Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 14mm f/2.8L II lens, 1/40 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

This morning I did something I’d been wanting to do ever since I moved here—I went to the hot-air balloon festival in Provo, Utah. And, thanks to my new 14mm lens I was able to get some pretty cool photos that would have been difficult with any of my existing lenses (like the above image) … it was a very last-minute trip and a perfect opportunity to take it on a test-run. I tend to photograph a lot of tight, close-in shallow DOF photos and I’m really excited to have a crazy wide lens added to my photography arsenal.

In a few hours I’ll be getting on a plane to go visit family over the holiday weekend, but getting up at 4:30 AM after about two hours of sleep was totally worth the morning photography trip, especially since I only have a few months left here in Utah. This photo is, so far, one of my favorites … I have a feeling this will be printed and hanging on one of my walls in the near future.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Fuji x100, 1/4 sec at f/2.0, ISO 1600

Last night I was driving home from my friend Pamela’s house, it was around 1:00 am, and I saw these construction barriers set up with their blinking lights and the sprinklers watering the grass all around them. It was such a mundane scene, yet for some reason I just had to pull over and photograph it (I’m kind-of a sucker when it comes to back-lit sprays of water). So I parked my car lot, grabbed my camera and tried out a few angles before settling on this one.

The spot I was standing for this photo (which I probably stood in for at least a minute) had a stream of water jetting right at my leg. My entire left leg of my jeans was completely soaked when I was finished, and the ironic thing was that as I walked away I previewed my shot and knew I didn’t quite have it. So I went back, stood in the “line of fire” of the sprinkler for another minute (getting soaked) to get a better angle. I even waited for cars to drive by so I could get some more lights to show up in the background.

Yeah, I’m definitely a photographer … not that I needed a random experience like this one, along with standing in in a stream of water while photographing, to solidify that fact, but it definitely made me chuckle at myself. I half expected a police car to drive by and ask me what the heck I was doing (I doubt they would have believed my “beautiful construction lights and sprinklers” story). It’s no work of art, but it shows the beauty of the lights and water that I saw when I drove past, and I’m glad I stopped.

My dad, the model :)

My dad is awesome. He’s always been there for me and always believed in me. (And, he makes a darn good model, too!) :) When I was a kid he used to tell me that I could do anything I wanted to in life, and that has always stuck with me. I believed him, and he was right. I love you, Dad … Happy Father’s Day! :)

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II, 1/320 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Yesterday I decided to take most of the day off and spent the afternoon driving around. I soaked in the beautiful Utah scenery and I even took a short hike up to a waterfall, all with a camera (or two) in tow, of course. It was great, and something I really, desperately need to do more often. I was still able to get some work done (all that I really needed to for the day) but instead of lurking in my office “finding” things to do online, I left. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather … plus I won’t be in Utah much longer so I really need to take advantage of my time while I’m here. (The photo above is a tilt-shift image of aspen trees off the road on the Nebo Loop scenic byway. I also photographed some other images on my drive which served as the texture you can see in the sky.)

You see, I’ve been pretty stressed out lately. Not all bad stress, most of it was of the “good” variety, in fact. I spent the last five months working on a new book that will be released in August, squeezed an eBook in there as well, and also did a bit of traveling and photography to mix things up. I’ve been extremely busy, which is great, but stress is still stress. My stress is the reason I’m (unfortunately) not going to be going on a road trip to my home state that I blogged about earlier in the year. Work piled up, I needed to plan and shop for the trip and it just couldn’t happen without causing me more stress. It would have been fun, but what I needed was a few solid weeks of no planning, no goals, and no expectations or deadlines. This summer is going to be hectic enough with packing to move to Seattle, along with another big project I might be working on, I didn’t want to add anything else into the mix.

So, instead I’ll just take things day by day, something I never used to do. My life used to be all about “plans” … and I’m definitely not that person anymore. The only thing I can count on is that in just over three months I’ll be living in Seattle. After that I have no clue where life will take me, and I love it! And, as a photographer/writer/creative it also seems to be almost necessary. I can remember wanting a family, kids, and a perfect house that I would live in forever, and there was a time in my life that I thought it would happen. I might still have that one day, but right now it seems so far away and I enjoy being spontaneous, mobile and ungrounded.

I think it’s important that we are constantly challenging ourselves. I try to create and find experiences that are new and unique, and even the little things can make a big impact. Sitting and staring at a computer screen probably isn’t inspiring enough to really grow as an artist. Getting out in the world and meeting new people, eating new foods, traveling (or moving) to new places or just going on a walk in a different neighborhood might be all it takes to ignite that one spark that will take you down a path you didn’t even know existed.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L IS lens, 1/20 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

This was a quick (and simple) photography/Photoshop creation from this weekend that I snuck in while cooking and photographing a meal cooked with lavender. I’ve been wanting to do more composite/fine art photography and create photos that I would want to print and hang in any room of my house, and so I guess this is the start of it. Now that I’m through with the bulk of my book and have more time to work on my own projects I’m going to try to do more of this type of art for a while. :)

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, 1/15 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Today was the first day of this year’s Salt Lake City Farmer’s Market (yay!!!). I celebrated by getting up early, making it out to the market by 8am and getting some tasty, local-grown food. My goal was to create a nice meal for myself as well as photograph it, which I think might end up being a regular weekend thing.

On the menu tonight was lavender crusted rack of lamb. I’ve never cooked with lavender before, mostly because it’s difficult to find. I happened to find a vendor at the market that sold culinary lavender and bought a packet, and used it with some local grass-fed lamb I had just purchased. And, by the way, lavender cooking in a kitchen is one of the most divine smells ever. I’m gonna start finding more recipes to work lavender in to.

Here’s my “recipe” for the lamp … I kinda just whipped it up, so I don’t have precise measurements:

Lavender Crusted Rack of Lamb

Rack of lamb (mine was about 1.3 lbs)
1 tbsp lavender (plus some for garnish)
Olive Oil
Chopped green garlic (they look like green onions, I used about a hand-full)
Salt and Pepper
1 cup red wine (I used shiraz)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Prepare lamb, and in a small bowl add some olive oil, lavender and salt and pepper. Mix, and rub over lamb. Heat oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic, then lamb, and brown the sides quickly. Then, place in oven. I cooked mine for about 15-20 mins, and ended up with a medium to medium-rare cooked meat. When it’s done cooking, set lamb on a cutting board to rest for five or so minutes. Then, with the remaining bits still in the pan, add the wine and deglaze until it’s to a thicker sauce-like consistency. Cut lamb, drizzle sauce over, garnish with lavender and enjoy. :)

Canon 7D, Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, 1/250 sec (left) and 1/350 (right) at f/2.8, ISO 200

Last night I had dinner with some friends at their house and brought over some salmon and cedar planks I’d been wanting to use. I don’t grill too often (mostly because I don’t own a grill) and really wanted to both eat food cooked on cedar and photograph it, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I brought all the fixins (minus the home-made Teriyaki sauce that Renee cooked up) and they helped out with the grill. I brought my Canon 7D w/ 50 f/1.4 along to get a few photos … I wasn’t expecting to get too much but I really like the images I made. Plus, they’re photographers, too, so they totally understood my need to photograph the food. :)

To make the salmon I soaked the cedar planks in water for about 20-30 mins and then marinated the salmon for about 20 mins in homemade Teriyaki sauce (soy sauce, garlic and ginger cooked for a bit … not sure exactly how she cooked it but it was good!). The grill was pre-heated to about 350-400° F, then we added the cedar planks and let them heat up for a few minutes. When they were ready we flipped the planks over, placed salmon on them (along with some asparagus seasoned w/ olive oil and salt/pepper) and I layered orange slices over the top of the salmon. It all cooked for approximately 20 minutes, then we took it off the grill and ate it up. It was really, really good … the smokiness flavor from the cedar really came through, especially in the asparagus … and I smelled like a campfire the rest of the evening (which is awesome!).

Here is a behind-the-scenes pic of me, along with a photo of the smoking asparagus:

Canon 7D, Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, 1/100 sec at f/2.8, ISO 200

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200 f/4L IS lens, 1/250 sec at f/7.1, ISO 100

I was up pretty late last night working on the last bits of my new book, and this is one of the images I created. The setup and Photoshop editing is similar to the “steaming shrimp” photo from this blog post (steam added with a hand-steamer & two images merged together using masking), so take a look at that post for more info on how I created this image.

Here’s a BTS image and list of equipment so you can see my setup:

• Canon Speedlite 430EX
• Lastolite TriGrip Diffuser
• Black foam board for background
• White foam board underneath and also to the left for fill light
• Small reflector for fill light
• Manfrotto Magic Arm to hold fork (w/ Gaffer tape)

This is one my my “in-progress” pottery projects

The other night I was up pretty late, drinking wine and watching some random Korean soap opera on TV (yeah, I know … welcome to my world). From what I could gather in the fifteen minutes I had seen of it was that, minus the inevitable love triangle and torn emotional trauma that typically surrounds a Korean drama, the show was about a group of chefs trying to create their “masterpiece” dish. One young chef had come up with an amazingly beautiful, tasty dish, but he looked so sad. Something was missing, he said. He just wasn’t excited about it.

When he said that (or rather, I read it from the subtitles since my Korean isn’t what it used to be) it really struck a chord. That feeling, as simple as it may seem, is what drives us. It gives us a reason to enjoy life, to wake up each day and look forward to the next. It gives us purpose, momentum and fuels our energy to grow.

For the past several months I’ve been taking pottery classes. My goal with this endeavor is to use my hands, get away from the “digital world” for a few hours and maybe even make something I can use with my photography. I’m still not very good, but at least I can keep the clay on the wheel and form it into something that I’m usually pretty happy with. It’s all very experimental, since I never really know exactly what I’m going to create when I sit down and start working. Recently I’ve started adding decorations, making more refined work, and loving every minute of it. I’m feeling that excitement build, wondering what I’m going to create next. I kinda feel like a kid again.

Today I’m heading out to the store to grab a bunch of goodies for some food I plan on photographing (and eating) later in the day. When I pre-visulaize an image of the next dish I’m going to create and photograph, it’s usually all I can think about. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to go through the entire process of cooking, styling, lighting, plating … and then finally making my way to creating that final image is like icing on the cake.

So here’s my question to you: when was the last time you were excited about something? Was it your photography? An ingredient you couldn’t wait to cook? A vacation you’d been planning for months, or even years? When was the last time you felt that inner burst of happiness, brought on by one specific thing?

That feeling of excitement, longing, craving—whatever you call it—it’s what drives us. Whether it’s with your photography, cooking, hobbies, family … if you’re feeling it and it puts a smile on your face then you’re truly living. I’ve had my days of loneliness, that feeling of something missing in my life, but I always have something driving me each day. Maybe it was a book or big project I was working on, or maybe it was as simple as one photograph I wanted to create. I find that one small thing I’m excited about can pick up momentum for other things, building this whirlwind of energy that fuels my life and my desire to create, teach, share … to learn and to grow.

We all have so many reasons to wake up each day and enjoy each breath, and I say it’s better to smile, find something (or someone) you love and live each day to its fullest. Find what drives you and enjoy the ride. :)

I oftentimes will see photographers say (with their nose slightly upturned?) “I NEVER use actions with my photographs!”. This always kinda makes me chuckle. I think I understand some of what they’re saying, I really do. Yet I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using actions, or with not using actions … and maybe it would be helpful to have an honest conversation with one of these photographers to pick their brain on the topic.

You see, my guess is that when they say they never use actions they mean they never us other people’s actions. You know, the ones you can buy and install into Photoshop, press a button and “voilà!” their photo is magically transformed into Photoshop “awesomeness”. But … could they also mean that they don’t use actions at all? Do they never open up the actions panel out of some inner principle that they shouldn’t automate anything in Photoshop?

You see, while I don’t use pre-created (by other people) actions in my work in Photoshop, I do create my own actions all the time (many of them are in screen-shot above of my actions panel). There are a lot of things that, even if I had to do them to a hundred photos, they would be done exactly the same. Since most of what I create are stock photographs then a lot of the edits I do are similar … some things like levels adjustments will always be different, but if I want to whiten teeth, add a dodge burn layer or even sharpen my image then they are all going to be the same steps repeated over and over. So, the way I see it, it would be time-consuming for me to not use any actions with my photographs.

The more you can automate repetitive and mundane tasks in Photoshop, the more time you have to push your brain cells towards being creative. This doesn’t just apply to actions … I use keyboard shortcuts, sync RAW edits in Lightroom and use some of the Photoshop scripts, like merging photos into a panorama. In my opinion it’s best to work smarter, not harder. :)

(For tutorials on creating your own actions in Photoshop, check out my video tutorials section here on my blog.)