30 Days, 30 Meals and 30 Photographs

Do you ever just hit a moment in life where you are ready for a change? A new hair cut. Completely different styles of clothes. Maybe even a new job or town to live in. It's like the days become mundane and repetitive and we need to reinvent ourselves and what we project to others to keep moving forward. Most of these moments in my life have resulted in randomly purple or pink hair (not the classiest of moves, but definitely the easiest to fix!), but my most resent drastic change was purely internal.

It started around 6 weeks ago when I decided to take on the Whole 30 challenge. 30 days of clean eating/cooking. Fresh fruit, veggies and meat without the constant intake we receive from every day products of soy, sugar and wheat. It sounds simple, but until you read labels, you have no idea the amount of junk you're consuming a day.

On top of research and reading, it's a ton of prep and cooking. And if there's one thing I hate in the world, it's cooking! I figured if I'm going to go thru all of this trouble, I should photograph the experience in some way to provide proof and an extra goal/incentive to see this thru.

And I did.

I'm going to preface these photos by saying not all of the images are good. Not all meals were really delicious... or edible. More importantly though, I made them. For 30 days I cooked (yikes!), I photographed, and I stuck to my plan. And for that, I'm proud.

Day 1: Let's do this eggs with sweet potato and green bell pepper hash- definitely worth a repeat. First day means confidence and a pumped up sense of excitement. I made this multiple times, but after 30 days I'm a bit queasy at the sight of eggs. 

Day 2: Make it quick sweet and Yukon gold potato quiche with a side of killer guacamole- I made myself sick off the guac. Seriously. It's made with loads of onion, jalapeños, tomatoes and lime juice...and it goes with everything! Unfortunately, I have no time management skills and I didn't eat this until 10 at night.

Day 3: Spaghetti squash and balls

not my favorite photo, but one of the yummier meals. The sauce is loaded with shredded carrots, onions and celery with a dash of red wine vinegar. I wasn't a huge fan of the spaghetti squash, but I'm willing to give the zucchini noodles a try next time I whip up a batch of meatballs.

Day 4: Say man you on a diet salad with lightly fried yukon potato and cucumber- can't complain! The red salmon was mixed with onions, peppers and olives and made for a good lunch the next day. I'm not a huge fan of leftovers (which was a struggle on this diet), but the salmon on fresh spinach with a side of fruit worked.

Day 5: Sweet potato green apple bake

DELICIOUS! Thinly sliced potatoes and apples baked soft with a drizzle of ghee and cinnamon. Topped with raisins, pecans and freshly crumbled bacon. This dieting thing ain't too bad.

Day 6: Avocado chicken salad on a "tomato bun" lol

good but there's a funny failed mayonnaise attempt behind this becoming an avocado salad. Apparently you're supposed to use light tasting olive oil to make mayo and mom and I didn't realize there was such a thing. Unfortunately, our mayo was an odd green color and less than appealing taste wise. Luckily we saved the meal with the avocado ...and the crispy squash chips didn't hurt.

Day 7: Heck yeah grilled Ribeye with creamy mashed sweet potatoes and green beans: need I say more?!

Day 8: I'm over it Chili

For a week I was going strong, but then woke up not into it at all. I wanted something sweet. I wanted some nachos. I wanted anything un-dietish. I made chili (*insert eye roll).

Day 9: Still not feeling it fruit salad- No complaints. Had a few pieces of bacon and this simple fruit mix for breakfast. Lazy...I mean good way to start the day.

Day 10: Mmmmmm bacon wrapped chicken salad- REPEAT Bacon wrapped chicken on salad. You better not complain on something so wholesome and delicious.

Day 11: Shitthesebobsaregood- yeah I said it...so what?! I soaked the meat in a mix of olive oil, fresh roasted garlic, parsley, paprika, salt and pepper. Then hubs grilled them to perfection. Mouth's watering just remembering these beauties!

Day 12: 

Taco 'bout amazing

green chili shredded chicken on a cabbage shell with homemade garlic lime sauce and guac. Yeah, place your order today.

Day 13: Not feeling the 

sunny side up omelette 

I'm feeling down about the diet at this point. Still hate to cook, pants aren't looser, knee still hurts. Bacon, onion, pepper omelette didn't make me feel much better but at least it's edible and I'm not quitting. (*grimaces)

Day 14: Dang I hate pork ribs- true story. I hate pork, but I cooked these on low in a crockpot all day and by the time we ate them, they were fall apart tender (if you like that sort of thing). The bbq sauce was a recipe we found online with tomato paste, onions and sweet potato. Don't attempt! I have a much better version I figured out later on.

Day 15: Turning point bbq chicken- this meal was a game changer. It was the halfway mark and admittedly not the healthiest, but fixed some of my comfort food cravings with stellar cole slaw and oven roasted crunchy potatoes. The cole slaw was made with my successful homemade mayo attempt and red wine pomegranate vinegar. I was back on track and even going for after dinner walks with the hubs.

Day 16: That's a spicy shrimp- edible. I love oven roasted green beans with potato chunks and bacon. That wasn't my issue with this meal. The shrimp was cooked with a bit of ghee, fresh squeezed lemon, garlic and red pepper. The flavor was the bomb-diggity...but that texture. (*gags) I panicked and over cooked. Hello rubber shrimp. Sadly I still ate it.

Day 17: What the heck is this Pudding

Edible? Kinda? I followed a recipe for banana chia pudding and it didn't set up. So, it was runny. I, once again, still ate it since I wasted time making it.

Day 18: Mom made it, I ate it chicken

sun dried tomatoes in a coconut sauce over a bed of baked veggies from my parents' garden. No complaints. No leftovers.

Day 19: Will it ever end eggs

myeah. Been going strong for several days and woke up early to make an egg with sweet potato haystack. They sucked, but I got real fancy with my rose strawberries. Only had to eat 5 failed attempts before I got 3 A-OK ones!

Day 20: I'm gonna make it roast- maybe my favorite. I slow cooked this baby all afternoon and it fell apart when I went to place it over a bed of steamed cabbage. Covered in carrot gravy. Ever heard of carrot gravy? No! Because I made it up (genius here).

Day 21: Football Sunday weiners: they're winners! Mini Whole 30 compliant hotdogs wrapped in thinly sliced potatoes and baked. Served with mustard and fresh broccoli. 

Day 21: Football Sunday weiners

Day 22: Meatloaf

it's classic. It's Delicious. It's a terrible photo. NEXT!

Day 23: This can't be compliant pork chop- so I still hate pork, but cover in spicy tomato sauce and throw in fajita style veggies. Yeah I'll bite.

Day 24: Leftover Scramble

edible. Eggs, winning weiners, spinach and jalapeño.

Day 25: I would eat this daily Hawaiian chicken- yes, yes and more yes. Made a marinade in my food processor of fresh pineapple, jalapeños, olive oil, vinegar and various seasonings. Soaked, grilled and served on a bed of cauliflower rice.

Day 26: I'd stuff it potato

that's Texas good bbq. homemade large slaw with slow cooked brisket and my kinda secret bbq sauce (sweetened with pineapple).

Day 27: Non - rubber shrimp

I'd eat that. Stir-fry carrots, broccoli, onions, shrimp and deer hot links.

Day 28: I'm over this whole idea dessert

Creamy sweet potatoes with sautéed apples and strawberries. Topped with melted almond butter and cinnamon.

Day 29: Technically I cheated Pot Pie

not so bad. The sauce is thinner than a normal pot pie, but the flavors are so good. I cheated when I made cauliflower bread toppings. The ingredients are all compliant, but I made a "bread" and that broke the rules. I have no shame. No regrets.

Day 30: The I made it to the finish skillet- or the otherwise known as "everything but the kitchen sink finale." I ate it all. Cooked a bit of every veggie I had sitting around and topped with fajita steak and spicy tomato sauce.

Day 30: The I 

made it to the 

finish skillet

Ok ok, let me just be honest. I miss cheese. I miss chips. I miss cupcakes. However, I don't miss my hurting knees, my speedy heart rate, and certainly not the 13 pounds I dropped. It's a huge life adjustment to cook and eat this way, but I feel better than I have in the past 5 years. And the amount of cooking skills I've picked up...well my hubby can't complain too much about my food anymore!

Engagements, Wine, and Texas Cold Snaps

I recently had the great honor of photographing fellow KC alumni. We were lucky enough to have a semi cloudy day at the beautiful Enoch Stomp winery right after a serious rain shower...also lucky enough the weather scared off any other photographers. On the downside, there was an unexpected cold snap. If you notice, this beautiful couple is huddled together in most images not only out of love, but out of health-preservation! 

This session had it ups and downs concerning lighting. With the clouds, the sun was in and out constantly and I found myself fighting to keep my exposures consistent. And forget being able to use my reflector! However, with such a fun couple I had a wonderful session full of laughter, wine and several shots I'm seriously in love with. Who could complain about that?

And it didn't hurt my fantastic assistant (I'd be lost without mom lol) and I finished the session with desserts and wine!

Wishing Casee and Zane all the love and happiness in their marriage!

Homemade Garland, Faux Fur and a Basket Full of Baby

If we've met, then I'm sure you know I am the most awkward and uncomfortable person around babies. Well kids in general...BUT I love love love newborn photography. I look at props, I follow newborn photographers on social media, I ooh and ahh over how precious they look as much as anybody. Put me within 10 feet of a kid however, and suddenly I'm paranoid and showing signs of the cross while trying not to make eye-contact with anyone. Which is why I have never pursued any form of baby/child photography.

The exception to this rule came into the world September of last year (yeah I know I'm way behind as usual). Little Judd joined the League family and I excitedly planned over how to set up his newborn session with no idea what I was doing...and then nervously debated details and watched youtube videos on proper baby handling like it was the bee's knees.

The session was done in home with natural window light. I hauled in wood flooring, grey background, and all kinds of decorations, but settled on the "less is more" philosophy (if you can believe that). My goal was to keep the baby as comfortable as possible. I've noticed there are quite a few "photo guides" out there that have the baby's head in very awkward angles and I figure if I wouldn't like it, why should the baby deal with it. After spending a couple of hours posing a baby, I realize it's not the easiest thing in the world to do. I figured out fairly quick the key is almost to let the baby sleep and then work around whatever the heck they want to do.

The best part of the whole day...I didn't get peed on...aaand I might even pursue more newborn sessions in the future!

No Plans, No Requests and Some Seriously Fabulous Results

This is a continuation of "Rainy Day, Baby Bump and in Home Shoots"...

For our actual maternity session, we met up in the studio with a "we're gonna make it happen" attitude...but no actual plan. I used no more than 2 to 3 monolights with soft boxes for each image. Except of course for the ending silhouette we captured. My goal for the shoot was to create a few surreal images with the dress. To do this, I set the camera up on a tripod and used my Cam Ranger app on my phone to release the shutter on a 2-3 second delay and 3-5 images a shot. So the "waving" dress in the images is actually me standing to the side or behind her billowing it myself.

For the low-light/softer images...we simply placed the chair next to the soft box and had the light strength adjusted down slightly. I believe I did use a slight filler light to help bring in a little detail. I loved these images the best because they have more of the "glowing mother" feel to them and I would like to explore the possibilities of mood/lighting with this simple set-up in the future.

Overall each image is different and you can really see we were just playing with ideas and trying to find the "sweet spot" of what we liked best. I truly love working with someone who doesn't have this set idea of what they must have...you just never know what the final product will be!

*Keep an eye out for my upcoming blog on images "Straight out of the camera" compared to the final product...you may just see one or two of these!

Rainy Day, Baby Bump and in Home Shoots

I'm beyond very late sharing this in home maternity shoot I did with my sweet in-laws. Everyone is all for the long dramatic dress (don't worry we did one of those with a twist too!), but I really love just the simplicity and relaxed feeling of shooting someone in their home environment. Although I am not planning to take on many shoots in this coming new year, I would not mind having a few more of these unplanned and perfectly adorable sessions.

Flowers, Cake and Pure Gold!

*SPOILER ALERT! This post is filled with tons of cuteness. Be prepared to "awwwww" and snicker!

My life has one constant in it...and that is Riley Mae. Every morning I wake up to a cold nose in the face and the pitter patter of feet trailing my every move. She literally won't let me leave the house without attempting to sneak into my car first. She has her own room at work where she hangs out to watch TV and snuggle with me when I sneak down for a few minutes throughout the day. No matter how upset I get with her, I know if I need some cheering up she is there to provide it...and isn't that the most wonderful thing about having a four-legged baby?

This year my girl is turning 4!...which of course got me thinking about taking some sort of "birthday" pictures. I maybe got a little carried away...

...But my Riley Mae is a great little model. Especially if her daddy is asking her to "sit" for a peanut butter treat! I actually had all of these crazy ideas and set-ups on what to do for her "photo shoot". I tried some compositions with garland framing the upper edges and draping down thru the image and I decorated with all these eclectic gold elements...Most of which were removed. Trust me when I say the final two-light, grey background set-up I produced is the toned down, clean-lined and "simple" version!

I had so much fun making the garland, flower crown and cake for this...even if Riley got a little destructive with the flowers once the treats ran out (nothing a few minutes and tape won't eventually fix). I don't always have the time or money to create things, so I loved having the opportunity to do this. It's been such a blast doing a "doggie" shoot that I've definitely got my mind set on repeating the experience.

But first...this awesomeness...

Leave my Rye Mae some Happy Birthday love and your thoughts on next years birthday shoot!

Wedding Bells, Recreations, and Photo Booths

My husband Cory and I tied the knot last year and one of the major decorations/themes of the wedding had been "captured moments"...which is a pretty way of saying "crap tons of photos." I decorated every available space of the entrance to the wedding with photos of us and our lives over the years.

When discussing the idea of a photo booth, we just couldn't make up our minds. We knew we didn't want the every day wedding standard and had tossed around an idea of a "recreation" photo opportunity, but we weren't sure how to even approach the idea.

First we rounded up some old photos from our childhoods and decided what would be the most fun and easiest set up. After making our selections, we went to THE FIXER...also known as my dad! It doesn't matter the project, that man will come up with a way to make it happen. He was pretty skeptical about the idea, but of course, in the end he didn't let us down and created a one of a kind photo booth.

....Which was all well and good until a few days before our wedding Cory and I realized we didn't actually recreate our baby photos! We are resourceful though and set up a "mini studio" shoot in our living room for my photo and a field behind our house was the optimal setting for Cory's. I edited, printed, matted and barely had time to frame and set up the finished products by the rehearsal, but I am so happy we did.

Bless my family for always putting up and helping with my crazy ideas.

The photo booth photos top any professional recreation I can do. I can't say thank you enough to everyone who participated in this. Seeing the photos below make me laugh and bring back memories of the best night of my life!

Last Minute Bookings, Senior Portraits and Unhappy Customers

April has been a full month of editing, consulting and lots of travel. I feel like I spent most of the month on the road and I am just now spending a few days sitting at a desk and catching up on my work. At the beginning of the month I received a text message in the early morning hours for a senior hoping to set up an appointment. At the time I was booked over 2 weeks out, but that wasn't going to work for her, so I agreed to do a session that afternoon. That's kind of quick for me to get an idea of what someone wants, research and get permission for a location and consult on clothing (something of which we didn't have time for). As a result, I spent most of my day trying to find somewhere "different" than all of the usual hot spots in town to shoot...and at 4 that afternoon I finally found it! A storage room with quite a beautiful window downtown. We received permission to use it after-hours (resulting in someone having to stay late and let us in) and it was so worth it in my opinion!

Check out a few select images from the session below!

The diptych above is my favorite 2 photos of the entire session. I love the contrasting bright light and happiness of the left photo (which was actually a test shot for lighting that I got lucky with) compared to the more subtle softer light and serious/peaceful expression of the right.

A normal senior session with me is up to an hour and a half with 3 clothing changes and 3 locations within 10 miles of each other. I remembered passing downtown there is a couple of cool older buildings with vines growing up the wall and thought this would be a neat place to check out for a second option at the shoot. Although I normally do not have brick walls in my images (my personal preference to avoid as it has been overused), the client asked if she could try it and with the different colored bricks and vines, I think it is a slightly fresher take on an old go to.

As a special request the client asked to be photographed in her father's old army top with an older army Jeep. Unfortunately due to distance to reach the Jeep and the setting sun we weighed the options for taking the drive and getting more photos closer to town. It just wasn't possible. As a result we got this fantastic shot in the vines.

The fourth and final location of the shoot took place near the train tracks. I was able to snap a few fun shots before losing the sun. I grabbed the classics in cap and gown and then at the clients request we did a couple train track shots. This is not something I advise but when I found out she really wanted them I couldn't say no! :)

Although we ran over on time, locations, and clothing changes...I felt like it was a great experience. The client was fun and bubbling with personality. She had tons of ideas for what she wanted (clothes, fun faces, posing, etc.) and she got just that. It's not often I have a client who doesn't really take my advice on anything, so this was a new experience for me.

Unfortunately you can't always have a perfect ending with pleased people. I always try my best to provide more than anyone expects. I want happy, repeat customers. In this case, I spent a day finding locations (specifically a window because a few of the example images they had provided used windows) and I did a rush order as a favor with no extra fees. I hate feeling like I have failed in some way to give someone what they want. I show customers images from my camera during a session to make sure we are on the same page about where everything is headed and even send some of the beginning edited shots to make sure they are going to be happy with the finished product.  I hope there are no hard feelings moving forward. I have stressed and gone over all of the images repeatedly to see where I could have gone wrong. I even talked to some of my professional photographer friends to see how they felt. After multiple conversations to resolve any unhappiness in this situation, I realize sometimes it's just a learning lesson session and I will have to move forward and grow from the experience.

Paris, Archives and Restorations

I've just completed a new project for the city of Paris, TX photographing and restoring old photos from the Paris Junior College archive collection. Most of the images are dated around 1905 (before the second Paris fire) and had damage ranging from folds and tears to discoloration and ink stains. As the original images are in bad shape, we were not allowed to remove them from the archive. For this project, I brought in two square soft boxes on monolights and set them up as a triangle where I would shoot thru the top towards the open base where the photo lay on a grey foam-core. I was really excited to work this way as normally I would use a scanner to digitally repair images. It's been a learning experience I would definitely try again!

The finished images were printed and locally framed. They can now be seen hanging at the City Hall of Paris.

Streamers, Tea and Turning 1!

Sometimes it's all about letting kids be kids. I love getting to just shoot a fun family moment and this tea party/cake smash was just that.

Family, Sass and Southern Heat in the Grass

One of the downfalls of living in Texas is our summer heat. It's great for tanning and spending time at the lake...not so much for my photography business. I notice a considerable drop in people willing to step out and "enjoy" such, shall we say, outrageous weather. It takes a special family to book a summer shoot, and that's exactly what the Chaneys are!

We had talked in the past about working together but our schedules never seemed to hit Paris at the same time...until recently. I had the privilege of not only shooting a family session, but of doing a combo cake smash session for their adorable little girl (her shoot/blog is to be posted in the future). Even though we picked one of the hotter days of the year, we had some seriously good lighting. 

A lot of strong summer sunlight can create deep shadows (exposing for the highlights) and, even still, blown out highlights. By shooting an hour to an hour and a half before sunset, using a diffuser and adding in a reflector, I was able to adjust shutter speed and ISO to work with most shadows and highlights to create a more cohesive and consistent image. Not all images will get the desired effect, but the ones that you hit just right are worth all the trouble of constantly adjusting posing, fighting for exposure, and of course getting the kids attention!

Sunsets, Love and...Chalk in the Face?

I'm running far behind on sharing recent work. One of the more interesting sessions I've had in the past few months was an engagement shoot with a classic/modern twist. We started the afternoon with sunlight and reflectors on a back country road in Kilgore, TX. What I loved about the lighting was having this semi shaded area that opened out into rolling pastures as far as one could see. It made an eye catching backdrop with a more controlled lighting setting.

When we initially sat down to talk over ideas for the shoot, the couple (Katie and Shadow) approached me about a "chalk throw". I felt a little like the deer in headlights, but I love trying new ideas in a session and I thought "if they are up for it, why not?!". The idea seemed interesting and what better way to say "I love you" than to throw chalk in your future husbands face?

(haha who knows, maybe I'll keep a bag of chalk lying around and next time Cory irritates me I will throw a bit at him...just to keep him on his toes!)

Other than a flash malfunctioning towards the end (had to up that iso!), the overall session was a blast and my camera survived all that chalk! As always, I hope Katie and Shadow had a great experience and loved the results. I wish them all the best in their marriage!

Fisheyes, Tans and Defensive Linemen....OH MY!

For those of you who don't know me, I have worked as an editor, designer and photographer for the communications department since August of 2014 at Kilgore College. Recently my hard work went to press in the form of The Flare Magazine no. 6 (http://issuu.com/kcstudentpublications/docs/magazine_2015_web). It was such an amazing feeling seeing my work in print, but my momentary pause of accomplishment was definitely short lived as I have another publication very soon due to release. The Kilgore College Ranger yearbook!

This past week was spent rushing to pull together the last of the photos and information needed to finish up the 170 page monstrosity. One of the ideas I had pitched was a photo on the football field of the defensive line, in uniform, shot with an over the top wide angle. What sounds like a simple enough picture took over a month to actually put together. Between the rainy weather, students' busy schedules and the field being used for multiple organizational practices, we just haven't been able to make it happen. Thankfully, this past Thursday the stars aligned and at 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, I was happily laying out waiting for the defensive line players to change and meet me on the field.

I'm a photographer who believes in being early and checking settings, testing lighting, different angles, etc. It usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes depending on location and artistic demands. This particular photo was one I knew I wanted to keep simple. 1 Speedlight combined with the natural sunlight. I brought along one of my co-coffee loving, sarcastic friends, LEAH, to hold my light. After quickly checking my equipment, we got to enjoy about an hour of tanning on the field and goofing off (much needed) before the players met us on the 20-yrd line (who knew boys took so long to primp!).

When you know what you want in an image and you've pre-prepared, the shoot can generally go quickly (not always!). We got lucky with a beautiful day and 4 guys who understood what I asked for when directing. As a result, my final image took less than 10 minutes to accomplish. I am always excited when I get to do something different than a standard studio portrait. This photo I think is fun, aggressive, unusual and definitely what I was looking for.

 Let me know what you think!

Fisheye Magic on the football field.