Michael Harlan Turkell, a once aspiring chef, now photographer, author, and podcast host, for years captured the inner workings of kitchens for his award-winning “BACK OF THE HOUSE” project, which documented the lives of chefs in their restaurant world. As former photo editor of Edible Brooklyn and Edible Manhattan, his recurring BACK OF THE HOUSE series appeared in the magazines from 2006 – 2011 and was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award in Visual Storytelling. He's been included in 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers V2, (PowerHouse Books), received a Photo District News Photo Annual Award, and has had his photos printed in an array of publications, and photographed over a dozen cookbooks such as Chris Cosentino’s "Offal Good", which he co-authored, and was nominated for a James Beard Award in Single Subject cookbook. He's also co-authored "The Beer Pantry" with Adam Dulye. In 2017, Turkell wrote and photographed his first cookbook, “ACID TRIP: Travels in the World of Vinegar”, which won the IACP award for Culinary Travel Writing. In 2019 he became an adjunct professor at New York University teaching food photography; the history, concepts, and techniques to photographing food in its best light.