Tuna Waldorf Salad

Today was one of those photo sessions where everything came together and I had to stop and do a little dance! The planning for this shoot started yesterday, and I didn't expect it to go on for as long as it did, but the end results were well worth the effort! I spent about 10 hours sketching out [and erasing and re-sketching!] the layout that I wanted, which product would be in which container, the color scheme, and lighting ideas. I had to go purchase the food items, and with the weather being super windy and cold and my needing to work outside for this shot, I had to wait until today to actually work with the camera! I started at 9:30 this morning prepping my props and products and began shooting shortly after 10. I worked the scene for about an hour, brought my materials inside, and then reconstructed everything again to make some studio shots of the layout for another hour. That completed, I constructed my sandwich, made a few photos of that too, and then had my lunch as I began the editing process at around 12:30. I spent about an hour and a half looking through and then finally editing my four final photos, which puts this session at around 15 hours!

My kids have gotten into the habit of coming home from their day at school and checking out what I have been working on while they've been gone. It's always the best compliment when my eight year old picky eater comes home and, even if he doesn't care for the food pictured, says, "I don't like _______, but that looks awesome! Is there any left?"