Sunday, October 18, 2009

Lessons Learned This Weekend

In the Kitchen

You can cook by candlelight as long as the stove, oven and refrigerator aren't on the mysterious circuit that blew in the middle of making dinner and refuses to come back on.

Two trays of lasagna are put together. One is in the oven, the other is waiting its turn. I'm patting myself on the back for making a dish ahead of time for the week--and there's even another one to go in the freezer for next week or the week after.

(I wouldn't normally show you a photo so blurry, but I was taking it by candlelight and my tripod was in the car. You can see my dilemma.)

So I'll remember later, one box of noodles is enough for two trays. You need two large containers of ricotta, one and half large bottles of sauce (come on, I didn't have any lights in my kitchen!) or three regular sized bottles, two pounds of ground meat and one package of mild italian sausage and one HUGE bag of shredded mozarella.

There are so many incredible websites out there with recipes that could keep me cooking for the rest of my life. This site was one I found this week. I'm gonna try the bread pudding from this post first.

Photography

Shooting babies is hard.


Even a giant picture window and turning all the lights on in the room aren't going to give you the light you need to shoot without a flash (and a bunch of post-processing) on a rainy day.

My friend was so kind to allow me to practice on her gorgeous six month old yesterday. Little Faye has this incredible red, curly hair and the chubbiest cheeks.

You can get enough light to shoot outside on a rainy day as long as you have covered place to shoot.

Can you believe the eyes on this one?


And him? The youngest of four and a personality to make sure he doesn't go unnoticed.

Another terrific friend threatened me if I didn't come shoot her kids was willing to let me take some shots of her kids so I could do some portfolio building.

Me

There might be a link between perfectionism and shame. I don't know what it is yet, but I've downloaded I Thought it was Just Me because of the cool read along project the author set up on her blog.

I've long known that I've missed out on exciting adventures in my life because I was too afraid of failure. When I noticed that same trait emerging in one of my sons recently I wanted to find out how to beat back the beast. I so want for my boys to live lives filled with adventure.

How was your weekend?

5 Deserve Mamma's Love:

Anonymous said...

great photography!

I'm finally living without fear of failure-
I've been meditating for 2 years now and realize-
positive thinking... why think of failure ?
It's actually easier to be positive-
that said, I'm a work in progress :)

Let me know how it goes !!
xo

lisab said...

Nice work on the photos! What lens did you use? :)
Workshop Lisa

Ilina said...

I'm bringing my kids to your house over Thanksgiving so you can um, "build your portfolio." I'm always here to help. I'm generous like that. Amazing shots!

And as a girl who has feared failure her whole life, I applaud you. I too see that trait in my oldest son and want desperately to keep him from experiencing the hardships I had. Thanks for the inspiration, Photog Mamma!

Anonymous said...

All you can do is keep trying. That is the best part about watching The Mini-Kamp, she keeps trying and trying till she gets it right.

Christine Koh said...

Your photos are ridiculously gorgeous. BTW, about to email you about that!! xoxo