Dd Dead Tree
The husband and I live in the foothills of Mount Baldy and there is a nice little trail that begins only a few miles from our house that we hike every so often. It begins in a nature preserve and then the trail splits and if you follow it straight up, rather than following the loop, it leads to a stream and a waterfall. It is pretty tough going up once you leave the loop because you are pretty much walking straight up the mountain in full sun at that point (even in winter it is sunny, since you know, this is southern California. :) ), but it is worth it to make it up to the waterfall and relax on the rocks at the top.
We took a little side detour to a Native American historical sight before heading up to the waterfall. While the husband read all the signage, I practiced photographing different plants and landscapes, including this blackened tree. It looked like it survived a fire at some point, but with it's complete lack of foliage I decided it worked well as my D shot.
Ee Eggs
Have you ever been to Anthropologie? I love love love that store, especially all the fun kitchen and home accessories they sell. I have been lusting after the cute ceramic egg holder and berry basket since forever, but always found them to be a bit too pricey for my blood. Lately, I've been giving a lot of private lessons to the swimmers on the team I coach, which is all just extra money, so I finally allowed myself the indulgence and scooped the egg crate and berry basket up. (Now I am saving for the Canon 24-70mm L lens. ::drool::)
This photo did not really come out the way I imagined. I overexposed the picture, blowing out the whites of the eggshells. Also, I think my 50mm sucks, and I couldn't get the composition I wanted without backing up too far. (Though, I guess, I should have just cropped in PSE. oh well). I do want to try this again another day...maybe on a cloudy day?
Ff fruit
There is a farmer's market in the parking lot at Mt. SAC on Saturday mornings, which happens to coincide with my being there to coach swimming. The first 3ish months I was coaching I kept forgetting about the market until after I was on my way home, and living 30 miles away, I didn't want to turn around. Finally, I made it a priority to check out the market after practice one Saturday and was impressed with the variety of produce. I scooped up hefty, sweet strawberries, a bundle of broccolini, some tiny tangerines, small Persian cucumbers, and these blood oranges.
I am absolutely entranced by blood oranges. I love their deep red, nearly purple color, and their tangy-sweet taste, as well as their slightly morbid name. The first time I ever tried a blood orange was in a margarita in San Diego several years ago. That was hands down, the best margarita I've ever tasted, and I've never forgotten it. Each year when blood oranges come into season I want to buy them by the bagful and make margaritas. I still haven't done that yet, and now I've found so many other tantalizing blood orange recipes I want to try as well. I've also seen some amazing photographs that perfectly capture the deep crimson juice staining white cloth napkins.
I snagged several blood oranges at the farmer's market, planning to re-create those photos, but procrastination got the best of me, so I figured I'd use my new Anthropologie berry basket and set up a different shot. The red-orange colors play so well off the bright blue of the basket, doncha think?
Gg Garlic
The husband bought me From Plate to Pixel, a food photography book by well known blogger Tartlette, as a "reward" for working on my thesis a few weeks back. My friends make fun of me for receiving rewards for doing my work, but the extrinsic motivation helped jumpstart my efforts after they'd stalled out for way too long.
I poured over that book as soon as it was in my hands, focusing most of my attention on the chapters covering composition, styling, and props. I like Tartlette's clean, simple asthetic, and I've been attempting to emulate her style in my own shoots. This garlic picture was one I took shortly after reading through her book and practicing her composition and styling techniques. I feel like I achieved just what I was looking for-the garlic looks to me like I've been using it to cook with, the dried white papery skins left scattered on the counter, several heads rolling around as I search for the "perfect" clove. I also like the effect the side-lighting brings to this photo, giving some depth to the image, while illuminating the head of garlic on the left. What do you think?
So, now I am 6 weeks into this photo project and I feel like I'm getting better with creating an image, even if it doesn't always come out exactly as I imagined. I didn't plan for my pictures to focus on food, but I like working with still life subjects (especially as we don't have kids and the husband hates having his picture taken). I'm still struggling to come up with something interesting for the letter H though, and with Sunday fast approaching, I need to hurry. Any ideas?
