a shoot for austin monthly…

A few tearsheets from April’s Austin Monthly Magazine.  I spent plenty of time enjoying the sun and the company, and of course the good food that Austin has to offer.

A quest for understanding

This is a new direction I am taking here on the ol’ blog.  I recently interviewed, wrote a story, and photographed a homeless man.  I did it because I feel like its something I could use a better perspective on.  What I found was a story beneath the story, and I found that regardless of our social and financial divisions, humanity is still humanity.  Its a long story, so I’ll only put a little teaser here.  If you’d like to read the actual article, you can find it in next month’s homeless magazine– you know, the magazines you see homeless folks trying to sell downtown?  You need to bring a dollar though, because that’s what they cost.

“I put myself on the street because I figured I’d run into my son.” This is the simple truthful answer to the question that I wanted to know when I first met Gary at the Dallas city hall. Gray-haired Gary, at 60, is so polite and unassuming, that I wonder how someone like that ends up trying to make a living dollar by dollar.

After a few weeks, I find myself in a back room at the Stewpot with Gary. He tells me that he was the black sheep. He tells me that whenever his mother would threaten to leave, she would take Rita and Eddy, his siblings, leaving him with his father. The firstborn, he is the target of his father’s anger and his mother’s passivity.

He tells me with a straight face how, at 16, when his father aims abuse at his sister Rita, he takes a baseball bat and hits his father. He runs out of the house for good….

texas bbq at its best

All I have to say is that I’ve been enjoying this slab of ribs all week… for breakfast in a scramble, for lunch in a sandwich, and for dinner with some veggies.  Apparently in Texas, dry rub is where its at.  I will not argue with this.  Thanks to a one Beth Maya, food styling, this masterpiece made me drool from the moment it started crackling.

January’s best of the best…

Yes I know its February… but better late than never!

I got the opportunity in December to shoot for Modern Luxury Dallas’s cover of the city.  I toured the new Omni hotel, and finally chose to shoot from the pool deck to do some nighttime photography of the city lights.  It was freezing.  I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t hold my hands over the firepits.  Nonetheless,  I enjoyed this little exercise of meditation and got a beautiful cover to show for it!

Also below, you’ll see some shots that appeared inside for the January food review.  Campo, the modern country bistro in Oak Cliff was featured.  (And of course, I got to sample what I shot…which is the best part of shooting food…)

food by beth!

My food-stylist buddy Beth and I got together the other day for a killer day of “food play.”  Both exhausted by the end and barely standing, I was pretty pleased with our concoctions… but I sure did have a full belly.   Beth is a wizard in the kitchen!

A few tidbits of success…

Kale White Bean soup with deep fried Kale… yum!!  This was amazing.

banana pudding and grahams…

and my own personal favorite…

two sweet ladies in pink

Received this in the mail. Always makes me happy!

I just received my copies of Parenting Magazine with the photos I submitted for an article on the New Normal of parenting.  It was a beautiful story about a professional single mother adopting a child and raising her in north Dallas.   What a CLASS ACT they were.  Fun and honest, I got to learn the whole story.   I had a great time and the images turned out beautifully.  Yay!  Following are a few of my faves.

a new way to squash your pumpkin

ok, so not only do I love to photograph, but I also love to cook. And with the halloween season, there are some amazing things I have discovered/remembered.

Number 1.  Pumpkins are great for slicing up, roasting, and eating.  They are NOT just decorations.  You can cut them in half, scoop out the insides, and bake them for an hour until they’re soft.  Slather butter and salt (or sugar, or olive oil) on them, and they just melt in your mouth.  I hadn’t eaten them like this since I was a child and had TOTALLY forgotten.

Number 2.  They make incredible pies.  I didn’t even like pumpkin pie until now, and this one gained me 5 pounds.  You can google “paula deen pumpkin pie recipe” and it will take you to a recipe that is pretty much impossible to screw up.  Plus its Paula Deen, and who doesn’t love Paula Deen?

(I did NOT take a photo of my pie.  I should have.  P.S. They make great little individual serving pumpkin custards, too, if you run out of pie shell.)

Number 3.  The insides can be dried overnight (separate out the goo from the seeds), spread out on a baking sheet, and coated with a drizzle of olive oil (or butter), and sprinkled with whatever you have in the cupboard… garlic salt, creole seasoning, greek seasoning or salt and pepper.  Bake them for 40-60 min, flipping them occasionally to brown evenly, and voila.  So easy.

(These are gourd seeds, but you get the idea)

So…. take the opportunity to enjoy the holiday foods while they’re here.  Personally, I will be stocking up on pumpkins.  I’ve carved 9 already this season.  And I didn’t even cut myself but once.

 

Underwhelmed…

I am always editing. And sometimes I forget my place.  And then I have to start all over….

I might be on overdrive.

last of the setting sun….

I know its officially fall and these photos are a little late… but this last bit of summer (and by summer, I mean 102 degrees) had to come out, and I figure from now on, it will be beanies and scarves.  (Think cold.)

Styling by Maria Gamez

Heads are turning!  Happy autumn!!

capturing the moment

i like a little summer fun… sweating and turning red in the texas heat…