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.

The Afterparty

I couldn't just post about cake without showing something to wash it down with. I did some test shots of some wine last week and followed with some details. I was really happy with this and will probably try some similar concepts in the future.

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.