New Website

Check out the new website! It offers a little more class and professionalism than this little ol thang... I had my first wedding with BCR Studios last Saturday at the beautiful Anthenaeum downtown, Columbus - I was a second-shooter with Evan who has done some beautiful work with BCR. We have another one this weekend at a winery that I'm super excited about!

Ben is in full swing of grad school and pretty exhausted at the end of the day, but enjoying it and doing really well. Our little life in Columbus is coming together really well and we feel very blessed. Now we wait for the cold to set it... Oh dear.

09.06.09

Rose Rogers, one of my dearest friends, married 2Lt. Andrew Corbett over Labor Day weekend. The whole weekend was an absolute blast as the wedding party - which consisted of her three sisters, Andrew's sister, and Claire and myself - took care of last minute details. Of which there were few, because Rose has been working so diligently all summer long in preparation for this big day. There were so many unique, handmade things that added such a personal artistic touch to the wedding. Rose made the save-the-dates, the invites, the programs, the aisle runner monogram, name cards, menus, the favors, centerpieces, the bridesmaid's jewelry and clutches, her own jewelry and hair piece, and even be-dazzled her shoes. Check out her Etsy site which offers some of these great accessories [ roserogers.etsy.com ]

The ceremony and reception was held at the historic Union Station in downtown Nashville, TN. The ceremony was beautiful with friends of the couple singing, playing the piano, and reading scripture. A quick "lemonade hour" was enjoyed by the guests out on the patio, despite the tornado warning (ironic right...?!) while the staff of Union Station transformed the ceremony site into the most elegant reception site I've ever seen. (Unfortunately, I was too busy having the time of my life to get many shots of the reception decor). We danced the night away to the tunes of Radio Daze - the same Nashville-based band that made my own reception so much fun.

Rose was a great bride- so stunning and she seemed to enjoy every minute of the day. Claire and I have never had so much fun. There wasn't one dull moment the whole weekend and we were so sad to leave. Thanks, Rose, for letting us be part of your big day - everything was perfect!

Rose added this fabulous touch to the front of the dress -

Bride's Shoes - she added the pearls to the tips

BM's Shoes- HELLO! Right?!

Union Station was an old Train Station - one of the main stops in the South.

And look! The main stops just happen to be the cities the three of us came from! Meant to be.

Some of the BM's clutches -made by the Bride herself.

The Bridal Suite overlooked the ceremony site, so needless to say, there was peeking all day.

Check that hair piece. And the earrings. And the birdcage vail, and the ring. Mad talent.

The color in the next few are much more striking pre-blogger...

Love this cake shot -

The sweet married couples - all within eighteen months. This was the first of the three weddings that all the boys were able to grace us with their presence!

Love you Rose and Andrew - wish you the most happiness in the years to come!

From Scratch

Ben's first day in the MFA program at Ohio State was on Wednesday and I wanted to celebrate with a special, tasty supper. I dug out this fabulous pasta cookbook - appropriately titled,"Pasta" - that was given to me last Christmas by my old room mate, Tiffany. Everything in it looks positively delicious and wholesome, but there's very few items that my husband would venture to try; things stuffed with mushrooms and lobster or topped with asparagus and goat cheese. Understanding the amount of risk involved, I skipped the first few sections that are more for beginners and dove into the "filled pasta" section. I decided on a chicken tortellini recipe which included made-from-scratch pasta!

We have a fabulous spot just three miles down the road called the North Market that's full of fantastic vendors of wine, meat, fresh bread, fresh veggies, fresh flowers, fresh chocolate treats... oh man. This was my first stop and I couldn't help but feel like those cooks on TV that are filmed as they venture from one shop to another, narrating their fine choices of meat and herbs.

The entire kitchen had exploded within a matter of twenty minutes with my new food processor (a wedding gift from my grandpa that I'm obsessed with), cutting boards, knives, my favorite pyrex bowls, measuring cups and equal amounts of flour covering the counter and myself. With Ella Fitzgerald as my soundtrack, I mixed, kneaded, pureed, stuffed, boiled and baked my way through the yummiest dinner we've shared as a married couple. The pasta was accompanied by another recipe's cream and parsley based sauce and I whipped up a tasty bruschetta topping with some tips from our friend Shannon in TN, with broiled grape tomatoes and baked french bread. Ben's Mom was so sweet to drop some cookies off that night (a tradition she's had since his first day of school as a wee little one), so the three of us enjoyed what could have been a disaster, but turned out to be scrumptious. (I had the local pizza restaurant's phone number close by, just in case).

Polaroid Emulsion Prints- my newest pastime...

I've dappled in the Polaroid Transfer process and wanted to try something a bit different today. I was pleased with the results and had quite a good time experimenting. Try it out!

What you need:

1.Polaroid Print from either Polaroid 669 or any other peel apart Polaroid. (I'm using prints from my day-lab which develops slide film onto the Polaroid 669 film).

2. Boiling water. I find our electric kettle to be the best qualified.

3. Bowl for hot water

4. Fine-bristled paint brush

5. Pan for cool water.

6. Water color paper - anywhere between 100-160 lbs press.

Pour the boiling water into your bowl and agitate the photo with a paintbrush for approximately 30-45 seconds.

Take the photo out of the hot water and place it into the cool water when you see the film beginning to come loose from the backing like on the right side of the photo below.

Using your paintbrush, gently scrape the emulsion from the white backing. I found that short, quick motion underneath the film worked best. While you want to be gentle, it is surprising the amount of force with which you can scrape.

Alternate the direction from which you remove the film as to keep the image right side up.

This is what you should see once it comes loose from the backing.

There will be a thick, gel-like substance that comes off the backing along with the emulsion. It should separate itself from the image, but double check it, and pull it away if necessary.

You are now ready to place the image on your water color paper. The more paper you can fit into the pan, the easier I found the transfer. Using your paintbrush, guide the image onto the paper.

You can spend a generous amount of time on the next step, or you can be done once the image is taken out of the water and onto the paper. I like to use the paintbrush to straighten out the image just a bit. It won't be perfect, and it's not supposed to be. The final Polaroid Emulsion print should take on a fluid appearance.

If you're doing multiple prints, it is necessary to replace both the boiling water and the cool water for best results. Lay aside to dry, and you're finished!

B & H Photo is the best site I've found to order these Polaroid films:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/