A new space

So....yeeeeeeaaaaaaah.

It's been, I don't know, 1,086 days since my last post. Okay, not really. But it kinda feels like that. I have had a lot going on in the past 6 weeks. The biggest news is that I have a new studio. A NEW STUDIO!!!! Like, a real one!

I have been working in my house for, well, as long as I can remember. I always think it's funny when people visit my husband's and my home and see our 4 bedrooms, our big rec room and basement and outdoor workspace, ALL of which are used for our businesses. We don't have kids but we easily use every single room in our house. And my business uses two of those rooms- one as an office and prop room and one as a studio.

Since shifting the focus of my business over to food, my workflow and process have changed quite a bit. The biggest change is that my clients often come to my shoots, which has been a pretty major adjustment for me. I love working with people but, honestly, I am not the hugest fan of people watching me work. It makes me nervous and twitchy and I find myself awkwardly trying to explain what I am doing, which doesn't always make sense. This was a big reason why I knew I needed to find a larger space, one which had a kitchen and prop area and sitting space for my clients to hang out while I do what I do.

So, enter Lara Ferroni.

Lara is a very talented food photographer and blogger and author of a soon-to-be-released donut cookbook, who has also worked out of her home studio for several years. She and I had chatted casually about sharing a space at some point and, this past February, that dream became a reality! We found an amazing space in The Bemis Building, a live-work building in the heart of SoDo, right near Safeco Field. The space is 1600 square feet and has a kitchen, (that we remodeled....check out the before and after on the blog), plus a bathroom, a small prop room, and a good amount of wide open space that gets gorgeous natural light all day long. It's amazing.

Since we are planning on renting the space out occasionally- to other photographers for shoots and to people wanting to teach a class or host a dinner or whatever- our new studio is now aptly named Spare Room, and it has it's own blog where you can track all the goings-on in the space.

So, anyway. That's the big news. My plan is to be able to balance both this blog and the new blog and post cool, original and exciting things on both. But, in the meantime, there may be some overlap....like the post below. But I am hoping you'll forgive me for that. :)

I spent the day at the studio yesterday, with back to back maternity shoots. Although the majority of my business is now taken up with food work, I still do a lot of portraits. I have so many clients that have been with me for years, it's just awesome seeing their lives and families change and grow.

This was the first time shooting maternity sessions outside of my home studio, where I have worked for the past several years. It was AMAZING having so much more space to shoot in and, as stated many times previously, the light was incredible.

The shots below are of Zuleika and Doug and their daughter, Lelani. I photographed Zuleika for the first time four and a half years ago- during her first pregnancy (and two home-studios ago!) Now, little Miss Lelani is 4 years old and soon to be the big sister to another little girl.

Check out a few shots from their session below. How beautiful is this family?!

Fishing Vessel St. Jude

I have been hearing about Fishing Vessel St. Jude for years. I know that their tuna tastes delicious and has dramatically less mercury than other canned tuna on the market, that they are the favorite tuna supplier for local restaurants like Tilth and TASTE, and that everyone has a soft place in their heart for owner, Joe Malley.

So, I had some high expectations when I drove out to Westport to take photos of FV St. Jude and, I am happy to report, I was not disappointed.

Joe and his wife, Joyce, are such warm and engaging people. Joe spent a couple hours answering questions and talking about the fishing process, the history of St. Jude, and the reasons behind the decisions they have made. He was humble, kind, and incredibly articulate.

Plus, the boat was so much fun to shoot.

Thank you, Joe and Joyce, for making the trip down south to meet me and show me around the St. Jude! I look forward to the next time!

Blending wine with TASTE

As part of my ongoing work with TASTE restaurant, I recently had the opportunity to document (and participate in) some wine blending over in Eastern Washington.

Collaborating with Townshend Cellars in Spokane, TASTE started offering their own wine blends- the Masterpiece Red and the Masterpiece White- back in 2007 to commemorate the opening of the Olympic Sculpture Park. TASTE director, Danielle Custer, has worked closely with winery owner, Don Townshend, to create a bold yet food-friendly Sangiovese blend, largely inspired by the Super Tuscan wines of Italy.

I accompanied Danielle, as well as executive chef, Craig Hetherington, beverage director, Kris Rezak, and Danielle's close friend and Seattle Magazine wine columnist, Shannon Borg, all the way over to the eastern part of the state.

On the way to Spokane, Danielle let me know that she wanted me to participate in the wine blending, saying she valued my palate and opinion. Let me just say right now, that I had NO CLUE what I was in for. Danielle knows I love red wine, and that I have done my fair share of tasting and enjoying red wine, but I am in no way, shape or form a wine connoisseur...FAR from it. Because of that, I was a tad self conscious accompanying these 4 other people with far more wine experience and far better palates than I.

I am not sure what I envisioned when Danielle asked me to photograph the wine blending, but it certainly wasn't what ended up happening. Wine blending is a long and exhausting process, not for the faint of heart. While the day started innocently enough, sampling some of Don's delicious wines in the Townshend tasting room, it quickly moved into something more serious: a 6-hour marathon of barrel tasting, blending, tasting again, adding a new element to the wine, blind tasting, subtracting a component, blind tasting, spitting, blind tasting, drinking water, taking a snack break, tasting, tasting, blending, laughing really hard, comparing purple teeth, blending, and then tasting some more.

By the end of this process, I was in awe, IN AWE, of the palates of these people. My mouth was fried. At one point, I declared that one of the blends tasted like zinfandel, a statement that was met with blank stares. Needless to say, this took some serious stamina and, while I did my best to keep up, I discovered I am no wine athlete.

At the end of the night, we had come up with a delicious new Masterpiece Red wine. And then we went back to Don's home where we proceeded to eat steaks and drink more amazing Townshend wine.

Those photos will not be posted here.

Cheers!

A peek into Tilth

Tilth, owned by James Beard award winner, Maria Hines, really IS as good as you have heard.

The menu changes monthly, depending on what's in season and available from the local producers that Tilth supports. The food is creative and elegant, yet still comforting and approachable.

I have been hired to do a bunch of new photography for Tilth, which has been so fun. The staff is incredibly kind and Maria is just as amazing as you would expect.

Here are some shots from two recent shoots: one documenting life in the kitchen and restaurant, and one focused more on winter food items.

Bon Apetit! :)