Atelier Dyakova designs previously unpublished tome, The Photographer’s Cookbook

The idea for The Photographer’s Cookbook was conceived in the late 1970s by the George Eastman Museum in New York, the world’s oldest museum related to photography. The foundation asked a group of photographers for their favourite recipes and food-related photographs to go with them. Submissions included Ed Ruscha’s cactus omelette, Ansel Adam’s poached eggs in beer, Imogen Cunningham’s borscht and William Eggleston’s cheese grits casserole, but the book was never published and the materials have remained in George Eastman Museum’s collection ever since.

40 years later, Atelier Dyakova has worked with Aperture Foundation in New York on this untouched archive of goodies to publish The Photographer’s Cookbook for the first time. The book showcases some of the best photographers of the 1970s, many before they made a name for themselves and gives us a glimpse at how they depicted food, family and home. “We wanted to create a time capsule that would show this fantastic material in all its glory, with the feeling of discovery,” says creative director of the studio Sonya Dyakova.

When starting the project, Atelier Dyakova made sure it continually referred to the bare bones of the book: “All design decisions stem from the story behind the content, this without fail always drives our visual direction,” says Sonya. “Initially we researched the vintage kitsch world of cookbooks from the 70s, which was a lot of fun, but in the end we turned to early AGFA photographic memorabilia like paper and film packaging for inspiration. We tried to avoid pastiche and wanted to capture the flavour of the time from a photographer’s point of view and let the images not be overshadowed by the wild visual vernacular of cookbooks during this period.”

The book’s design is simple and allows the rich tones and saturated colours of the original photography to pop against the clean pages. Throughout, there’s a real sense of humour and fun thanks to the wit of the photographers included. Simple touches elevate the photo and cookbook hybrid into an object worth drooling over for more than its recipes like the book’s type design: “The typography was taken directly from a typewritten letter submitted by Ansel Adams with his photograph and recipe for the book,” says Sonya.