjoy this meal with new friends and old without a camera and flashes in their face. I also felt I owed it to the pig. She was the reason we were all there, and if theres one thing that I was sure of that night, its that everyone in the room knew exactly where the meal came from and were as thankful as I was.
