Produce on White

People say organic food always has bruises and scuff marks in the grocery store, I think it is because they are shopping at the wrong stores. Besides, aren't plants supposed to have some shape to them?

I shot some produce this week and, organic or not, I think it looks great.

Cupcakes

Just for Fun

There was a lot going on in Lawrence on Sunday, the annual Art in the Park and a dog Frisbee catching contest, it must be summer.

I like how happy the dogs look when they catch the Frisbee.

The Midday Ramblers

G&T

I like to look through cookbooks for inspiration from time to time. Actually, compared to most kitchens, I think ours has quite a collection of cookbooks. It is kind of funny how much the photography can effect the quality of a cookbook. People say not to judge a book by its cover, but the other day I looked through a cookbook with some less-than-perfect photography and it really didn't make me want to cook anything.

One cookbook that I do like is All Cakes Considered, an accumulation of recipes by NPR's self-proclaimed cake lady, Melissa Gray. It also features that photography of Annabelle Breakey. Often, after finding a book I like I will go to the photographer's website to see what other work they do. Breakey's whole book is really strong, but I was particularly inspired by her beverage work. This is what I came up with.

Going Outside

As the weather gets nicer I try to spend as much time outside as possible. For me that means shooting more outside the studio. Luckily, Lawrence offers some great locations for shooting.

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics is a building that just begs to be photographed. I've been there a couple times and depending on the time of day you can usually find some really interesting shadows on the front facade. This time I chose to see what it looked like as the sun was going down.

The Merc is probably my favorite place in town; or at least, it seems, I spend more time there than anywhere else. I try to support local business and local food, so naturally I buy most of my groceries at The Merc. I feel really lucky to live somewhere that has a local food option and I can't help but think I need to take advantage of it.

Happy Valentine's Day

We got a little extravagant this year for Valentine's Day. In 2009 NPR and Melissa Gray released a cookbook titled All Cakes Considered, I knew it was going to be a must have in our kitchen. For Valentine's Day Emily decided to try what is arguably the most difficult recipe in the book; I think it takes fewer steps to launch the space shuttle.

The $30 spent on the ingredients and the four hours making the cake were totally worth it once I got my camera pointed at it, plus I still got to eat it.

And, yes, it was delicious.

Ohio City Market

Tuna Sandwich

While I was in San Diego we ate a restaurant right on the ocean in La Jolla called Georges at The Cove. The restaurant has three levels that all feature different menus and ambiances. We sat on the Ocean Terrace, which has open-air dining and a wonderful view of the ocean.

I decided to snag some images of my meal when it arrived. Given the limit equipment I had with me and the fact that I literally shot this on the dinner table, I was really happy with what I got out of it. And yes, it was delicious.

Emily got the Pita Platter.

San Diego

For Christmas this year Emily and I decided to go and visit her sister in San Diego. It wasn't exactly the white Christmas's I remember but it definitely felt like a holiday get-away.

On the way there I had a four-hour layover in Chicago, naturally, I took some photos. There is an thinkinglightly installation by Michael Hayden in the concourse between the B and C terminals. It features neon lights that flicker to the rhythm of ambient music that follows you down the moving sidewalks of the concourse. Travelers are completely surrounded by the installation making it a uniquely immersing experience.

Here are some other things I shot while I was there, just for kicks.
The beach on Christmas day.

This was a fun hike. Made me wish I had more time to shoot there.

Beer

Long exposures are usually pretty fun and this one didn't let down. The real trick here was getting the set to stay completely black for the whole 8 second exposure. We turned off all the lights in the studio and wore black gloves and long sleeves while moving the flash light around behind the bottle.

I also wanted to make sure and get some nice color out of the bottle. For this, I used one of those cheap glow sticks from Target. As it turns out, it was just the color I was looking for.

Seeds of Change

One fun thing about having family members spread all across the country is getting all the boxes of goodies during the holidays. Given how random some of the gifts are, I can usually count on getting something will act as a new prop. This year, it was chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

Death of Incandescent Bulbs

I recently read an article on Feature Shoot about Jonathon Kambouris and his series of exploding medicine and decided to explode some things of my own. I had no idea what to expect from this, I'd never hit a light bulb with a hammer before, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

The hardest part was getting the exposure right. I had no idea what kind of light was going to come out of the bulb once I put a hammer through it, so I did some tests of with the light on and off, and shot for a happy medium.

I was trying to go for an effect of the bulb overheating and blowing itself up. This is clearly a composite, but I think a level of mystery still exists in the final product. As long as it isn't absolutely clear where the different pieces are, the image still works as a whole.

The composite starts from the bulb in a few different states, and then it's just a matter of retouching. Here are a couple of the base images.

On a side note, light bulbs are much more durable that I thought. It took me six tries to get this one to break.

Wish List

The other day my girlfriend, Emily, came to me with a rather unusual reques. She wanted help writing her Christmas wish list. Emily explained that her sister, Eileen, wasn't sure what sort of clothes to get Emily for Christmas because they don't see each other on a regular basis and Eileen had grown unfamiliar with Emily's fashion sense. I have the same problem with my brother.

Emily's sister, Eileen, suggested she take photos of herself in her most regular outfits and send them over. I think Eileen was expecting Emily to stand in front of a mirror with her camera phone, but once I heard about the assignment that just wasn't good enough for me. I certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to take photos of my favorite model.