Monday, September 21, 2009

capture my chicago | contest

check it out! i've entered contest put on by cbs2chicago for photographers to put their favorite, most representative, chicago photos up for a vote. the winners will be included in a coffee table book for sale.

voting ends october 17, 2009 and you can vote for my photos HERE!

i'll update this post if any of my photos are selected.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

southern soul | the-lovehandle.com

elaine is a fan of the series true blood. she usually watches it after the sunday night ritual while i edit food photos. when asked why i don't watch the show, i say it is because i can't stand there terrible southern accents!

well, season 2 just ended, and elaine commemorated the finale by making some southern food at last: chicken fried steak & gravy, collard greens, and cast-iron-skillet cornbread. this week, i also contributed with a red, white & green salad.

RED, WHITE & GREEN SALAD CORNBREAD
CHICKEN FRIED STEAK COLLARD GREENS

head on over to the lovehandle for recipes and insight!

Monday, September 14, 2009

a + s | surpise engagement

i've been friends with aimee for a few years now. we met through buckhead church in a community group. the first time i met her, she told her story of how she ended up in atlanta and actually cried a little bit. i thought 'whoa, what? why is she crying? she's very in touch with her emotions (and i'm not)... i wonder if we'll be friends outside of this group...'

fast forward, aimee and i have hung out at la fonda on many occassion, ventured around atlanta, gone down to blue angels weekend in pensacola, attended church, prayed together. i'd say we're friends!

we she met scott at the labor day retreat last year, i figured he was special from the first time i heard her talk about him. aimee's never been one for commitment, so when she told me she wanted to marry him, i was honestly shocked. but pleasantly so. aimee is wonderful and deserves someone who complements.

after they met, i started getting into photography and asked casually when they came to visit me in chicago over 4th of july if they would mind posing for some fake engagement photos for my portfolio. they agreed; but we were so busy that weekend, we never got around to it.

on the side, i told scott if he ever wanted to capture his proposal, we could set it up as a fake shoot and he could really propose.

i guess he kept that in mind. he found out i would be at the beach over labor day weekend the same time he & aimee were going (exactly 1 year after they met). we schemed for a few weeks via email and i got aimee to agree to pose and drag scott along (so she thought).

there were so many times i was sure she was onto us! like how i asked her to drive over an hour to this beach closer to me. i was sure she would be annoyed. but she wasn't; a good friend she is! i told her she could use a picture for a christmas card and she said she wanted to use them for engagement photos (i said, 'do you know something i don't know?'). or how i posed them so her eyes were closed, scott looked at me, and i gave him a big thumbs up just as she was opening her eyes.

after all that, she didn't suspect. and after scott got his courage, i stepped back and let him go with it. i'm not sure what he said, but her reaction says it all.

enjoy.

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for all the pictures in a slide show:


on flickr

Thursday, September 10, 2009

the beach trip | 2009

let's start from the beginning. my sisters and i have been planning the beach trip since april this year. we looked at many houses and our budget and finally secured one in may. then we planned how we would all get down to atlanta and then pile in the van to the florida panhandle. we planned games, food, sunscreen, new bathing suits. i had a flight from chicago. all this planning, and i actually forgot to tell my boss i was going.

so i show up at work on wednesday with my suitcase and told the people on my project i was going to take-off for the airport around 3:30pm. they were cool with it, so i just told my boss for good measure. then she came over to my desk and asked "are you going to be working from home the next few days?" and i say, "why, no, i'm headed to the beach! the trip i've been talking about for months?"

yeah, i flat out forgot to tell her. so i say "well i have my ticket and a beach house for the next 5 days, do you mind if i go?" luckily, all was well.

since i'm more of a story-with-pictures type of person, i'll recap the trip a-like-so.

mornings at the beach
grayton beach

days at the beach
happy ethan margaret

afternoons at the towns of 30-A
seaside dining seaside flowers
seaside flowers

evenings at the beach
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we also had a photo shoot one evening with all the sisters, husbands, boyfriends, kids, and aunt dorothy; those pictures to come!

AND, a surprise proposal... stay tuned!
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

asian yummy food | the lovehandle.com

this week, elaine over at the-lovehandle.com decided to use a variety of asian influences for the sunday night ritual.



we started with a grocery store trip up to argyle street, which is informally known as the vietnamese neighborhood. luckily, elaine knew what she was looking for because i might have been somewhat lost. there were a lot of fresh whole fish, fruits, vegetables, and even live crabs. i just documented the journey and let elaine pick everything out.




here are some of the finished products from sunday night. head on over to her blog for a write-up on the menu.

lemongrass chicken and coconut & raisin rice


lychee & rasberry and hasma dessert soup


incidentally, i tried the hasma. it's different.