After the My Last Supper series, I kept being labeled a "food photographer"—a title that felt like a disservice to true still-life artists.

Meanwhile, the culinary scene had grown increasingly serious, and I’d lost my creative spark. I needed a reset. So, I decided to let go and just play. I made a list of my favorite NYC bites, called each chef, and asked if I could swing by before service to shoot.

Unplanned, unproduced, and purely intuitive, I wanted to see what I could create in the moment.

That spontaneous experiment was the genesis of Don’t Play with Your Food New York.