a beautiful weekend for a wedding...

This weekend I will be attending the wedding of a longtime friend, who is also an artist and a teacher. I saw this wedding video posted earlier today on once wed, and couldn't resist posting it as well.  With keen camera work and a sweet edit; it captures what looked like a perfect day for a perfect couple.  


Max, Margaux, & The Marvelows from Shark Pig on Vimeo.

Whatever your plans are this weekend... 
I hope you make it a good one ♥

so i prop styled my first cookbook...

Like I said in my first blog post, now almost 2 months ago, my worlds are forever overlapping.  This past week the first cookbook I have ever prop styled for was released, The Divvies Bakery Cookbook.  Back in October of 2009 I was asked to work on a cookbook, while I was still in graduate school.  Now this wasn't just any cookbook, and this wasn't just any random job that just fell into my lap.  Let me see if I can explain.  


Lori Sandler, (the author), and her family, are owners of Divvies Bakery. Lori, and her son Benjamin, (who has food allergies), were past guests on the Martha show.  The bakery specializes in foods made without peanuts, tree nuts, milk, or eggs.  Lori, and her producer Lenore from the Martha Show, stayed in touch after the shoot.  As it turned out, Lenore has a daughter who also shares similar food allergies as Benjamin, and they became a huge fans of the Divvies products and vision.  When Lori was looking for a photographer in the area to shoot her book, Lenore recommended my husband Tom, who is a professional photographer.  So the chain began.  Lori and Tom asked me to do the prop and set styling for the book.  When Lori and Benjamin were on the Martha show, I was actually their tv prop stylist then as well!  Since the shoot was close to home, we worked the schedule around my class schedule and it became do-able.    The food styling was done by another friend and colleague of ours, Justine Poldino.  She worked with Lori to perfect her vision in the kitchen on each one the recipes; making them picture perfect for the camera.  Together as a team, we were able to create some pretty beautiful images.  Next time you are browsing through the bookstore, stop by the cooking section and take a look!  The book is also available for purchase online.

Some prop options for fudge and lemon squares as presented to my client...

What some of the final shot looks like!

Recipes: Lemon Squares (p. 34) & Oh Fudge! (p. 39) 

Some behind the scenes photos I found on my i-phone below!

set mascot, every set needs one ♥

crumpled paper

neuberger museum of art elevator!

I took my class to the Neuberger Museum of Art the other day for a tour of the permanent collection given by one of their wonderful docents.  After, they were on their own to walk through the special exhibit titled Living with Art: Collecting Contemporary In Metro New York.  This exhibit is pretty cool because it is all works of art that are owned by people in the area where we live.  By giving us a glimpse of their personal collections, we almost become voyeurs as we look at what is usually displayed and viewed within the privacy of their own homes.

When we got back to the classroom, one of the students noted of a very contemporary piece, "we don't understand why crumpled paper is art".  This sparked a long, but good conversation with the students about "what and why art is art".  The art in question, was indeed a crumpled up piece of legal paper, inside a plexiglas box, on a white piece of wood.  I mentioned to my students that often times when I see work by an artist that I like, or creates curiosity, or causes me to question, or even arouses dislike, I often write the artist's name down, and later research the artist for more information.  Of course a photograph of the art would be helpful as well, but many museums, including the Neu, do not allow photo taking.  

Artist/Work I googled:
Martin Creed - British artist born 1968
Work of art on view art on view at the Neu - 
Work No. 652: A Sheet of paper crumpled into a ball, 2007

The MOMA has one that is very similar...That is where I got the image below.

work no. 301: a sheet of paper crumpled into a ball

For more information on Martin Creed, check out his website....He's a pretty cool guy, with lots going on.  Crumpled paper is just the start :)

hello rain

It has been very hot, humid, and dry here in NY; so a little rain over the past 2 days has been welcomed by most.  The students in class today took advantage of the rain for a new and different shooting opportunity.  They inspired me to get out my new digital camera when I got home and take some shots in the rain as well.

Tom planted this bamboo 2 years ago...it has taken over & in another year I will be able to cut stalks for bamboo brush painting lessons!

sculpture around me

vintage instant - black & white

As some of you know by now, I am teaching some summer photography classes at SUNY Purchase.  Purchase is a liberal arts college, but they also have a highly regarded arts program.  Every day when I drive and walk on the campus I pass numerous sculptures the campus has adorning its grounds.  In class, I am teaching the students about film SLRs, darkroom techniques, and digital photography.  I do move around the campus a lot and I leave my equipment in the classrooms, so I do not always have my "good" camera with me.  Fortunately however, I always have my 
i-phone; so I started taking photos of the sculptures at different times of the day.  Dan turned me on to the Lo-Mob app not too long ago.  I played around with each image to create a new look that I felt best represented the sculpture and the mood at the moment I captured it.

instant -x wide

photocard three

ho-mob reloaded

instant wide 017A

6x9 instant emulsion

news emulsion (one of my favorite filters)

andy goldsworthy sculpture taken around 5:00 pm - no lo mob effect used

happy birthday america

I have been talking a lot to the kids about different points of view and interesting shooting angles in the summer photography class I am currently teaching.  I tried to take some of my own advise this past July 4th weekend when I was documenting our trip into Manhattan to see the Macy's fireworks spectacular over the Hudson River.  My bestie Dan is still freelancing for Martha Stewart Living and they invited the staff, with their family and friends, to come to the office rooftop for prime viewing.  We gathered our picnic goods and packed our bags and set out on another big city adventure.  It was worth every minute!

"worms eye view" of our flag

sunset over the Hudson River

italian combo and accompaniments prepared by Dan

farmer's market crudite

"birds eye view" of the fireworks

my wheeling cart on the train ride home with some new reading material!

the country mice go to brooklyn

So I am a bit of a country mouse, but we have a lot of big city adventures living only an hour outside of Manhattan.  Saturday night we decided to meet up with one of my long time friends Molly (who I used to work with on the Martha Stewart Show) and her husband Tim, who live in Brooklyn.  I can count the number of times I have been to Brooklyn on one hand...and being a country mouse, I do get a little intimidated driving into the 5 boroughs.  But alas...we had been trying to get in to Brooklyn to see their place and catch up for quite some time, and tonight was the night!  Now...the really cool part comes in when Molly tells me that in Brooklyn, there are cute pubs that do not serve food, yet they have local restaurants that deliver OR you can bring in your own food.  So, we decided to go picnic style.  Tim works at a fabulous gourmet store that specializes in fine cheeses called Bklyn Larder, so he brought us a delicious spread.  I made a chocolate zucchini cake that is an old recipe from the grandmother of another friend who we used to work with on the show.  We got a prime table in the garden at Franklin Park and enjoyed a great visit with our friends, and not to mention, some tasty eats!

molly says all art teachers need a pet rock...this is the one she gave me as a graduation present.  he came with some new friends too :)

farmers market

The best art teacher I know, also happens to be my father.  In addition, he has an amazing organic garden which I am fortunate enough to share in the plentiful fruits and vegetables he harvests all summer long.  Sometimes however, I need to supplement the "weekly specials" from dad's garden and visit the local farmers markets.  This weekend, being 4th of July weekend, we have plans both nights and need a lot of fresh produce; so Tom and I went over to the Gossett Brothers Nursery's farmer market and filled my bag with goodness!

my dad's garden in full production - summer 2009 

free garlic scapes with my purchases!

my market bag safe at home :)