Hellooooo March! Was supposed to be in beautiful Vermont this weekend, but with the frigid temps we decided to postpone till the fall. We knew we were taking a risk planning trip in winter, but were hoping for temps at least in the 30s! So back here in Chicago it's a lazy day spent learning my new Leica D-Lux Type 109, lunch and vintage shopping and a headshot with Amanda, a stop by the beach was so cold I needed some hot cocoa when I got home! March is proving to come in like a lion, let's hope it goes out like a lamb!
auto show
Only my second time to the Chicago auto show and I can say it's just not my thing. I was pretty unimpressed by the displays- only Cadillac had something worthy. As for the cars - some great options but too many people to really check them out.
morning bean
Ended up early for a meeting downtown so I walked over to see the "bean." No better time to photograph the bean than the early morning - very few people around. I really do love this sculpture, I think it adds so much to the city, the park and simply love how it reflects the surrounding architecture.
2 of 12 : SP2017
'and you, you scare people because you are whole all by yourself'
And don't you hate it when you cut off an eye ?!
Looking a little mad in this one
Phoebe had to get in on the photoshoot, but sadly she doesn't like to look at the camera. 😕
10 on 10 [ 2.2017 ]
Decided to pick back one of my favorite photo challenges.
Richard Serra @ LACMA
There is just something so elegant about these metal forms. They are so grand in scale, but still feel so personal to experience. Check out Band the next time you're in LA.
1 of 12 : SP2017
A few years back (in the heyday of Flickr groups) I finished a couple of 52 week projects focused on self portraits. I ultimately took on the 365 project after completing those, but no way could I keep those self portraits. How many times can you process a photo of your own face, you know? But looking back on those couple of years documented got me thinking I should pick up a self portrait project again to see how I age. I'm going to do a monthly portrait so as to not overdo the "selfies" and how much do we really change week to week? So this is January... Am I the only one that makes funny faces when taking portraits?
2016 best nine
I'm actually pretty happy with this set. Funny how Lucy almost always ends up a favorite. She is a pretty girl.
oculus
It's no secret that I'm a fan of Santiago Calatrava's architectural style. If I could, I'd visit and photograph every single one of his structures around the world. I finally made it to my second of his beauties during my last trip to New York. The Oculus, "it’s a magnificent boondoggle" Calatrava referred to it. I have to say it is something. I do love the structure, but it does seem oddly placed sitting among giants.
Beer bread @ Hewn
Joined Julie and Ellen, owners of Hewn Bakery and Cesar, co-owner of Sketchbook Brewing, tonight for some beer drinking and bread making! Ellen and Cesar spoke so passionately about their craft and may have actually inspired me to try my hand at bread making .. But on the other hand, Ellen already makes the best bread in town .. Either way, we had a great time learning and Ellen was so entertaining, you can tell how much she really loves what she does! Here are some shots of the evening. Ellen telling us about real yeast "starter" and her simple recipe for bread making. She believes in making bread by hand and every loaf they produce is made fresh daily from this same starter. Mixing the ingredients for beer bread : starter, equal parts water and beer (wet ingredients first then add the starter) then flour - they use all locally sourced stone milled flour for their breads - a combination of white and wheat. Gently mix and let rest for 30 min. (Go drink beer!) After 30 minutes your dough should look something like this - add salt and a splash of water to integrate the salt in several batches to make sure you don't have pockets of salt in your bread. Then let it rest for the next three hours or so turning every 30 minutes or so during that time. Once the dough is ready, divide using as few cuts as possible (you don't want to break down all those beautiful bubbles), shape and score. Now the shaping is much harder than it looks - you want very little rice flour and for the dough to still be slightly sticky so that it will shape properly. Once shaped, gently turn into lightly floured bowls. (for home she recommends dutch oven)
After second rise, turn out of bowl, score and bake. They use very high heat (485º for around 30-40 minutes) For home dutch oven - bake with lid on for about 15 minutes - remove lid and continue to bake