The Royal Family

While I was following my typical morning routine of blogging, reading, emailing, and chatting, I stumbled across a blog entry by strobist stating the easy way to do food photography. I really believe that Mr. Strobist, if you will is a very smart man, and talented photographer, and his entry completely intrigued me. He essentially build a light box, out of a regular box and some tissue paper. It creates a very soft, even beautiful light. I have worked in many studios and these same kind of contraptions are used everyday. So of course, me being me, took one look around my room, and turned my old computer box into a light box, and I was on my way to a new photo shoot.

While in college, my roommate studied engineering. He had to take numerous classes building, measuring, cutting, sawing, welding, throwing, hammering, and so on and so forth. Essentially every single class that I would fail, because I never measure. In fact I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler. I am convinced this is the main reason my roommate and I get along so well, we balance each other out. He is technical, I am not. I digress, while Adam was taking all these manly man classes, he built an absolutely beautiful chess set. Every time I see this chess set out, I am always amazed that one person made it, and I am living with him. So in honor of Adam's hard work, and my motivation, I made a simple still life. I used my new $2 light box, and I think it came out rather successfully.

This light box can come in handy in so many different photo shoots. It is essentially seamless, and when it comes to reflective objects, all photographers know they need that. I only used two sheets of tissue paper on each side of the box. It only took me about twenty minutes to cut and tape the tissue paper in place. I suggest taking your time with the tissue paper, because I did rip a piece rather successfully with in the first three minutes. But all in all, it was incredibly easy to make, I really suggest anyone that has a little time on their hands to give it a try. It was a nice test shoot for a Tuesday morning. Here is a behind the scenes shot of my set up also, to help give a better visual.

Food is Art is Life

The Spice of Life

This past weekend was an incredibly fun and enjoyable father's day weekend for me. My father drove in from Cleveland to spend his father's day with me. So naturally, I planned out an elaborate weekend which included the Indians/Cubs game, Steak houses, Boat tours, and everything a father could enjoy. We had an incredible time to say the least. Spending time with my father really made me think about my career, and my future photography career. Not only did it make me think about it, but he did a great job motivating me, and making sure I know that what I am doing, will work, I just need to keep working on it. So when I got home, I naturally did a test shoot. My roommate's girlfriend bought us a house warming gift of a new set of spices that are very modern, and adorable. So I thought that I would get out the lights, and play a little with them. It always surprises me how quickly I lose time setting up my lights, and playing with the placement of the ingredients. It really makes me smile when I realize that an hour has gone by and I am still playing in the piles of spices, attempting to make them look natural, and pretty at the same time. Those are the moments that I realize that I could never do anything else but photography. And in a metaphorical way, I think "the spice of life" is appropriate, after the weekend I had. I recently received word lately that a friend of mine is starting her catering company very soon, and she is going to need many pictures for her website, which means I am going to be a very busy busy bee. I can't wait to work with her, she is an incredibly talented vegan pastry chef, and a very smart woman. It should be a very fun photo shoot. I will keep you updated!

Food is Art is Life

My Chicago

As I travel through this game I keep calling my life, I typically have a camera by my side. I attempt to never leave the house without a camera in my purse. Some times it is a point and shoot, sometimes it is a large DSLR, or even sometimes it is a toy camera. Fact of the matter is, I have a camera. Chicago lends to many different skyline images. While I am driving I am always noticing different angles, and aspects of the skyline, from different points of the city. Recently, Chicago weather has been very rainy, and silly, and I noticed that the clouds were incredibly low. I drove past this scene, and in my mind it captured my Chicago beautifully. The clouds with the buildings, and a sea of taxis with their drivers. My Chicago. I have been acquiring many different skyline images, mostly because, I just can't get enough of this city. I look at the building, and still can't believe that I live here. I love this city. I am going to continue my journey through this city, working on my photography, and enjoying every minute of it. I just wanted to share this image, because everybody views their city differently, and this is just one of my images of the city.

Cleveland Cavaliers Wheelchair Basketball Team

Today I have been working on a brochure for the Cleveland Cavaliers Wheelchair Basketball team. My older brother is on the team, and he asked me to design their brochure for their first annual celebrity basketball game. I immediately said yes to the request, although I consider myself a photographer, not a graphic designer, but I really believe in this organization and I figured I can come up with something. In my years of college, I took many design classes, and I have designed brochures for political campaigns in the past. How easily I forget that a photographer is a photographer, not a graphic designer. WOW. I have gained another degree of respect for graphic designers today. It is incredibly challenging to be creative with words, limited space, limited images, and many different limited elements. Not an easy task. I came up with a rough draft, and sent it off to the team, and I am anxiously awaiting a response, because I hate to say it, but I am proud of myself. I am proud of the challenge, and the cause. It makes me feel really great to do something for a cause that I truly believe in, no matter the time/cost/effort. It makes me really think about how I work, and the people and companies that I constantly interact with on a daily basis. My father always said "If we had a perfect world...(fill in the blank)" and that is how he and I would come up with solutions, and work from there. Well if I had a perfect world, I would always work with people and companies that made me feel happy, and good about the cause, and the work that I do. If only the world was perfect. Don't get me wrong, I have a pretty close to perfect world right now. For the most part, I am my own boss, and saying and going and doing as I please. Not many people can say that. I guess what I am trying to say is, I feel great working for a good cause such as the Cleveland Cavaliers Wheelchair Basketball team. Maybe I will start volunteering more....only time will tell.

Summer Time Vegan Pizza

It seems as though this past weekend Chicago heard me complaining about the weather. It finally felt like June this weekend, people were filling the streets, going to festivals, putting the top down on convertibles, and grilling out. The epitome of why many people live in Chicago. It was a beautiful weekend, and it inspired me to get to the market and invite some friends over for some delicious food.
For Sunday lunch I invited my friend Mary over to see my new apartment and sit in the sun, and catch up/ gossip as us women do. Mary is a vegan, so at times it can be challenging for a Irish girl like myself to cook without cheese, or meat. Yet every time I do it, I enjoy the challenge, and enjoy the food. So yesterday I rifled through my fridge and came up with my version of a summer time vegan pizza. I had a pizza dough ball from my favorite pizza shop, which is vegan, and many veggies left over from the market. I simply made the dough, chopped some fresh garlic, and layered the asparagus, zucchini, and plum tomatoes strategically around the pizza, and threw it in the oven, and roasted it for around 20 minutes. VOILA! It was light, healthy and delicious. Mary and I had a great time catching up, and eating our delicious creation.
It always interests me when people get so hung up on vegetarianism. The old tried and true cliche phrase "you don't know unless you try" is one of my favorites. I enjoy trying different foods, even if they don't involve meat or cheese. This recipe was absolutely delicious, and a fun way to push the limits of pizza making. So moral of the story, TRY IT!


Summer Time Pizza
Serves 4

Ingredients
Pizza dough
Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic
1 Zucchini, sliced
1 Plum Tomatoe, sliced
3 Stalks Asparagus, sliced

Directions.

1. Preheat oven at 375*
2. Roll out pizza dough to desired thickness, and place on pizza stone or pizza pan.
3. Drizzle dough with favorite Olive Oil, and scatter chopped garlic around dough.
4. Arrange veggies around dough, in any fashion you like. It can be thrown on, or strategically placed.
5. Bake in oven for aprox 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Food is Art is Life

The Urban Herb

Things have been a bit hectic lately in the world of Tiffany one could say. I have recently moved to a new neighborhood up north in Chicago that I am quickly falling in love with. Roscoe village has some competition from Lincoln Square. Moving is one of my least favorite tasks, considering I have moved essentially 4 times in the last two years...long story. On top of moving the weather in Chicago is barely reaching 70* and it has not been providing much inspiration, or motivation, until yesterday.
While exploring my new neighborhood yesterday, I discovered a wonderful farmers market in the middle of the square. It had roughly 10 to 12 tents set up, which were littered with happy hippies more than willing to talk your ears off and fill your belly with their new organic, pesticide free, heart healthy, and warming products. I tried pickled mushrooms, organic bloody mary mix, morrel mushroom cheddar cheese, and smelled some amazing flowers, soaps and oils. To say the least, I was in HEAVEN! I had to stop at the greenery tent and drool over all the fresh young vibrant herbs they had, and of course buy five of them. The neat thing about this greenery was that, they had the window boxes there, and planted my chosen herbs right there in front of me. Yes, I know my friends that are reading this are laughing right now, because I have tried this before. Friends have told me before that I don't have a green thumb, but I never listen. Every year, I get excited about having a window full of fresh herbs, and some way or another they die. Yet, I keep trying, and this year is no exception. This year my herbs are outside, so my furry feline can't have her afternoon snack, and I know not to water them profusely. So we will see how this years herb extravaganza goes. Only time will tell, Basil, Chives, Rosemary, Sage, and Parsley here we come! And on top of that I took the image above with my new simple point and shoot camera I bought this weekend. Just a simple 10mpx Nikon Coolpix, not too shabby for $130. Just add that to the never ending collection of cameras in my life.

Food is Art is Life