My new love... Food Photography

The best thing to satisfy hunger that is cheap, easy, tasty, fast, and not healthy is No Bake Cookies. We decided to make these after we got back from our photo shoot in the canyon today and I just so happened to have my camera. I had way too much fun playing around with different settings and white balance and turning on and off lights in our kitchen. I'm sure Sara appreciated me getting in her way while she was trying to make these this afternoon.


This photo is a little too dark, but I like it anyway. When Sara opened the cocoa powder it exploded all over the stove and counter. I missed it, but I definitely saw the result of it!


This picture is blurry, but I love it anyway! The chocolate concoction was bubbling and the blurry effect just makes it an interesting shot.


This is probably my favorite picture out of the "No Bake" series! I love taking pictures of cool textures. The cocoa powder on the tinfoil and the burner is a different, but cool combination.


Just a shot of the mixture before dropping it onto the cookie sheet!


Can you tell I like different angles?


Whisks are fun to play around with... and measuring cups.

My mom is interested in learning more about photographing food. I'm excited to go home and play around with different lighting and different foods. Maybe someday she'll be a famous chef and I'll be a famous food photographer. That would be the best job ever!

Signs of Spring

I broke out my camera today, and it just renewed my love for photography. The possibilities are endless and that's what I love about it... you can do anything. Me and my roommate, Kristen, went up Logan canyon and explored around 2nd Dam. Even though the sun is shining, it's colder than it looks.


This one has is of a really cool tree trunk that has lots of knots on the surface, and I'm just focusing on the branches in the foreground. I liked how I could see the mountain in the background with very little snow!


We found some rose petals on the ground right be the water. Our philosophy is that some cute guy asked his girlfriend to marry him on this spot sometime recently. Don't you think Kristen's shoes are so cute?! I want them. Forever Young is the best!


Believe it or not, this Coca Cola can was just sitting in the water. Yes, it's in water. Don't you love how the water is so clear?! That can doesn't even look opened... I wonder how the soda would taste. Don't worry, I won't try it. I don't like Coke to begin with.


This one I shot across the water with my telephoto lens. Those bumps that look like rocks... yeah, they're ducks. I liked how rich the colors looked.


This is just a very long shot. The water looks so clear and calm. Too bad it's only February and the water is still freezing. It looks so warm and inviting and I wanted to jump in! This shot is a little blurry, but I liked it anyway.

In Logan it looks like spring is getting closer and closer every day. It hasn't snowed in weeks, and I've been able to wear jackets to school and not coats. It makes me happy because I hate walking around campus feeling like a marshmallow because of all the layers I have to wear to keep warm. Also, I've seen the sun more days in a row than I have seen it total in the past couple of weeks. Cache Valley doesn't have the icky inversion/pollution crap in the air anymore, which makes it easier to breath, and my eyes aren't irritated either.

In my Online Journalism class (the very class that inspired/forced this blog to come about), our next project is a photo essay. The only guidelines we have are "Signs of Spring". Any suggestions or advice you have would be greatly appreciated!

In honor of Mi Madre...

Today, some half century ago... A child was born. My mother was that child. Since my mom is probably the only person that reads this blog, I wanted to OFFICIALLY, (but not REALLY officially, cuz I'll call you later when I get off work...) wish her a happy birthday.

I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate an ENTIRE blog post to her.

I want to tell you why I love my mom...

When I was four I probably wore the same outfit everyday that entire summer. It was my little white and red Levi's t-shirt with flowers on it. That's why I love my mom. She let me wear my favorite outfit as much as I wanted to.

Around the same time of my life as the "I-can't-wear-this-t-shirt-enough-phase" I was still reluctant to give up my binky. That's why I love my mom.

Until I turned 8 or 9 my mom would put my hair in sponge curlers on Saturday night so my hair would be curly for church the next day. I loved my curls. That's why I love my mom.

One of my favorite activities when I was little was to play with play dough. Not the kind you buy from the store, but the homemade kind. Every time my little heart desired she would whip out the ingredients and mix them all together. Then, she would let me help roll it out and mix the colors in. That's why I love my mom.

Last year, my mom had a lot on her plate. Melyn was getting ready to go to China and I was getting ready to move up to Utah State. The day after she helped Melyn pack her suitcases wave her off at the airport she helped me load all my crap in my car and her car and moved me up to Utah State. That's why I love my mom. She's a trooper.

Every Valentines Day and Halloween she makes the best sugar cookies in the world, frosts them all cute, and sends them to me wherever I am. That's why I love my mom.

Whenever I go home for the weekend she asks me what I want to eat, and she makes it for me even if it's the randomest meal ever.. like real potatoes mashed with sour cream and lots of butter, or a flat omelet with no cheese and no pepper, or Double Tree Inn chocolate chip cookies freshly baked... whatever it is, she makes it for me. That's why I love my mom.

When all I want to do is sit at home and watch movies, she'll sit on the couch next to her lamp and knit something while we watch movies, when she probably wants to get out of the house and go somewhere. That's why I love my mom.

When she looks at the caller i.d. and sees that it's me calling AGAIN, she answers anyway. That's why I love my mom.

This post could go on and on because there are a million reasons why I love my mom. These reasons are just a sampling. I love you mom... Happy Birthday!!

*Oh, another thing... check out her blog! Great recipes and advice from an experienced chef!

Lensbabies... it's not what you think.

So, I found a site kind of on accident today that I really like. i was reading a blog called The Shutter Sisters and they were talking about their favorite lenses. One of them said their favorite lens was a "Lensbaby" and I had no idea what it was, so I did some research. I ended up on the Lensbaby website. These lenses are really unique, they move around on a ball and socket configuration, which helps to get some really cool shots. It would be fun to play around with one of these lenses.



It just looks so odd to twist and bed the lens like that... I don't know how to describe it, but I'd love to get my hands on one. Their gallery is so cool! Most of the pics on there are amazing. Those pics aren't the kind you shoot with a normal lens... those pictures look like they had a lot of planning and time put into them.

Oh the things I would buy if I had the money, and the time I would waste if I had the money to buy those things! But, think of all the fun I would have... that's what would make it worth it!

Contemplating My Future

It’s so interesting to think of where I’ll end up in the future… I don’t know a whole lot about what my future is going to be like (obviously, because I haven’t lived it yet!), but I do know some things.


I know that I’ll be at Utah State for the next two years.
I know that I could be married by the time I graduate.
I know that I could still be single when I graduate.
I know that I want to travel and experience things I’ve never experienced before.
But, the most important thing I do know is that things will always be changing in my life and they won’t be the same as what I’ve gotten used to.

I could be a photojournalist for the National Geographic traveling to exotic places all around the world. I could be a copy editor at a newspaper in a quiet, small town nobody has ever heard of. I could be a web designer for a high profile company. I could be a camera operator at a local news station. I could start my own photography business and pursue the course of portrait and wedding photography. I could put to use my multimedia skills and design advertising campaigns. Or, I could be a counselor/psychiatrist for troubled teenagers. I could be working at a bookstore, soaking in all the knowledge available to gain. I could be a wedding planner, helping to make a bride’s wedding day the most important in her life. The list could go on and on. There are so many paths that would be so amazing to experience.

It’s overwhelming to think that there are so many different roads I could take. What’s going to happen? Where am I going to end up? But, the most amazing part is, I get to CHOOSE where I go. I have control over what I experience in life. Sometimes, it feels like it would be easier for my life to be all planned out and for someone to tell me which road to take. But, I know that that’s not how this life is supposed to be. I know that I’m here to choose what I’m going to experience and where I’m going to be in the end.

The important thing for me to remember is that in the end, I know where I’m going to be because I know what I want, and I know how to get there.

Favorite Photo Blogs

I wanted to share some of my favorite photo blogs I follow on a daily basis. I would suggest subscribing to their feed because their work is definitely something to look forward to seeing every day.

The one I admire most is "The Pioneer Woman" or Ree Drummond, from "the middle of nowhere".


The Pioneer Woman

Her blog is full of amazing photos, of EVERYTHING imaginable. She lives on a cattle ranch surrounded by beautiful country, no wonder her pictures are gorgeous. Somehow, through composition and Photoshop manipulation, she's even able to make a cow getting branded look beautiful! Another reason why I love her is because she gives step by step instructions with screen shots on common Photoshop techniques. Someday when I actually have the money to buy Photoshop and the right computer to run it on I'll be an expert in Photoshop!

Dustin Izatt is a wedding photographer from the Salt Lake Valley.


Dustin Izatt Photography

If I were ever going to be a wedding photographer I would want to be like him. He does "some of the hottest wedding photography in Utah" (his words). One thing I love about him is that he understands the importance of natural light. All his photos are composed with a good use of natural light, which makes the photo that much more interesting. I would love for him to do my wedding- we'll see if he fits in my budget if/when I get married!

Lindsey Johnson from Utah County reminds me a little bit of The Pioneer Woman.


Cafe Johnsonia

She mainly focuses on food and cooking, but photographing her food and cooking skills is definitely part of her passion. I don't know how she makes the food look so good in the photographs... the most amazing part is that she uses all natural light and no tripod! How does she do it?! If I were to try that all my pictures would turn out blurry because my hands would be shaking too much to keep the camera steady.

These three blogs are just a sampling of the photography blogs I "stalk". I love looking at other people's work. When I see something I like, I try to duplicate it and adapt it in my own way. Being like someone I admire is something I strive for, even though it can be challenging in the expansive and ever changing world of photography. But that's what makes it fun!

Sugar overload...

You know when you wake up and it feels like you've been squinting all night long while sleeping? Yeah, I had that feeling this morning. My whole body seemed to hurt, my head especially. I blame it on the mass amounts of sugar that came into my field of vision and I couldn't stop eating this weekend. Friday I went grocery shopping. I hadn't been shopping since Christmas break so now my shelf is practically overflowing. It was also Sara's birthday which included carrot cake with mass amounts of gooey frosting and ice cream. Add sleeping on the floor on top of that cake and you'll hurt all over the next day.

But it doesn't stop there. The old chicken we found while cleaning out the freezer inspired us to have a huge roommate dinner on Sunday complete with blue raspberry jello(with fish!), soda(in the cool bottles), squeeze-its(remember elementary school?!), and "Better Than...Sacrament" cake(this cake has a whole jar of caramel soaked into it with butterscotch chips and cool whip on top!). Last night the home teachers came over with a S'more dessert brownie thing for Sara's birthday. And THEN my mom sent me a whole box of food with all the leftovers in her fridge, teddy grahams, skittles, and a whole bag of oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies(the home made kind!). I'm done for.

Those are the reasons for my mass headache this morning. Thanks for having such a huge effect on me Sugar. I feel like a little kid again on Halloween after my mom told me not to eat so much candy all at once. But this time I'm not Princess Jasmine, and my mom didn't tell me not to eat so much. I'm all alone and all my self control flies out the window when it comes to sugar. Now I can't eat my cookies until my headache goes away.

I'm going to the gym after classes today. That's a surprise... they gym isn't really my thing. And all I want to eat is baby carrots. Healthy food actually sounds GOOD?!

In the depths of the sink...

When I tell people I have hard contacts I get the same response everytime: "Why?" I have had the same pair of contacts ever since ninth grade. I'm now a sophomore in college. When I first got contacts the doctor recommended hard ones because I had astigmatism and they would be better for my eyes. I've always been very proud of the fact that I've never lost my contacts as tiny and as slippery as they are.

Last night I was so tired. My eyes were hurting because they were dry and my contacts with no moisture in my eyes wasn't helping matters. I popped out my right contact and noticed there was some gunk on it, so I tried to get it off with my finger before putting it in the case to soak for the night. It slipped out of my fingertips and down the drain. Never had this happened to me before! I proceeded to take the stopper out of the drain and used a q-tip to prod around the sides of the pipe. Everytime I brought up a wad of black junk and masses of hair. Figuring I'd have more control with my fingers, I ditched the q-tip, donned some plastic cleaning gloves and stuck my finger down the hole. Nothing. Just more black crap.

I was determined to find my contact. I am not a plumber and I have never dabbled in the idea of becoming a plumber so I don't have a clue how drains and sinks work down below the counter. I unscrewed several knobs and took off the "U" pipe, and out poured a bunch of sick looking gray water. The smell. The smell was AWFUL! I don't know how many years of crap was down that drain, but I could tell it hadn't been cleaned in a while. My roommate Kami helped me flush water down the drain and catch it in a milk jug. We then strained the water out and looked through all the crap with tweezers. Nothing.

I was about to give up and accept the fact that I was going to be blind for a few days when Kami suggested we flush it one more time. Lo and behold at the very end of that batch of icky water was my contact! I could not believe it. I really didn't think we'd find it. I immediately put my contact in the case and moved it away from the sink completely. It was an adventure trying to figure out how to reassemble the sink.