so much to share, so little time

Remember how I promised to get back to my "photo of the day" as soon as I returned from Italy?

Yeah.

Sorry about that.

In my defense, it has been a non-stop whirlwind of work since Joe and I returned. I have been teaching workshops, finishing the shooting for a cookbook about Pike Place Market, shooting the photos for a gluten-free holiday baking book, (more on that later), shooting portraits, and falling more and more behind on my post-production work.

During the month of September, I will be shooting the photos for an Indian online cookbook, shooting more portraits, going on a little vacation to the California wine country with my sweet husband, teaching a workshop, and shooting food photos for 2 new clients.

It's a little crazy around here.

I am not complaining, though. I LOVE my work.

Since I have been neglecting the blog for a little while, I have a bunch of things I am overdue to share. And, since I don't love the writing part of blogs, I am going to keep the words fairly short and sweet and get to the photos.

So...as I have mentioned, Joe and I were in Italy way back in July.

After shooting the wedding, we spent time in the mountains above Assisi at the greatest agriturismo in the whole wide world. I highly recommend it. After that, we spent time in Bologna, Florence and Rome-- all of which were amazing.

During our time in the Emilia Romagna area, however, we hired a private guide to take us on a food tour, where we visited 3 production houses and learned how parmigiano-reggiano, traditional balsamic vinegar of modena, and lambrusco wine are made. It was an incredible experience, and our guide, Gabriele, was great.

Parmigiano-Reggiano factory

Lambrusco winery (note the AMAZING view from this place. It's an agriturismo, as well as a winery, so you can stay here!)

They fed us a delicious lunch, complete with 2 types of Lambrusco! Yippee!

The home where the Acetaia di Giorgio balsamic vinegar is made. It is insanely delicious, by the way.

As I mentioned above, I came back to a lot of work, some of which involved shooting a gluten-free holiday baking book.

This was an amazing experience, from start to finish. The cookbook is being published by Chronicle and is due out in Fall of 2012. I had the opportunity to work with 2 incredible women-- Jeanne Sauvage, the author, and Helene Dujardin, the talented woman I hired to style the food on the shoot.

Jeanne is the most fantastic gluten free baker I know. Her breads and sweets are delicious and you would never know they are gluten free.

And Helene is the author of one of my favorite food blogs, a pastry chef who does a lot of gluten free baking herself, and an insanely talented photographer and stylist.

The three of us laughed, chatted, collaborated, shared ideas, and kept one another upbeat every step of the way.

I could not have asked for a better experience.

Lastly, I have added a new class to the mix!

It was so much fun to team up with Becky Selengut for the Good Fish class, we have decided to do a cooking/shooting/styling class together. This class is perfect for someone who has already taken the Natural Light Food Photography workshop with me or who already has a good understanding of their camera, basic exposure and composition. Becky and I will talk about food and prop styling and students will have ample time to practice their photography and styling skills. For dates and more information, go to my website and click on the "workshops" tab, (you'll need to scroll down to see all the classes.)