Behind The Lens || "Practical French" e-cookbook

One of my biggest regrets is not making enough use of my photography skills, afterall I do have a BFA in Photography!  I'm not fortunate enough (yet!) to make my living from pursuing my creative efforts full time, but I thoroughly enjoy picking up a few shoots a year to supplement my income and keep my eyes sharp.  My latest production was for an electronic cookbook, Practical French with Nathalie, available here.

A little background about this collaboration: Nathalie has a daughter, Gabriella, and my parents are Gabriella's god parents.  My dad worked with both Nathalie and her husband Mathias years back and my mom took care of Gabriella from the time she was just a few months old until she was about three.  Being far from their native home countries (Nathalie is French (that's obvious, right?!) and Mathias is German) we became a sort of extended family to them here in the states.

When Nathalie said she wanted to pen a French cookbook, I was excited that she thought of me to shoot it.  I assisted with a handful of shoots like this with Amy Haskell, however this was my first solo endeavor for a cookbook.  I should mention that it was Nathalie who introduced me to Amy, a family friend who shot her wedding, and who I went on to assist for during college and a short time after.  Nathalie and Mathias had already shot many of the dishes but needed someone to tackle the last few as well as the cover and website bio shots.  Extra bonus that I got to sample the food as I shot; perks of the job!  The images here are final edits that made the cut.  Sorry, though, you'll have to buy the cookbook to see all the amazing recipes!  Bon apetit!

Anniversary || Resort Getaway!

On August 1st, Josh and I officially celebrated 3 years together.  To be honest, this is a made up date since neither of us can actually remember the official date!  Like last year, we decided to spend a few days at the Gold Canyon Golf Resort.  While it is only 20 minutes from our house, the remote and tranquil feeling of the resort made us feel like we might as well have been hours away.  We left Ricky Ricardo at home with his Titi Lola (she drove up from Tucson) so we could be carefree and just focus on each other...and keeping our margaritas fresh!

We arrived after dinner Friday so we spent the first night lounging around our suite and taking in the great view.  After sleeping in on Saturday (I'll take 7:30 any morning as long as I don't have to wake up to an alarm), we took our time getting moving before mozying on down to the spa where we enjoyed hour long massages.  I really should do that more often!  Later, we lazed away the afternoon at the pool, enjoying drinks and shrimp cocktail before heading back to our room to refresh and get ready for dinner.  What a rough life!

The sunset on Saturday was spectacular!  I complain about living in Arizona (the heat is too much for me), but this is one thing I can't complain about; Arizona has the best sunsets.  The rest of the night was equally as lazy as the day, but sometimes being lazy is the best remedy after a long week!

Sunday morning was another chance to sleep in (woohoo 7:00!) and lay in bed watching Air Jaws before checking out and heading back home.  I was sad for the weekend to end, but so excited to see my sweet Ricky!

I can't wait for next year! Any recommendations?!