New York Kitchen

Just a month ago, Myriam Babin, a talented photographer and longtime New Yorker, launched a blog called New York Kitchen to share her work as she pieces together a book documenting restaurant kitchens in New York City. So far, she's covered an underground sake bar, an old school coffee shop, a cevicheria and a Lower East Side locavore spot (complete with in-house pig butchery), among others, and aims for pictorials of 50 restaurants, all told. 

The project is brilliant in concept, but it's easy to imagine the images falling flat in the wrong photographer's hands. But, as you can see from her photos above, Myriam has created beautiful stand-alone portraits and perfectly captured what she was striving for: "the grit and the glamour; the energy you find in a busy kitchen: the intense pace, pressure, the stress and sweat that goes into creating a beautiful meal." 

Myriam's work shooting interiors for magazines, art galleries and interior designers all over the world (we encourage you to go get lost in her portfolio website, which will make you wish you were anywhere else, ideally in a wooden bathtub) -- and perhaps even her first job washing dishes at an Italian restaurant -- have helped hone the skills she brings to her new project.

Stay tuned: next week, Myriam will be posting her first photos shot during service at 2 different kitchens -- sure to bring even more tangible intensity to an already striking collection.