Busy busy busy...

I swear I try to blog regularly, but sometimes life just gets too busy.

A big part of the craziness lately is due to this little lady right here:

This is Nina.

Joe and I met her when we were "glamping" at Alexandria Nicole vineyards over in Patterson, WA. We saw her, were completely smitten, and adopted here then and there. Nina has moved from the gorgeous vineyards of Eastern Washington to our house in West Seattle. She spends her time tormenting our 2 cats and being cute, snuggly, opinionated, strong-willed, and sweet.

We love her.

Since I do a lot of my work from home, I now have a constant companion at my computer.

Another big part of my busy schedule is work-related.

This week, I am in a marathon shooting session for the NW Essentials Cookbook.

I have hired my dear friend, Jeff, to do all the cooking for the photography.

Jeff is an awesome chef, who has been cooking professionally for 13 years. He has also been one of my closest friends for over a decade. Working with him on this project has been a dream.

Shooting a cookbook is a TON of work, but it is so much more fun and exciting when collaborating with someone who you know well and respect.

Photography is really only a part of making food look good-- the preparation and styling is the other part of the equation. I like to style my own shots, but I am not a chef by any stretch of the imagination. Jeff's expertise has made my job so much easier. In fact, I have not needed to doctor any of the images to make them look more appetizing, which says a lot.

Also, for those wondering, the images are all of REAL food....no glue, no spray paint, none of those tricks you often hear about for food photography are being used here. At the end of the shoot, we end up eating the food. (And, let me just say, Greg Atkinson's food is delicious!!)

So, anyway, here are some pics of what we have been up to.

Bon Apetit!!

art, food, and friends

I want to tell you about a fun little thing happening next month.

My very dear friends, Anthony and Jeff, have offered their home for a party and art showing, featuring the work of Joe and myself.

This means that for the evenings of October 23rd and 24th, my photographs and a selection of Joe's paintings and prints will be hanging in our friends' charming West Seattle house, where people can view them while they sip a glass of wine and nosh on an appetizer or two.

There will be framed and unframed work for sale, in a whole range of prices, so it's a perfect time to think about holiday gifts. I will be displaying some of my B&W work, (a sampling is shown below), as well as some of my food photography. So, there will be a variety of styles.

Plus, a portion of the proceeds will be going to charity, (more on that in a future post.)

Since our friends don't have a huge house and we want to make sure that there are no major crazies in attendance, I need to know who you are if you would like to attend. At the minimum, we need to have exchanged some emails but, ideally, we've met in person. Or, we have mutual friends and you are attending with them. That works, too.

If you would like to be added to the invite list, I'd love to hear from you! Drop me an email and we'll go from there.

More for my client...