Tea Time

I really enjoy the process of brainstorming an assignment and watching the many ways it morphs from one idea to the next. The colors, shapes, texture, and light leading me ever down the path to The Shot on the journey through The Land of What If. Here are some ideas I came up with for tea!

From the Kitchen

Some photos of the delicious things that have been going on in my kitchen lately!

What's Cooking?

Here are some of the things that have been going on in my kitchen lately!

Next week I'll be photographing all things toffee with Steeplechase Toffee in downtown Waynesville, NC, and am very much looking forward to it! Barb and Michelle have graciously allowed me the opportunity to not only photograph their wonderful products, but to get some behind the scenes in the kitchen, as well! Fair warning, though: you won't be getting any insider recipe secrets from me - you'll have to go straight to the source and taste for yourself!

Stadium

I did this conceptual food piece today; signing up my youngest son for soccer put me in the sports frame of mind, and then my husband happened to want some bratwurst and sauerkraut for dinner, so it was a perfect opportunity.

Baseball. The green background represents the grass in the outfield; the white plate represents the infield diamond; the food represents the bases, and then the white cloth off to the side would be the stadium seating and audience. Is it too far fetched? I don't know. Sometimes my brain goes on these little jaunts and I'm just along for the ride, however unwilling I may or may not be!

Pizza: The Hawaiian Sink

There are relatively few meals that I can think of that you can add almost anything into the ingredients list and it will still taste like a slice of perfection. Pizza is one such bearer of deliciousness. I call this pizza The Hawaiian Sink because you put on some pineapple, and then throw everything else at it, including the kitchen sink! The ingredients could be anything, really; I had intended to fry up some spicy crumbled sausage and put on some shredded ham, as well, but dinner was relatively late in happening last night and this photo was on the elaborate end of the scale. Turns out that the pepperoncini stood in just fine for the spice and salt factor. Of course, any pizza could be made entirely vegetarian, too, and still satisfy this meat lover! What are some of your favorite pizza ingredients?

Baked Fuji Apple

I think Fuji apples are the prettiest! Striped, mottled, crispy, sweet perfection; this morning as the sun finally crested the mountains, I stood with camera in hand, photographing as golden light streamed onto golden skin. Once again I paired the fresh against a background of well-used [clean!] kitchenware; I really haven't figured out entirely why this combination trips my happy trigger -- I think it appeals to a deeper symbolism. Fuji apples have such great character that it's difficult to make an uninteresting photo of them, but I think you have to keep it simple or else be visually overwhelmed. This morning everything came together in a way that reminded me of standing in a grandmother's kitchen as a youngster, watching as the apples were being prepared for baking; the perspective felt right, and I went with it.

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?"