Never thought this would happen.

Here I have some musings, changes and a random assortment of photos that have nothing to do with this blog entry. Enjoy!

Me in front of the Mattel Toy Store in El Segundo.

After much consideration, confusion and uncertainty, it would appear that I've come to some semblance of a decision. Sort of. Maybe. I don't know quite how to say this, but I'm having a very strained relationship with photography lately. I'm sure it has been obvious based on the lack of real photos in my self-proclaimed "photo blog". I don't know what to say though. I'm feeling a disconnect. I love photography; I am appreciative of my education, knowledge and equipment. I still derive joy from the hobby and I love to document my friends and family. But. But...

This problem would be very easy to solve if I had the key to figuring out what went wrong in the first place. It was a gradual change inside of me. I began picking up the camera less and less. Fewer things were inspiring me. Whenever I did have the camera in my hands I would start to feel aimless. I wasn't approaching subjects with vigor and enthusiasm and would take very few shots. Andrew has been reminding me to bring the camera places, but I've been shrugging and saying no to the suggestion.

Christening my new ramen bowl! Andrew bought it for me :D

The feeling has been uncomfortable, unsettling. Photography is the longest lasting interest/hobby of my life. I went to school for it. I travelled around the world for it. And now I don't want it? Well, I wouldn't say that I don't want it. I do want it. But not in the way that I've always had it. I suppose that would be the key. I need a new approach, a different angle. Fortunately, I have options.

Andrew has a dabbling interest in shooting film. I happen to have experience in that from school, as well as multiple film cameras. I also have a back stash of expired 35mm film, and he likes to buy 120 film for my Holga.

The inside of the birthday card that I made for my nephew.

When he first expressed interest in shooting with the Holga I sighed exasperatedly to myself. That Holga has been the bane of my existence ever since my teacher gave it to me two years ago. He wanted me to branch away from the technical aspect of digital and focus simply on the art and composition aspect of a photo. I was not happy. I liked the technical; I loved everything I had learned and I was not willing to give up control to a plastic lens and spontaneous light leaks. He tried and tried to get me to see the value of letting go and seeing what happens, but I wasn't ready to do it. I think I am now. I think I finally see what he meant.

I know I've mentioned the camera store Samy's before. Andrew and I go there to look at camera equipment and compare prices. They have a large film section with a lot of products, including the items necessary to do an at-home lab. My eyes grew a little when I saw all of the chemicals and supplies. Analog processing and printing (although this place doesn't sell enlargers) was indescribably fulfilling and interesting. It stretched me and frustrated me, but the thrill of a print that I deemed perfect was simply delicious. To add the cherry on top, this place does processing; it would satisfy just about all of our film needs. The last piece of this puzzle would be a film scanner for us to use at home. We're currently keeping our eyes open for one.

The front of the card that I made for my nephew.

He and I have also discussed the option of creating a make-shift lab in the laundry room. It could definitely work. We'd only be able to do black and white, but that's not really a bad thing. I don't imagine we'll be doing that anytime soon, but it's something that we'd both like to have someday.

I've derailed myself a little bit. Allow me to get back to my point.

Andrew and I went out on Sunday and he told me to bring my Holga and my Nikor film camera. I snapped a few photos while we were out and noticed that the familiar feeling was creeping back. The good feeling. The love-of-photography feeling. It was then that I decided a switch to an emphasis on film photography was the right decision. I'm finally in that place where I understand the benefit to letting go of technical aspects and simply finding things to appreciate, regardless of the math/science/knowledge behind the shot. I suddenly want to focus on subject matter, feeling and abstraction. This has never happened before! It's a strange sensation. I feel good about it though. I feel positive about it.

It rained last week! Glorious, beautiful rain.

I don't know yet exactly what this means for my photo blog, but things will definitely continue so no worries there! I'm not going to stop digital photography altogether either. I'm considering doing digital photos one week and analog photos the next, just alternating. This depends on how much film I shoot (a lot I hope!) and of course how soon I can get my hands on a film scanner.

I believe that a large portion of my internal process to want to focus on film stems from a blog titled The Dainty Squid. She switches between digital and film, and posts such a wide variety of fun and interesting photos. I forget how much I love the aesthetic of film. She's wild and free, snapping photos that feel so moving and full to me. I want that. I want it back.

Andrew and I are now proud owners of a baby apple tree!

Her blog is also just generally enjoyable to read. I definitely recommend it! She has a bunch of cats, which is great. She loves mushroom hunting and posts the coolest pictures of all of the mushrooms that she finds in the woods. She also has a super funky and fun wardrobe and really likes to thrift shop. I'd like to go thrifting more often, and so would Andrew, but we only have a Salvation Army near us and it happens to be absurdly expensive. No good.

Perhaps sometime soon we can research better locations near the city and we can have ourselves a fun day trip? I'll run that idea by him and see what he thinks ;) Time to go take some photos!

-MJ

Encounters with nature.

This week you get to hear all about some crafting projects I've been working on, as well as a thrilling adventure I had with a surprise guest in my garden!

Lately, circumstances have been such that I have taken hardly any photographs. I'm still going through a wide variety of adjustments and settling in, and the hobby has simply slipped to the side. I've been trying to go strong on my phone though so that I have at least a slight documentation of my goings-on! Most of my energy lately has been dedicated to blog endeavors and ideas (exciting things in the works!), as well as crafting! I've always enjoyed minor crafting, sewing and the like, but lately I've decided to really kick it into higher gear.

I know I've mentioned Weird Little Monsters, which has been inspiring and fun and is largely responsible for my diving headfirst into more creative projects. I've taken my interest in sewing to a new level by working freehand and confidently to great, successful effect! For instance, Andrew and I are huge Harry Potter fans and wouldn't object to owning some awesome cloaks. So, I decided to make a tiny practice cloak for one of the Monsters.

A button closure and everything!

My next step is continued practice via making cloaks for my niece and nephew! They'll make excellent Christmas gifts. Before too long Andrew and I should be sweeping about the city in our own cloaks, and maybe even one day I'll make actual clothing. So many things to look forward to.

In other exciting sewing news, I decided to make a Koopa shell for my nephew. The little cutie (soon to be four years old!) is a big Mario fan (just like his auntie! haha) and is going to be Mario for Halloween. I immediately thought of how great it would be to make something to go with his costume. I miss him a bunch and want to gift him thoughtful items that will remind him of me. We've bonded over Mario a few times before, so this seemed like a great idea. My first thought was to make a 1-up mushroom, but Andrew suggested a Koopa shell.

It proved to be more complicated than I anticipated (and I wish I had taken in-progress photos!) but ultimately it came together very well and I'm really proud of it.

A video of me showing off all aspects of the shell's construction.
Also, I'm watching Friends in the background :D

The newest addition to my crafting interests rests in working with paper. Unfortunately, everything that I've done so far have been gifts and so I can't post them here! Once the recipients have received the items then I will gladly post the photos for your viewing pleasure! I'm feeling really good about what I've made so I am very anxious to share them with everyone.

And now it is time for the real meat of today's post! Lizard encounters in the garden!!

'Sup, ladies?

It all started innocently enough, like any other day really. I ventured out to the back patio and into the sun, urged by Andrew to take a break from inside things and to tend to my garden. I observed my cucumber plant with a sigh and a frown. What was once a full, lush and bountiful plant had been reduced to shrivels and brown leaves, positively ravished to near death by ferocious aphids. For a few weeks I've been attempting to keep the beasts at bay, but to not avail. The black spots continue to take over.

I haven't seen any new cucumbers since the last harvest that is currently being converted to pickles. It's disappointing, but I'm trying to stay positive at Andrew's reminders that we did yield a fair amount of veggies. I'm not ready to give up on the plant. I was so psyched when it started to grow, I have a sentimental attachment to it now!

A few weeks ago that thin, weak looking cucumber arm

was a flourishing plant that covered every inch of the

square of garden plot. So sad.

Anywho, I set to deadheading the plant, hoping that the one burst of aphid-free leaves left on the plant might thrive. I started to pull weeds and turn the dirt, being ever vigilant for spiders and horrifying centipedes. There are so many more bugs in California than Washington. It is not cool.

I worked my way toward the mystery three foot tall flowers near the corner. Actually, they're no longer a mystery thanks to Andrew's aunt! I sent her photos and she directed me toward a website that revealed they are amaranthus, specifically the "love lies bleeding" kind. Kind of an emo-tastic name for a plant if you ask me, but once they're done blooming they're going to look rather amazing!

The tufty pink thing at the top of the plant is going to get 

super long and drape down toward the ground soon!

At the base of the amaranthus there lives another flower plant. They're kind of like tulips and they're white. Very pretty! They're done blooming for now though. When I started the garden initially it was filled with rocks and broken bits of brick (in addition to the weeds and grass) and I piled all of these stone-type-things near the base of this white flowering plant. Many weeds and grass clumps have thrust up, so I began to pull at them. Suddenly something largeish and hyper fast jumped out and landed on the bricks next to me. I let out a shriek before realizing what it was.

Where I was when I was accosted by the mystery wildlife.

Turns out it was a lizard! And what a cute one as well. Just a tiny, itty-bitty thing.

See?! Tiny!

I called out for Andrew, who came to investigate. We marveled at how small and cute it was before he decided he was going to try and catch it. He chased it around the back patio for a bit, attempting to trap it so we could look at it for longer. The lizard proved to be a formidable opponent and ultimately evaded capture. I followed it around the patio, attempting to keep a safe distance so it wouldn't dart away too quickly for me to be able to follow. Andrew went into the house to get the camera while I continued to inspect the little fellow.

It travelled far and wide to find a new hiding spot.

I had a blast photographing the tiny thing. I really wanted to use the 50mm so I could get some up close, super detailed shots of him, but there was no way I'd be able to get that close to him. I opted for the zoom lens so I could keep a safe distance and began to snap-snap away. He darted around a little bit, and a spider even came into play a bit. I found myself feeling pleasantly annoyed at the spider's presence, as opposed to terrified, because it was interfering with my picture taking opportunity!

At one point the lizard ducked down under a ledge of the garden and I poked him with a blade of grass to get him visible again. After I grabbed myself a few good photos he decided he was done with being famous and took a quick dive down the wall. With that, he was gone. I wasn't yet done taking his photo so I felt a little sad. Andrew suggested I bring the camera out with me whenever I garden because, as I said, there are a lot more wild things out in California!

These are cropped in super tight, which means I can't print them large,

but they reveal all of his beautiful, scaly detailing! 

I'll end this post with a little story from my childhood.

As a young girl of around ten years old I desperately wanted a pet gecko. When I was nine my mom, sister and I went on a vacation to Hawaii where we visited some family. While there I saw many-a wild gecko and found them fascinating and fun. This is where the interest started. I pestered my mom, who took me to the pet store to get acquainted with them in person before committing to the "unusual" pet. The woman working there took a gecko out of the terrarium and I held it, comfortably letting it skitter around and enjoying its presence. We took this as a sign to proceed, and I received a gecko as a gift.

I was excited beyond belief, and the gecko was soon set up and living in my room with me. I was anxious to take it out and hold it, play with it. My ten year old self was certain, ready and determined. The lid of the terrarium was opened.

And then.

I screamed. In the comfort of my own home the gecko terrified me. I tried to touch it, but as it ran wildly around the terrarium I just shrieked more. The lighting fast reptile darted out of its glass home and into the depths of my bedroom. I jumped and danced and continued to wail while my mom exasperatedly and angrily barricaded my bedroom door and we set out on the great gecko hunt of the decade. 

This happened on more than one occasion and I only grew to be more terrified of the innocent little thing. Feeding it crickets once a week became an anxiety ridden, gut-clenching, dread filled day for me.  The gecko, who I named Sam, always made mad breaks for the opened lid. On one such occasion of his great escape my mom had had just about enough of my terror and tears over this creature that I begged and begged her for. We had cornered the lizard; it sat green and quivering, ready to run. My mom yelled at me to pick it up. I hesitated, irrationally terrified, and my mom yelled again for me to pick it up. I reach down and snatched it up by the tail.

Now, I'm sure that anyone reading this entry is perfectly aware of what will happen to a lizard when it is picked up by its tail. You don't know? Well let me tell you: the tail will fall the fuck off.  

As a ten year old with minimal knowledge and interaction with lizards, I did not know this. Upon holding the lizard up in the air, it promptly shed its tail and dropped to the ground, leaving little me to stare in absolute horror at the still moving tail in my hand. My tiny mind snapped, confused and afraid, and I began to scream. Repeatedly. Loudly. Unstopping.

My mother very nearly had to slap me in order to get me to stop shrieking. Sam was returned to his tank, and I learned a very valuable lesson about lizards. Over time his stump of a tail grew back, a constant reminder of that fateful day. After a few months Sam grew ill and passed away to the great lizard beyond, forever scarring my psyche. 

-MJ

My day at Warner Bros., and a dream come true.

Last week I went on a journey with my friend Mikki that took me to places that rest deep inside of my dreams and heart: Friends locations on the Warner Bros. lot. She sent me a message telling me she was going on a Warner Bros. tour and asked if I wanted to join her. It sounded like a lot of fun, and some of my favorite things are from Warner Bros.! Harry Potter and of course Friends. I hopped online and bought my ticket, then headed out the next morning to meet her. I ended up getting turned around a few times trying to get to her house, and that set us back about twenty minutes (whoops!) but we made it to the lot just in time to get into our tour!

Group B! What a group to be in.

Going to the Warner Bros. lot was really interesting. Being in the Hollywood area affords all sorts of new and surreal sights and opportunities. When Andrew's movie Mr. Popper's Penguins came out, we went to the Fox lot to see it in one of their theatres. It was so interesting being among the buildings that serve as sets for so many movies and shows! The same experience was present at Warner Bros. Seeing the water tower was crazy awesome and I sent a picture to my sister right away. For those of you that don't know, Friends means a great deal to my mom, sister and me. It is our favorite show, and the three of us watched new episodes together until the end of the show. 

There's something so bizarre about seeing it in person.

My sister and I both have the series on DVD, and we watch all the time. We use them as background noise for all occasions, and whenever we're together we're constantly quoting the lines to one another. It's our "thing", and I very much wish that she could have been on the tour with Mikki and me! I'm currently conspiring to get my sister down here for a weekend, perhaps we'll go on the tour together...! :D

But I digress! 

Upon entering the gift shop/tour starting area (which was full of incredible merchandise) we were greeted by super tall statues of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I felt so gleeful! The tour started with a ten minute video on the history of Warner Bros. studios, as well as clips from their most famous movies and television shows. After that we were loaded into our little trams and the tour began! Our guide asked us to cheer for our favorite Warner Bros. properties, and I made sure to yell my head off when she said, "Friends". 

I wanted to hug them.

We were carted around the lot and she talked about the history of the studio, including fun stories and tidbits of information. We stopped at multiple locations to unload from our tram so we could be shown in-depth aspects of the sets and buildings. One of the first stops was a "street" of New York that hosted scenes for films such as The Mask, and a bunch of other ones that I can't remember, hehe. We rounded the corner of this "street" to be presented with a location from Friends(!!!) and the fire escape from the infamous Spider-man upside-down kiss scene. 

 Left: from season one, when the Friends sing "In the Jungle" to Marcel 

on the set of "Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattan". Right: me standing

where Monica and Rachel stood while talking about Jean Claude Van Dam.

Our tour continued on to a room full of cars from Warner Bros. movies and TV shows. The Gran Torino was there, as well as the Mystery Machine and a sampling of Batman vehicles. Most exciting to me was the presence of the flying Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets! Mikki and I learned that there were twelve different versions of the Anglia made for the film, each in a different state of destruction. The car present at Warner Bros. was the final stage after being beaten by the Whomping Willow. This was thrilling, of course, but I have to say I was disappointed by the lack of Phoebe's yellow taxi!

 Left: me thrilled beyond absolute belief. Right: Mikki representing Harry Potter pride.

The latter leg of our tour took us to the prop department, which was awe-inspiring; crammed floor to ceiling with every item imaginable. There were famous pieces on display, such as the couch from Carrie's apartment from Sex and the City. It was a lot of fun to wander the halls and take in all of the fun furnishings, especially all of the lighting. There were innumerable amounts of fixtures, it was like the lighting department from Home Depot multiplied by ten. Also a lot of old fashioned pieces such as wardrobes and desks. They were so ornate and fascinating. 

Now, the pièce de résistance of the tour (for me, at least) was the surprise unveiling of the Central Perk set from Friends. I believe that our tour guide kept it as a surprise for my sake, because I heard another tour guide explaining to his group what it was ahead of time after we were done in the set room. I certainly appreciated her not spoiling the surprise ahead of time! 

Central Perk in all of its shining, preserved glory. *cue angelic singing*

The set has been kept meticulously intact in the prop department behind an inconspicuous large black door. This came as a wonderful, fabulous, dream-come-true shock to me. I've watched the behind-the-scenes of the season ten DVD set, and I watched with tears in my eyes as the sets from stage 24 were torn down. My sister and I mourned the loss of the sets we loved, and the loss of opportunity to ever see them in tact and in person.

 The menu board and the espresso machine.

Behind the counter. I could practically see Gunther.

The sign is so iconic and comforting.

I simultaneously wanted to scream, cry and pee my pants when the door opened. I wanted to call Cassidy right then to bring her as close to the experience as possible. I took as many pictures as I could, and shook with delight when the tour guide told us we could sit on the orange couch and have our photos taken with Central Perk as the backdrop. I wanted so badly to wander the whole set and sit at the coffee bar, the tables, the bench seat near the window. SIGH. We were confined to the couch area though, so I simply looked on with longing and took it all in.

 Left: a close up of the window to the right of the doors. Right: the front doors.

The whole tour included a few more stops, including the sound stage for 2 Broke Girls and a museum of Warner Bros. props and costumes, with the entire second floor devoted to Harry Potter items. Mikki, another huge Harry Potter fan, and I made a beeline for the second floor. We had only a scarce twenty minutes to enjoy the two floors, and we spent the majority of it wandering the Harry Potter items. The costumes were so ornate, and there was a giant spider that was positively terrifying. We also had a chance to be sorted, which was thrilling. I can't wait for Pottermore to open next month!

Happy, shocked, disbelieving smile on my face. So glad Mikki invited me!

At the end of the tour we decided to spend a bunch of time exploring the gift shop. There were sections for a bunch of major Warner Bros. productions, as well as general Warner Bros. products. I fawned over the Friends section, hemming and hawing over which item I simply couldn't live without. Mikki spent as much time in the Harry Potter section and came away with a jealousy-inducing amount of items xD I eventually decided on a Central Perk t-shirt for myself, and a FRIENDS emblazoned coffee mug for my dear sister.

 Left: location of Joey's movie premiere. Right: the Central Park mock-up

where Phoebe runs weird and Rachel runs into a horse.

I have to thank Mikki again for inviting me along, and Warner Bros. for the preservation of Central Perk. It was a magical day.

Stage 24, the house of Friends for ten long years.

-MJ

Following a blog, never miss out again!

Hiya everyone. This week's post will be unlike any that I've presented before. I'm taking a one-time (well, most likely it's a one-time) break from my normal posting to give a little tutorial on how to follow a blog! I figured this would be a handy guide for my own readers as well as anyone who happened to be stumbling through the internet trying to find this information. I've had a few people ask me how they can follow my blog posts to make sure they don't miss any updates, and I thought this was the best solution for everyone. Prepare yourselves for an illustrated guide!

There are a few different ways that one can follow a blog on the great wide internet. I'll cover them here and you can decide which is best for you!

First option is simply checking the blog website regularly. This option is OK in certain circumstances. For instance, I have a few websites that I visit with extreme regularity so I never forget to check them. I know which days they update and I've been reading for so long that it is now a habit. I don't suggest this option for most people. It's easy and common to forget to check a page, or forget a website URL, or go on vacation and slip away from the digital world surrounded by nature and a lack of electricity. Perhaps you ran off to Narnia for a bit and you ate some delicious candy and when you came back home you couldn't remember that you'd ever read a blog. Whatever the case may be, there are a lot of scenarios where one will forget to check a blog. Let's move onto some better ways.

Another OK option is to create a Blogger account. From there you can choose to 'follow' any Blogger/blogspot.com blogs. You must simply click the 'Join this site' button present on almost all Blogger hosted blogs, and you will be taken to a confirmation page. From there, all updates from any blogs you choose to follow will appear in your Blogger login homepage. Pretty simple! The only issue here is that not all blogs are hosted on Blogger. There are many different host sites, and a lot of folks do their own hosting as well. If you're interested in following only me, then this option would work wonders for you since my blog is on Blogger! Keep reading for the best option.

After clicking "Join this site" you'll be taken to a confirmation

 page. Be sure to confirm! It's easy, I promise!

What your blogger.com login will looks like once you fill it with

RSS feeds. So many blogs to read!

Best option? RSS readers! In case you're wondering, RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication", which I think is a hilarious name. RSS readers are used to publish frequently updated webpages, such as blogs, directly to you (the reader) through your RSS reader of choice. This may sound a little complicated, but bear with me because I promise it's "Really Simple" hahahaah-ahem. Sorry.

My personal favorite RSS reader is through google! Wonderful, integrated, friendly google. You will need a gmail account in order to use this service, but I don't see why you wouldn't already have a gmail account! Google has so many amazing and great services that if you don't have a gmail account and you make one because of this post then I just opened the door to many amazing internet things! You're welcome.

After taking these screen shots I realized my own google reader

was a jumbled mess, so I organized it. Feels good to be streamlined.

Anyway, more about google reader! Google reader is one of the many off-shoots from the main gmail account. You can access it from your gmail login page, there will be a link along the top menu bar, or you can go to www.google.com/reader. From there, you click on "Add a Subscription" (upper left corner of the page under the "Google reader" logo) and enter the URL of the webpage whose updates you wish to follow. So, click that little button and enter "http://mjphotolife.blogspot.com". Once you've entered the URL of the blog that you wish to follow, click the "Add" button. Your RSS reader will refresh itself, and the newly added blog will appear! Voila!

Once the page refreshes your newest addition will appear at the bottom.

Click on the tiny arrow on the right hand side of the blog name column

and you'll get this handy little pop-up menu.

You can do this for as many websites that you'd like to keep up on. Even if you are away from your computer for an extended amount of time, the blogs and webpages will simply queue up and wait patiently for your return. No more missing out on exciting posts! Another great feature is that you can access your RSS reader from any internet connected computer. It's the same as checking your e-mail! There's no need to remember names of blogs and web addresses, the RSS reader will do it for you. Isn't it wonderful when things run so smoothly?

And finally you could always follow me on Twitter, I update there when a new blog post goes up :]

Just for fun I'm going to throw in a little bit of extra information here.

Did you know that you can access google reader on the go? It's true! Android and iDevices have an application for google reader, making it easy to keep up with your favorite news and blog sites. Just a nice added bonus for those equipped with savvy smartphones.

Lastly, here are a few suggestions I have for you to add to your budding RSS reader family! TheBloggess, you will not regret reading about her adventures. Wil Wheaton, entertaining man and Geek insight. Little Chief Honeybee, an inspirational blogger who makes things happen for herself!

Do you have any suggestions for me? I'd love some more blogs to follow!

-MJ

Guest post: Eating with Andrew

Hello everyone! This week's post is a special guest post for one of Andrew's blogs, Eating with Andrew! Be sure to visit his page as well because I'll be posting additional images there.

Just to make sure we're covering all the bases, let me tell you a little bit about his blog! It is actually one of many that he has in an effort to cover a bunch of his interests. His most popular is Drawing with Andrew, although he hasn't updated it in a little while. I've been attempting to encourage him to continue it, but we've been busy with a lot of other things. In Eating with Andrew, he cooks a large meal for a group of friends and has someone (in this case, me) photograph the cooking process as well as the finished product.  Andrew then gives a rundown of his process and shares the finished photos.

I was quite pleased when he asked me to take photos for him on Labor Day. We invited some friends over and had a fun cooking and hanging out session. Andrew made some delicious burgers and an impressive vegetable spread. It was very attractive and fun to photograph.

Homegrown cucumbers! Courtesy of my garden :)

The afternoon started off with the cutting of the vegetables. He picked a lovely selection of onions, mushrooms, red peppers and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers from my garden. Just to be clear, only the cucumbers were home grown, the rest of them came from the store. It'd be amazing to have a garden like that someday though!

Andrew chopping the cucumbers. 

The cucumbers were divided between the large tray of vegetables to be grilled and a dip that he prepared from a recipe he found online. I don't have a photo of the dip, but it turned out nicely. It was light and thin and tasted very fresh. Since he made it we've used it as vegetable dip, salad dressing and sandwich spread. Very diverse!

The finalized grilled and seasoned vegetables.

The tray of vegetables were set aside to be grilled in a new wire basket that we bought from Crate & Barrel. Andrew was very excited to use it, and it served us well. We consider it a good purchase. Between preparing the vegetables and starting the patties, he mixed up a delicious and fruity concoction for everyone to drink while we socialized. He fancied up an orange to put into the new pitcher (also from Crate & Barrel!) and added all manner of random fruits, juice, soda and alcohol. He's such a good host, and was sure to refill it whenever it ran dry (which was often haha).

Partaking a bit for himself! haha

As the vegetables slow cooked on the grill and the cucumber dip thickened, Andrew began preparing the burgers. He prefers to buy ground beef and shape them himself. I'm used to pre-made patties, but shaping them is nicer because we can cater the sizes and thicknesses to suit our current needs. For his birthday he made sliders, which was great for how many people came over for the party. On nights when it's just the two of us he favors patties that are a bit heartier, and for our cookout and guests he made plump, slightly smaller than average burgers.

The main course cookin' away!

The next step for the decadent spread that he created for everyone was potatoes! Oh how I love potatoes. He made an enormous amount and we have been eating them all week. They held up well over the days and he's been re-grilling them each night so they retain their flavor and consistency. They were particularly wonderful on the day they were made, of course, seared on the oven top and seasoned to a light flavor.

Andrew gettin' fancy with the frying pan.

Once the potatoes were finished there wasn't much to do except for chat, drink and wait for the burgers to be finished. When they were, we had a large and beautiful spread to choose from. Everything was so fresh and vibrant, I really love to photograph produce! The whole endeavor was fun and satisfying, and perhaps the best part was the amazing dinner afterward! I'm really pleased with how the majority of the photos turned out. The design of our kitchen made for the occasional lighting issue, but I think I was able to fix most of the problems in post.

Believe me, it was as tasty as it looks. I'm hungry.

I hope you'll tune in for his next Eating with Andrew post!

-MJ

Would you like to see my creepy face? Keep reading.

It's almost one p.m. and it is eighty-three degrees outside. That's not even as hot as the high for today. No matter what I do I am too warm, even just sitting here! The doors and windows are all open, and any breeze that crawls through the house is stagnant and warm. This is California, apparently.

While I work away on today's blog post and accompanying photos I attempt to distract myself from the heat with tasty snacks and ice cold soda. It's not really working. At least sitting at my computer moving only my hands helps to keep the heat levels down. Thank goodness for the small things.

Neat looking building downtown in Culver City. I like how the

colors turned out! We tried to get the back side of the building

as well but, unless we wanted to step into traffic, there were

too many trees in the way. Oh well.

But enough with this downer talk! I have a jam-packed post for you today! This week saw quite a few photo opportunities, thanks to Andrew, and I have a lot to share. This is one of those marvelous times where I have to leave out photos so the post isn't too image heavy. Isn't it great having good "problems"?

I don't believe I mentioned it here, and if I did then clearly I forgot, but I have a new system for making sure I have fun photography experiences each week. As a way to familiarize myself with the area and the city, in addition to photo taking, once a week I'll be picking up Andrew from work and the two of us will go exploring! We started this grand new tradition last Thursday and it was a lot of fun.

Left: Andrew standing in front of the building used for Flynn's Arcade

in Tron! It's some sort of fancy coffee shop. Right: The pizza place

where we had dinner. Yummy garlic knots! (Click to enlarge)

Our plans are very loosely outlined, and the goal is only to find somewhere to take photos. Last week I was in a serious mood for pizza and I told Andrew so when he got into the car. He didn't know of any good, inexpensive places in the area, and my phone wasn't finding anything either. So we called a friend and were directed toward a really good place in Culver City! The pizza was delicious and inexpensive. Once we ate we were geared up to walk around and take photos of some buildings. It was very dark by the time we started, and we left the tripod in the car, so the pictures are fairly noisy. I was able to take things down a notch in editing, but that's just the way things are.

This is the first shot I took to show him what could be done

with zooming during a long exposure.

We went back to the parking garage to head home when Andrew suggested we grab the tripod and take a few panoramic city shots. They weren't turning out all that well, so we directed the camera toward some brightly lit buildings. It was then that I remembered how ridiculously fun it is to spin and zoom and move the camera during a long exposure. I showed this to Andrew and he was immediately excited. I know I have a fairly limited range when it comes to creative endeavors, so it's absolutely fantastic to work with Andrew and get to glean off of his brain. He went ape and did so many fun things. I really look forward to our adventure for this week!

Pretty sure this is a shot that we took together. One of us

rotated the tripod and the zoom, while the other rotated

the focus ring.

At this point I am totally comfortable with the Canon, so familiarization phase is over. The tripod is new though, and very sophisticated, so it's been nice to use that and learn a new piece of equipment. He bought one that is versatile for video as well as stills. We've only used it for video once, a silly thing of me gleefully riding my bike back and forth, but I imagine more moving pictures will happen soon. Maybe I'll even post them here!

This one is my favorite. Another one where we worked together

to rotate the tripod, zoom and focus. 

Last night we had an incredibly fun and impromptu photo shoot based around painting with light. I don't think Andrew had ever done it before, and I have only ever dabbled. He, of course, had a bunch of wonderful and interesting ideas that I had never thought of before. While I simply waved a flashlight around in the dark, he incorporated movement and a variety of dim light sources to great effect. Some to intensely creepy degrees. It felt good to go off of his creative leads in order to do new things.

He makes for a most pensive and calculating wizard.

However, the star of the night was definitely our wizard photos! While we experimented with lighting up one another and adding in magic type shapes and ideas, he suggested I grab my wand (yes I have a wand). This prompted a whole slew of photos of us posing dramatically with light and stars shooting out of the wand. So. much. fun. He has even more ideas, many that I never would have even dreamed of. I'm really excited!

This is my new favorite picture of myself. Taken by Andrew.

The third fun photo opportunity of this week occurred yesterday. For Labor Day we decided to have a bbq and invite some people over. Andrew asked if we could use it as an Eating with Andrew entry, and I happily obliged. He has one entry up so far, but he'd like to do more showcases of his cooking (complete with photographs). I think it's pretty great for us to team up together because it can be content for both of us, practice for both of us, and dinner afterward! I just love happy endings.

Food photography is interesting considering the fact that most 'food photography' is fake food, or non cooked food that is painted to look cooked. I remember learning that instances where one is shown images of hot corn on the cob with melting butter on it that in reality, the corn is cold and the pat of butter is hot. Weird.

Homegrown cucumbers from my garden! Four monstrous ones!

I have a bunch of new sprouts too. Gardening is super fun.

I knew that my goal in helping Andrew was close ups and bright lighting. The first few shots I took looked plastic-y and had gross harsh shadows. I decided to pull out the big guns, so I grabbed my light stand and one of my silver umbrellas. This helped to disperse the light really nicely. Parts of the kitchen are still dark though (which is where a secondary flash unit would be wonderful) but on the whole I think they turned out well.

Most of the problems that I ran into revolved around poorly planned work space (not enough counter area to move other prep items so I could get a clear shot of him working), and also his hands moving too quickly for the camera to focus on time. For a few instances I asked him to pose, which feels awkward, but it achieved the desired effect.

Here's a preview photo for Andrew's upcoming Eating

with Andrew post! Many more will be included there.

He'll have his entry up soon, and I encourage you to take a look at it! Can't wait to see what we find this week :)

Oh, I wanted to ask how people felt about the coloring in the first image. Is it too purple? Is it an OK amount of purple? Is the photo believable, or is the purple too unrealistic? It's how the picture turned out and I like it, but I am very curious to know the opinions of others! I'd love to hear!

-MJ

Bonus creepy image for those of you that stayed for the whole post!

A schedule tweak

Hello all.

I know things have been a little wonky lately with a bunch of phoned in posts from my phone. I started my scheduled blogging in April and since then I've kept up with it fairly well. This blog (and my others) mean a lot to me, and I spend a lot of time thinking and planning for them. With that said, I have some changes that are coming. Part of that process includes some schedule shifting to suit my needs.

My Photo Life posting is officially being moved from Monday to Tuesday. Tomorrow you can expect a full post that details the adventures Andrew and I had last Thursday night. We ended up doing some super fun camera experiments in Culver City on top of a parking garage. Can't wait to show them to you!

-MJ