“Inspired by Everyday Beauty”Local Food Photographer Stephanie Bell is hungry for new challenges.

By Kate Faulkner“A desire to create.” That is

her motivation. That’s why she curiously photographed Natchez Trace State Park at five years old. It’s why she eventually moved from Lexington High School to Gateway Christian Academy and graduated early. It’s why she landed prestigious internships with Southern Living Magazine and the Country Music Association. It’s also why she has stacks of painted canvasses growing up from her office floor, bookcases full of portfolios, magazines, and cookbooks – all of which she contributed to. And, I suspect it is also why, as we talk, she can’t help but periodically interrupt her own train of thought to point out good recipes to me once she discovers I share her enthusiasm for food.

Stephanie Mullins-Bell is a motivated, creative person. She is a commercial food photographer. Although she

photographer. It’s halfway between Nashville and Memphis, it’s close to places in Mississippi, Louisville, and St. Louis,” Stephanie explains. “I consider anything within five hours’ distance to be a day’s drive.” She’s no stranger to travel, having attended college at Middle Tennessee State University, landing her first internship in Nashville, then her next in Birmingham, Alabama, she hit the highways of the Southeast for several years before moving back home. She attended MTSU to obtain her degree in Photography while minoring in Art and Business. A gig driving golf carts for the CMAs helped her get an in with the Association for her first internship. “It was a lot of printing and proofing programs, logistical things like that. But since that internship they’ve invited me back every year to work it. I haven’t missed an awards ceremony or a music festival in ten years. Last year was the first time I didn’t go, since I had Aubrey.”

Aubrey, is Stephanie and husband Billy’s extroverted two-year-old who happens to be a main character in many of Stephanie’s artfully crafted blog posts. Thanks to Aubrey’s interactions with

shows an obvious talent and eye for portrait photography and has also found success with architectural photography, her passion for food-infused still-life captures won out. She honed her talents and her love of natural light to find fresh ways to make images of food stimulate salivary glands. One might think, “That’s a weirdly specific genre of photography.” And, fortunately for Stephanie, they would be right. “There are only about five of us in the ‘Nashville area’,” Stephanie explains. She tags herself as a Nashville photographer on her website and Facebook page even though she lives in Parsons. This avoids discouraging any potential clients who might not be familiar with the Parsons area. Besides, Stephanie has no qualms with travel.

“I travel for most of my shoots, and really Parsons is a great location for a

screen. But it will also show you how, from a young girl in Lexington who had never used a “real” camera before college Stephanie worked her way to landing clients like: Cracker Barrel, Logan’s Roadhouse, Christie Cookie, Custom Foods, Country Music Association, Centerplate, Nashville Lifestyles, and a litany of others. Her work has been featured in Local Pallet, Tennessee Craft Beer Magazine, a multitude of cookbooks and a host of other publications. She recently added MAPCO and Levy Restaurants to her client list as well.

From her days of walking from Caywood to Rexall’s Drug Store for an orangeade, to working under professional photographers while she was a student at MTSU Stephanie says the one thing that helped her achieve her goals was simple: hard work. “I saw things and I went after them. I was driven.” She doesn’t care for arrogance but adamantly values effort. As they build their new home just down the road from where Billy grew up, Stephanie is constantly brainstorming new ideas. She has ‘re-branded’ her style, re-designed her website, and is preparing to turn their current home into her new studio. “I guess one of the biggest goals for me (as a freelancer) is to still have a career when I’m 50,” she muses. But despite the uncertainty of a career in an artistic market, her drive has helped her to do more than make the cut – she’s cooking with fire.

beautiful Southern homes… and it was. But at that time, it was 60% food. My work station was right beside their huge test kitchens,” Stephanie explains. She details shooting different culinary creations for several weeks while she lived in Birmingham and how that time changed her focus. She fell in love with shooting food. “I always joke, my worst day is the butter melting off the plate,” Stephanie laughs. But all kidding aside, there is skill to still life capture. Patience, and an artistic eye are required. Not to mention, the amount of behind the scenes preparations. She usually works with a food stylist, whose sole job is to make the food look as good as possible. It’s like hair and make-up for models, except the models are perfectly barked BBQ sandwiches with tweezer-placed lettuce and hand drizzled sauce. It’s a science. “The best compliment I can ever get is when someone has been looking at my work and they tell me they’re just starving,” Stephanie says with all seriousness in her face.

And you can see why. Her photos should make your stomach growl or you might need to get your eyes examined. Her love of texture is one of the more apparent pursuits in her work. The crumbles from cookies, a drip of syrup that compels you to catch it with your finger, or the perfectly glistening, blackened skin of a whole chicken pulled from the oven might have you licking your computer

the camera, Stephanie’s blog shows off her portrait skills. Of course, they also usually manage to incorporate some grub too. Whether it’s a messy pumpkin pie experiment or the pure joy on a toddler’s face as she eats, what must have been, a truly scrumptious chocolate cupcake, Stephanie manages to capture that feeling of metaphorical fullness that comes from sharing your food with loved ones.

It wasn’t until her second internship though, that she really found that passion for food photography. The discovery was entirely by accident. While at MTSU Stephanie lived with her older sister, Jennifer, who was studying interior design and architecture. Every evening after studying photography all day, she found herself staring at design boards in her living room floor. Her appreciation for architecture soon overtook the idea of nature photography as a more feasible living. “You’re not going to have a successful career as a nature photographer unless you’re a sixty year old man living in the Colorado Rockies, selling your shots to the galleries, or maybe if you worked for National Geographic,” Stephanie laughs, recalling plan A. Nature photography made perfect sense. She came by her affinity for the outdoors honestly, growing up with Natchez Trace State Park for a backyard. Her father was a State Park Manager which is how her family ended up in Lexington to begin with. But after watching Jennifer’s studies for years and talking to one of her professors, Stephanie decided architectural photography was the way to go. A rigorous application process for the Southern Living Magazine internship took Stephanie down a definitive path in her life.

“I thought Southern Living was filled with all these

Stephanie says she often pauses to appreciate per-fect slants of natural light - until her husband laughs about it. Shoot prep involves a laundry list of chores: renting freezers, booking venues, coordinating with food stylists and clients. Photos courtesy Stephanie Bell.

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” - One of Stephanie’s favorite quotes. For more of her mouth-watering photos visit Stephaniemullinsphoto.com

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