Hey everyone!

I've always wanted to keep up with this blog when I had made my first post but the craziness of college, graduation, looking for a job and working got in the way. The truth is, those things should have never gotten in the way because I now realize how important it is to write about my photography. What I do, how I do and any problems or achievements I've made along the way. I'm going to take it back a few months because I've actually been pretty busy this year while maintaining my 9-5 gig at a bank. 

In June I was honored to do some product shots for Windy City Espresso run by Carol Soyak. She runs a coffee truck business during those peak months where everyone needs their iced coffee, pumpkin lattes or their hot chocolate; depends on the season! She need me to do some summer drinks for her which I was excited about. I definitely am confident in myself to do product photos but it had been awhile so I had to travel back in time to some of my studio and lighting classes at Ai to grab some fun techniques and ideas! 

Since it was a summer shoot I definitely did not want it to feel like it was a studio shot even though it would be. I found a photo of my own that ended up blurry from the Chicago Botanic Gardens. What was perfect about this is that it was already blurry. I had not taken a second look at this photograph because of this and thought I couldn't use it for anything but kept it anyway. It was perfect! (Blog continues below photo)

I did a number of drinks and did a lot of takes on lighting to get the perfect "sunshine" and used some stained wood left over from our deck that my husband built last year at our house as a surface to get a picnic table look. Now, the fun part was getting that coconut open. Luckily, my husband and Carol's husband got handy and helped us crack that thing open. It wasn't exactly happening so they got out a drill and drilled it until it popped open. So glad we had that coconut as a prop because it looks great next to the drink!!

All in all, this was definitely a refresher for me. And like all my photo shoots, there is always something new to learn! Food photography is definitely no walk in the park and takes a lot of patience and knowledge as well on what will or won't work. I'm excited to do more and I hope I get the chance to! For sure the biggest challenge for me was the stuff that melts! When you've got lights right on real whipped cream and ice cubes it makes for a trying photo shoot haha! I've got to say, once we put that whipped cream on the photo below I did a series of burst shots before the cream fell! I'm so happy though because that may be my favorite one! 

Anyways, thanks everyone who looks at my website and hopefully you all will start reading my blog, I promise I will keep up with it because I'm just excited to share my experiences with everyone!