Busy Weekend

Speed Racer and I had a very busy weekend.  Although there was some down time (like when I took a nap because, let's just face it, there was no way I could stay awake anymore) in between everything going on.  Mostly we worked on our house and yard.  What most people don't realize is that with both of us being primarily freelance, our weekends often get taken up with work, so when we have a free weekend, we have to catch up on maintenance and improvements on the house. 

To catch up on all the updates, improvements, and messes we've made (and haven't posted about since November, eek!) click here.

I was also in a baking mood...and when I get in a baking mood there is no stopping me.  On Thursday night I baked a cherry pie, on Friday I made homemade spaghetti sauce (a recipe I'm going to share with you, hooray for you!), and then Saturday morning I baked two blueberry pies (with made from scratch crust of course) before we started the days work.

Now some of you may think "Wow, that's great that you baked all that stuff, you must be really motivated!" But for those of you who know me, baking is always therapy in some way...a way to stay busy.  Right now I find myself in an interesting employment situation, I am part time employed by another photographer, Rebecca Claire Photography.  I am also trying do some of my own photography on the side, and due to the summer turning out differently than planned and the financial status of just about everything right now, I am also looking for a part time job for some extra cash in my pocket.  Although I would not say I have a lot of down time, between photo shoots, editing, marketing, and filling out applications.  I have had some at home time however,  to realize how big a job budgeting, looking for deals, and cooking from scratch can be.  I am both busy all the time and not employed all the time.  It's a weird situation to be in, and can be discouraging sometimes.  So I guess what I'm trying to say is, my hat's off to you home makers out there!  It's a full time job and I don't even have little munchkins to distract me.  And it's an important job, and a harder job than you think.

On a lighter note:  Here is my recipe for home made spaghetti sauce!  I like to take snippets from other recipes until I can combine something that I like.  This is what I came up with.

What you'll need: 6 med tomatoes peeled and chopped, 2 green onions minced, 1/2 white onion, minced, 3 Tbsp minced parsley (I used dried), 2 tsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp. sugar,  or 1/2 tbsp. dried basil, 1/8 tsp. pepper, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 bay leaf, 1 (4 oz.) mushrooms, 1/4c. flour and of course Spaghetti!

First you will want to peel and chop the tomatoes.  If you haven't done this before, it's a lot easier than it sounds.  Prepare a bowl with ice water and ice cubes in it.  Then boil another pot of water.  While your water is starting to boil core your tomatoes and on the underside score them with an "X".  This just provides an easy place to start to peel the skin.  Once your water is boiling, add your tomatoes.  Leave them in the boiling water for about 20 secs, then move them into the ice water for another 20 secs, repeat one more time with each.  After they have cooled in the ice water you should see the skin start to crinkle, at that point it's very easy to just peel off.

Chop your garlic, green onions, white onion, and tomatoes.  I sauteed the onions and garlic first in some olive oil in a medium sized sauce pan.  Then I turned the heat off, added the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients except for the flour, mushrooms, and spaghetti.

I let this sit, unheated for about 2 hours to let the flavors mix.  Then about an hour and a half before I wanted to serve, I cut it on high until it began to bubble, then turned it down to low to simmer uncovered for the rest of the time.

I had some trouble with mine thickening up, so I sprinkled in some flour.  You may want to sprinkle some, mix, wait a little while and then add some more until you get yours to your desired thickness.  This is definitely a personal thing.  Some people like theirs runny, some people like their sauce thick.  About a half hour before dinner time, I added the mushrooms and of course got started on the spaghetti noodles.

Then, presto!  You've got yourself some spaghetti with fresh spaghetti sauce.  This made just enough for Speed Racer and I so you may want to double the recipe if you've got a bigger family.  It turned out pretty fabulous if I do say so myself, but the real cause for that was the fantastic tomatoes that our neighbors provided us with.  They were soooo tangy!  So make sure you choose your tomatoes wisely, my friends.

Now I'm off for another week of photos, editing, applications, house work, house maintenance, cooking, and who knows what else.  Happy Monday.

Camera Basics: Depth of Field

On our last camera basics post we talked about camera settings and Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual.  We lightly touched on what aperture is and depth of field, as well as shutter speed.  Today we're going to talk about how aperture affects your depth of field and how depth of field affects your pictures. Depth of field is literally, the "field" in your photograph that is sharp or in focus.  Your aperture is what determines your depth of field.  Smaller aperture number 2.8 means the larger the opening in the camera is (I know it's confusing it's backwards!), the higher the number like 22 the smaller the hole and the more that is going to be in focus.  Let's use some pictures to illustrate, that always helps me figure it out a little better, and after all this is a photography site!

For example if your aperture is set at 2.8 (wide open) you are going to have a shorter depth of field, meaning the things closer to you will be in focus and the background is going to be soft and out of focus.  Here is a prime example of that.  The red circle highlights the area that is in focus while the background is out of focus.

Here is another example.  In this photograph my aperture is set at 5.0, shifting the depth of field more towards the middle.  Now I am highlighting the corner of the lantern (yes it's a funky lantern, oh the things we use for examples).  This allows the closest part of the object to go out of focus, while also keeping the background out of focus.

Again, as we continue up the aperture numbers, this is at about an 8.0.

And all the way up.  Now, even though aperture controls your depth of field, the point on which you decide to focus on is obviously also going to change what is in focus and what is out.  For example if I were to zoom out in this photograph but keep my aperture at 12-22, then everything would be in focus, not just the back ground.  But I am choosing to focus on the background.  But I am also able to do that because of my aperture being set at the higher setting.  Confused yet?

Sometimes it helps if you take your camera lens off of automatic focus, set it to manual and then set your aperture.  See when you move the focus what is in focus and what can't be in focus at that setting.  That will give you a little better idea of what I mean.

Most of the time I prefer a short depth of field, meaning I keep my camera at 2.8 a lot.  I think it just adds an intimate feeling to the photographs.  But even in this picture I should have paid attention a little bit more and got his little antennae in focus as well.  Focus and depth of field help you tell the viewer what is important to you.

Like pretty flowers...

And tomatoes...

Here is another example of changing the depth of field within the letters on the truck...

A little bit farther out on the focus...

More over all in focus.

Although I prefer the shorter depth of field, there are times when having everything in focus is nice.   Like for large sweeping landscapes, or group shots, or big honkin' trucks.  If you take a landscape picture for example at a shorter depth of field (but you want it all in focus) it may look all in focus at the time, but then you'll get it home, put it in photoshop and go, "why is that mountain back there fuzzy?" Same with group shots, it will look wonderful but then you'll exclaim when poor ol' Uncle Bob is all fuzzy.

The only last thing to remember is that as you're changing your aperture, remember that you have to adjust your other elements like shutter and ISO to compensate for your lighting.  So, if you're in Aperture Priority (AV) your shutter will adjust for you.  But remember to change your ISO if you're going from inside to out, or sun to shade.  If you're in Manual, remember to keep your eye on that light meter in your viewfinder and change your shutter speed when you adjust your aperture.  Now go out there and have some fun with depth of field!!

Dish-o-the-week: Butternut Squash Baked with Tomatoes and Cheese

Last week Speed Racer had a hankerin' for a dish his Step-Mom use to make, Butternut Squash Baked with Tomatoes and Cheese.  She delightfully shared the recipe with me and it is this weeks, dish-o-the-week! 

That's right you heard me!  My first non-Pioneer Woman dish-o-the-week!  Ha!  I'm not an addict.  I'm not sure what cookbook this recipe is from, but pretty much the name explains the recipe.  You chop up butternut squash, saute it, saute some onions, add pepper and salt, put it in a casserole and add tomatoes and cheese.  Then pop it in the oven and wait for the delicious to seep in.

So first thing's first.  You peel and cut up the butternut squash.  Admittedly I've never cooked anything with butternut squash before, so this was a new experience.  A frustrating new experience.  I don't know if it was my peeler or me, but peeling with a potato peeler did not work.  So, after some help from Speed Racer when my frustrated sighs brought him into the kitchen, I switched to a knife.  Then you have to clean out the seeds...which is kinda like cleaning out a pumpkin.

It's pretty amazing I didn't cut off my finger.  I was frustrated, it was not working, and I started on this too late so I was really really hungry.  Not a good combo.

Speed Racer was enjoying taking frustrated pictures of me.  He only enjoyed the picture taking though, not the frustration...or did he?

Finally, I got all the squash chopped up and in the pan.  It smelled delicious with all that oil and butter.  If I were to do this again, I would go for smaller chunks though.  But that's just me.

Next I chopped up some green onions which was far easier than the squash.

Yum, I love me some onions.

Next we layered these over the squash in the casserole dish.  Then sauteed up some tomatoes that our lovely neighbors shared with us.  They were divine.  Just the right mix of tangy and sweetness.  And I put these over the onions, and then grated the cheese.

Delicious delicious cheese.  It turned out pretty well, I should have sauteed the squash a bit longer but live and learn.  Speaking of learning, Speed Racer's Step-Mom had doubled the recipe and added little numbers on each side, but I wasn't sure how many people that was for.  So thinking that it was just the two of us, I stuck with the recipe thinking it would be enough.  And it was, I guess.   I don't know about you, but I like my leftovers.  Usually the dish-o-the-week is precisely that.  It feeds us for the entire week.  Oh well, we just might have to cook up something extra this week.  There may also be some baking in my future, so stay tuned.

Hard Knox

So I realized today that after all this time of posting about places I like and the rural area around my house, that I haven't posted any downtown Knoxville pictures! 

I really do love downtown.  It has the feel of a small town main street but with a lot more to do.  So without further ado, here are some of my favorite downtown pics.

It's funny, Speed Racer always seems to sneak into my pictures.  Weird huh?

Food Poisoning: Not for the light of heart

It was 7:00 AM.  Why was I awake?  I looked around the guest bedroom at my brother's house for some sort of explanation.  I love sleep, I don't usually wake up on my own unless there is a reason.  But everything appeared as normal as can be.  I started to roll over and go back to sleep when it came again, a pain in my gut so violent it could have been a contraction.  I instantly went into the fetal position and tried not to cry out.  Eventually I eased out of bed and went downstairs to where my brother Warnie was reading, he looked up quizzically as I entered.

"I think I might be sick," I whined.

"Oh no.  Well let's get you something easy on your stomach to eat.  Maybe eating a little something will help," he said.

He is such a good brother.  After bringing me a plain bagel, peppermint tea and some pepto he sat and ate with me while we watched some Daily Show.   The stomach cramps finally started to ease and we started talking again.  Today was the day I was suppose to be leaving to head back to Knoxville.

"Thanks for the food, I really do feel better," I said smiling.  Food always makes me feel better.

"No problem, I'm glad you're feeling better."

I smiled and walked towards the kitchen to put my plate up.  Suddenly, I put my plate down and dashed to the hall bathroom.  I puked my guts out.

When I came back Warnie looked concerned, "I thought you said you felt better!"

"I did feel better!" I said, equally frustrated.

A look of horror crossed his face, and I could see something dawning there that he was not excited about.  "Maybe your pregnant..." he said.

"I'm not pregnant." I said, matter-o-factly.  There was no way.

"We could get you a pregnancy test if you wanted..." You could tell he was saying this to ease my mind, he didn't really want to.  No big brother wants to get their little sister a pregnancy test, no matter how old they are, or if they're married.  Really I think it's probably still pretty weird for older brothers when their little sisters get pregnant period.  But he loves me, so he was willing to do that for me.

"That's ok, seriously, I think I'm just sick."

As the morning progressed, there was lots more puking.  I couldn't keep water down.  I got a fever.  I got a splitting headache.  And all hopes of moving, eating, or working subsided.  I gave in to my caretakers and just laid on the couch and watched "The Blind Side," which I loved.  I have an incredible soft spot for feel good football movies, they make me cry.

Between listening to wonderful quotes from Sandra Bullock's character like, "If you so much as set foot downtown, you will be sorry. I'm in a prayer group with the D.A., I'm a member of the NRA and I'm always packing," and racing to the bathroom to pray to the porcelain gods, I decided it was undeniable.  I had food poisoning.

If I have ever known you and known you had food poisoning, and took it lightly...I am sorry.  Next time, I will come hold your hand and hold your hair.  It's that bad.  Luckily mine only lasted for 24 hours.  Once I had purged my system I was a lot better.  Wednesday night my 102 fever finally broke and the next morning I braved the 8 hour drive home.  Luckily, I split it up over 2 days and stopped at my parents house half way there, still exhausted and weak.

I'm just now getting back to normal.  The thought of some foods still make me queasy, and I'm still tired.   But that is why, dear readers, I did not post all last week.  I hope you'll forgive me, but I had the plague.

At the End of the Day

I don't know about you but today has been a long day for me.  Lots of travel, lots of it being hot, and lots of not being at home.  Thus my post is being done late at night and I'm really wore out.  I'm not even sure if I'm making sense.  BUT at the end of the day what do we all really want?  Super cute baby pictures that's what!  This is Speed Racer's super adorable baby cousin, and her mother was wonderful enough to let her be my muse.

Camera Basics 101

Lately I've heard a lot of people talk about how they want a new camera and many of them want to graduate to bigger cameras.  As Mrs. Miami put it, "I want a big girl camera."  So, if you are thinking about entering the world of Digital SLRs (which stands for single-lens reflex, F to the Y-I) here is a post for you.  I'm going to try and explain some basics to help you get started and realize what you're looking at.  We're gonna start really basic, and go slowly, so don't be scared.  I'll hold your hand.  And as a side note, if I don't explain it well enough or you've got questions, feel free to comment and I will try to explain it better.  Let's get started!

First, we're gonna want to turn it on.  Now I am using a Canon 40D for all these photos, so depending on what camera you are using some of the buttons may be in different spots, but you should be able to figure it out.

This is your review button so you can see any images you've taken...that way when we start comparing you can be like, "Hm, this one is much darker than this one...I wonder why that is?"  Push it once to review, and once to turn it off.

And the all mighty delete button.  Make sure you don't trash anything you might want.

Big-ol-selection wheel.  Use this to scroll back and forth between pictures on your view screen, as well as select options like, "Well yes I would like to delete this photo."

So those are the first operating basics.  My main focus today is going to be on Aperture Priority Mode, Shutter Priority Mode, Manual Mode, and ISO.  We're going to review what they mean and how to use them.  In the next post we will go into how to apply them and what your pictures will look like using each.  Today's just the mechanical aspect of it.

So here are your three modes I just mentioned.  To be honest, these are what I use for the majority of the time.  We have a no Automatic fly zone here.

AV= Aperture Priority.  Your aperture is the actual size hole in your camera that is letting light in as well as determining your depth of field.  Depth of field is another way to say focus, or specifically what parts of your pictures are in focus.  So we've all seen pictures where something really close up is in focus but the background is out of focus or vice versa, those are changes in the depth of field.  When you scroll back and forth in Aperture Priority you are going to notice the numbers go from 2.8 (depending on what lens you are using) to 22, these are called F-Stops.  At 2.8 the hole in your camera is wide open, letting the most light possible in, this is perfect for low light situations as well as close up focus.  At 22 the hole is as small as possible, letting the least amount of light in and also making more of your picture in focus.

That is how you tell what aperture capability the lens you are using can do.  So this can go to F4.0, which is just ok, the lens I'm using to take the photo with can go to 2.8, which is why I was using that one.

So once you have set your camera to AV, your screen will look something like this.  The top box is your F-Stop.  So right now I am as wide open as that lens will let me go.  The bottom number is my ISO Setting.  ISO is the digital version of film speed.  Back in the good ol' film days, you would pick your film depending on what you were shooting.  100-400 speed film was used mostly for outdoor settings where there was plenty of light and then 400-3200 was when you would transition into indoor and low light settings.  So basically lower speed film like 100 was less sensitive so it required more light, while higher speed films like 3200 were more sensitive to light so required less light to expose them.  The ISO setting on your digital camera is replicating this.  I was shooting inside so my ISO is set at 1600, to compensate for it being darker.

You can change your ISO setting by pushing your ISO button, and then using your smaller scroll wheel, which is located next to your trigger, to change the setting.

When you are in Aperture Priority, you are still in a semi-automatic mode.  Meaning that while you are controlling your light and focus by determining how open your aperture is, your camera is automatically adjusting your shutter speed to match it.  That way your photos will come out with an even amount of light.

TV=Shutter Priority.  The shutter is the device in your camera that opens and closes when you take a picture.  When you switch to TV, you are selecting to control how fast or slow the shutter opens, while your camera automatically chooses an aperture that will balance the light for you.  Occasionally you will run into a circumstance where you have a high shutter speed and your camera cannot get a low enough aperture to compensate for the lack of light.  At this point, inside the viewfinder, you will see a blinking light and the camera will not let you take a photo.  And you will be forced to bring your shutter speed down.

This is what it looks like when you are in Shutter Priority.  The lower the numbers the slower your shutter is going to open and close.  When your shutter is at a slower speed, you are more likely to get motion blur in low light situations.  Which isn't always a bad thing.  When your shutter is at a higher speed, you are able to stop whatever motion is happening and freeze it.  So, lots of famous sports pictures where the athlete is frozen in action are taken at high shutter speeds.

A lot of times I will use Aperture priority for nature or portraits, while I will use Shutter Priority for sports, or kids playing.

Aperture Priority

Shutter Priority

However, I'm old school.  Most of the time, I would say 99% of the time at this point, I shoot in Manual.

Manual=full control.  So basically it's up to me in any given situation to change my ISO, my Aperture, and my Shutter speed to match the light that I want in the photo.  When I first started shooting with a digital camera, I got frustrated...alot.  I was so use to setting everything myself and then checking my light meter to make sure I had the light where I wanted it.  But in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority the camera is matching the speed etc, so that you will get the optimal balanced light.  So your light meter always looks like this:

Right smack dab in the middle.  And I'm going to admit something that's kinda embarrassing, for awhile I didn't realize that this was my light meter.  EEk!  My light meter was very different on my old film Pentax.  But this light meter is also in your viewfinder at the bottom.

So this is what it looks like in Manual Mode.  You have control of all these buttons, and your light meter will change, which is super handy.  So you can always use your light meter to gauge what's going on.  I will warn you however, beware of white things, shiny things, mirrors, and windows...it's gonna freak your poor ol' light meter out!  So just experiment and try to gauge how to get the light the way you would like it.

And the last little tidbit in this marathon of a post, is how to set your Diopter.  Your Diopter adjusts the focus in your viewfinder to the strength of your eyes.  This might not seem like a big deal, but I have had times when I have picked up someone's camera to use and taken a photo and it looks out of focus.  I can't figure out why it would be out of focus, and it's because their Diopter is different from mine.  So this is easy to do, just hold the camera up to your eye, relax, and scroll the Diopter up and down until it looks as sharp as it can be.

So that is our start on getting to know your camera.  The best thing to do is play with the settings, see what you get, don't be afraid to push buttons, and just see what setting is the most comfortable for you.  On the next camera post we will work on applying these settings to actual photographs.

Dish-o-the-week: PW's Chili!

That's right, I gave in...again.  I made a Pioneer Woman recipe for the dish-o-the week.  I have a problem, I'll admit it.  I'm going to Pioneer Woman cooking rehab soon, not to worry.  But in the mean time, you can check out this awesome looking chili.  I had never made chili before.  And I'll go ahead and put this out there since I say something to that affect on every cooking post...until now...whew, deep breath...I haven't really cooked.  Don't judge me.  I'm a newly wed and I'm learning, but I truly am enjoying learning too.  Anywho, bring on the chili pics!

Key fixin's.

Ms. Brisco and Speed Racer were getting impatient.  The smell was driving them wild!  So they just sat there...lingering over the chili.

The great thing about this recipe is that is leaves room to add or not add what you feel like.  She gives a list of "optional" ingredients.  I am not a huge bean fan, I will eat them in chili but that is about it.  Speed Racer thinks I must have had some sort of head trauma as a child for something to be so wrong with me that I would not like beans.  So I added pinto beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes with chili's, one jalapeno, one finger hot pepper, onion, garlic, chili powder, paprika, oregano, and salt.  But you can mix and match as you like.

Oh he's getting really impatient now, he's got that crazed look in his eye.  You can tell he's about to steal a nibble.  Not to worry though, we ate shortly after that.  There are no pictures because we were both too busy gobbling it down.

Now who is going to do the dishes I wonder?  Lucky for me, in our house it's whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes.

Later that night...

I had to add this in the post because it's too adorable for words.

Rural Retreat

Ever since I was little I've felt comforted in rural areas.  My family use to go on a retreat every summer at Oak Hill Academy, and they had a beautiful barn on campus.  I would get up early in the mornings and go watch them feed the cattle, help brush the horses, hang out in the barn, and do a little horseback riding.  I absolutely loved it.  When I moved in high school, I moved to a more rural area and would always find my escape in nature.  So when Speed Racer told me we were moving to Knoxville, I was a little hesitant.  I had seen downtown Knoxville once in high school and swore I would never live here.  Careful what you say, right?  But when Speed Racer took me to see the house, I was immediately at peace.  Where we live in Knoxville, is surrounded by rural farms, holding out against the sprawl of the city.  There's even a cattle farm just down the street.  Early in the morning on the weekends, Speed Racer and I will climb on our bikes and head into the heart of this rural area, and it's especially beautiful in the morning light.  So today, I thought I would go out and try to capture a little of that.

Morning Portrait

My lovely friend Ms. Holly is in town this week and staying with me while Speed Racer is in NORWAY...that's right I said Norway.  But more on that later.  So Ms. Holly was a good sport and let me take some lovely pictures of her this morning, we went out and had a good time.  And here are the results!