More sessions!

October has been a busy month for me. Last Sunday I had two sessions--a family session with my friend Lisa and her gorgeous family, and one with a group of four teenagers who are close friends. Both were at the same place; both were pretty different! These sessions teach me so much, which is why I do them (that, and I love to do it). I am still learning so much about light and colour and focus. Someday I'll manage to properly expose every single picture, instead of underexposing most of them. ;) And I learn things like a jillion orangey brown leaves will make a colour cast that is very difficult to work with. In any event, I am grateful for the opportunity to keep on learning.

Next up: Christmas card picture with the kidlet. I need to think of a monumental bribe and some props. Anyone have an antique sofa with scarlet upholstery? No? Didn't think so...

Here are a few pics from the weekend. They're kind of jumbled about but I'm sure you can figure out which one belongs to which session. There was a whole lot of beautiful in those two sessions. I'm spoiled in that I am constantly photographing extremely photogenic people!

News:

I bought a few photography-related purchases that I'm excited about. One--a laptop! My old laptop was on its last legs, so I have a brand spankin' new HP laptop that has a nice big screen and is a zillion times faster than my 5-year-old Dell. I also bought a 5-in-1 reflector, and tonight I'm picking up a flash someone offered me. Next on my list: softbox lights and the full version of Photoshop. In the distant future!

I had a great session last Friday despite the terrible weather here (nasty wind and rain). Two lovely ladies contacted me for a boudoir session, and we all had a blast. The low lighting meant it was tricky (and the later shots of them were difficult for me since my shutter speed was about 15--they weren't sharp at all as a result) but all of us were pleased with the results.

A few days before that, I had a session with a good friend of mine and her husband and adorable toddler. We got some great shots despite the cold. I did learn that the lighting in the local trails is very orange this time of year! They're a beautiful family.

Finally, I failed to mention a few weeks ago that my kidlet is now THREE! So far, three is spectacular. He is so hilarious and bright and fun. Above is a shot I got of him the night before he turned three. Happy (belated) birthday, Sir Charles!

On Friday I took my 17-year-old niece, Lindsay, out to do some graduation pictures. I've never done grad pics before, so I considered it excellent practice. Well, I got spoiled. Not only is Lindsay gorgeous, but she is, hands-down, the most photogenic person I know. We got a lot of great shots. Definitely my best session to date. And I love photographing grads! They listen a whole lot better than three-year-olds. ;) Here are a few of my favourites from her session. Isn't she a stunner? I can't believe she's graduating. Way to go, Lindsay!

Garlicky Tomato and Sausage Soup

I found this recipe in a Chatelaine magazine and adapted it slightly to fit my own tastes. As a lover of hot, healthy fall foods, I just HAD to try this, and boy, am I ever glad I did! It's simple to make and it's delicious. Here goes:

You need 7-8 ripe tomatoes. I cannot overemphasize RIPE. I've made this soup twice, and the first time it was with deliciously deep red tomatoes, and it had a richer taste. Now's a good time to use up those slightly overripe tomatoes just waiting to be rescued from the frost.

You also need an entire head of garlic and a large sweet onion. Take off the papery outer skin of the head of garlic, but make sure it all stays intact. Slice the end off and it's ready to roast.



Chop up the onion into reasonably large chunks, and quarter each tomato. Now here's where the sausage comes in: the recipe calls for two hot Italian sausages, but because I am incapable of following a recipe perfectly, and because my stomach cannot handle the forty zillion grams of fat in ONE sausage, I tried two different kinds: extra lean Italian turkey sausage, and lean turkey breakfast sausage. The former was better. I also, uh, put in all five. Don't judge me. Slice those bad boys lengthwise, then again in half. Put everything--the head of garlic, the onions, the tomatoes, and the sausages on two greased baking sheets and drizzle with...

...extra virgin olive oil. The recipe called for 1/4 cup. I used about 1/8 of a cup because I can pick out the taste of olive oil in anything. It seemed to work fine. Drizzle the olive oil over the veggies and sausages, then sprinkle with Italian seasoning. It'll look like this:


Then you roast it all in a 425 oven until the veggies are slightly charred. NOTE: the oil will burn a bit at this temperature, and will leave your house a bit smoky if you're like me and didn't learn from your mistakes the first time. Next time I plan to try roasting it in a slower oven. In any event, it didn't alter the taste. Look at this roasted perfection:


Put the sausages aside onto a cutting board. Scoop all of the veggies into a food processor. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skins into the processor as well. Add about 1/4 cup of chicken/veggie/whatever broth onto the pans and scrape the yummy browned stuff off. Pour this into the food processor, too.


You're pretty much done. Pulse the veggies to your desired consistency. Put them in a pot. Chop up the sausages and throw them in, too. Add enough stock* to make it a bit thinner if you like. Heat and serve.


*I used canned chicken broth the first time, and homemade turkey stock the second time. The first time was more flavourful, simply because my turkey stock was not made with love and boiled down to the usual stock perfection I achieve. Why, you ask? Because I cooked the darn turkey back in the spring, and made a huge mistake. I brined it with rosemary and stock and apple juice and salt. I lovingly prepare stuffing. I roasted that bad boy in the oven. We ate scrumptious turkey for supper. Dave carved it up. I had some in the evening before bed.

AND THEN WE LEFT THE PLATE OF TURKEY OUT ALL THE LIVE LONG NIGHT.

I cried the next morning. I cannot express how much I love leftover turkey. Stupidly, we did refrigerate the carcass, so I half-heartedly made stock out of it and didn't reduce it enough, so it wasn't exceptionally flavourful.

Aaaanyway. There you have it--garlicky, tomato-y, yummy, sausagey soup. Enjoy!

Kids rule.

I've been working lately (for the returning office for our provincial election) and now that it's over, I'm back into doing a little photography here and there. When my friend Patti asked me to do 1-year portraits of her absolutely gorgeous little one, I said YES! And I also got a chance to take some pictures of her older daughter, who beautifully and willingly posed for me (even letting me wrap a scarf around her head, as you can see).

I have really been struggling lately. I know I haven't been in this long (less than six months) but already I feel the limits of my sub-par equipment. I want a better camera with better lenses. I need a new computer and better editing programs. However, that costs money, and I didn't make quite enough for all of that. ;) In the meantime, I get to practice and it's such a joy when it's for kids as gorgeous and wonderful as Patti's.