Instagram for your Browser

Instagram feeds can now be viewed from the web. Follow me.

Kitchen Adventure: Umami Burger

I have been feeling blasé about my cooking for the last month or so, but last night I found the delicious flavor of an umami burger. A delicious savory burger that uses a surprising ingredient: fish sauce! Marinated burger, roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, and Parmesan crisps; create a beautiful combination.

Burger (modified recipe from here)
1 lb of ground beef
1 Tb of fish sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 black pepper
1 clove of garlic minced

Marinate for 40 minutes. Grill or cook on stove 3 to 4 minute on each side on medium heat.
___________________________________________________

Roasted Tomatoes (modified recipe from here)
4 Roma tomatoes
Olive Oil
Thyme

Preheat oven to 375° line a pan with parchment paper. Cut thick slices of tomato. Place on lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle thyme over tomatoes. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn oven up to 400° and bake for 20 more minutes.

___________________________________________________

Parmesan Crisp
Parmesan

While the oven is up to 400° for the tomatoes place a pan with a silpat and four 5 inch circles of Parmesan cheese. Bake for 8 minutes.

For the last part of this recipe after you cook the burgers (if you pan fried the burgers) cook the onions in the burger grease until soft. You can also toast the buns in the same pan or the grill.

Be Animated

With Flash becoming obsolete the animated GIF is making a comeback. I found a nice little video tutorial on how to create simple animated GIFs. Apple choosing to no longer support flash has made it likely that it will become obsolete. Photography sites used to be streaming with various flash code, because it fit the purpose. Photographers need large beautiful images in small file size and flash can do that, but now if you want to appeal to the market that owns apple products photographers have to adapt there sites to use other forms of code such as java, but some are making motion with GIFs.

Since I work in advertising we still use flash a lot for making online ads because you can get the best movement and resolutions for file size. Some clients create their own ads and turn in animated GIFs so the file will move on all formats, but they will have grainy images and can't figure out why.

GIFs have a selected amounted of colors you can use, and changing your number of colors can greatly decrease loading time. This type of file is limited to 256 colors, so you have to be mindful of the color spectrum in your photography. One way to reduce the number colors is to use simple vector art. Keep this in mind when you want animate on your blog or website.

Photoshop Actions

I just found out about Photoshop actions. Okay, Okay this just shows that Adobe software has a lot of complex details that allow you to edit photos, layouts, and ect and it can take years to learn your new software (even though they update this every 18 months). Photoshop actions can take awhile to set up and finesse, but after you have your settings the way you like them. Actions can be the easiest way to edit a large batch of photos.

How to do it:

Windows > Actions > Create a new folder > Create a new action > Press record

Photoshop will then record all the steps you take to edit your photo. When you are done hit stop ▀ You should be able to open an image with similar attributes, play ► and get similar results.

The part that takes finesse is deleting layers that don't matter, and making sure your layers remember the colors and effects how you want them. If you are using colored layers make sure to use the shape tool.

Kitchen Adventures

 Homemade Baozi: recipe can be found here. I have been searching for the perfect recipe since I visited a Dim Sum in China Town in San Francisco 6 years ago. I finally found it thanks to pinterest. The website has a great tutorial video on how to fold the buns as well. I did not have the Korean Red Pepper Paste, I used some sriracha sauce, soy sauce, and honey to replace it.

Homemade Marshmallows: recipe found here. Airy and delicious.

GIF is Making a Comeback

Now that GIFs are retro, they are coming by and style. In reality it is Apple's decision to not support flash that have forced people to find new ways to add motion to their websites. It turns out the best way is the old way (cir. 1984 ‒ 90s). Photoshop's animation integration has made it easier than ever to animate your gifs and try to optimize them best for web, without annoying pixelation. There will be some in most cases, since you are limited to 256 colors. The animation panel now has an animation timeline to Adobe's AfterEffects timeline with position, opacity, and style  settings.

Best advice for animated gifs is too simplify images and color palette. You can do this by using simple shapes and color fields. I avoid using human faces because the face has so many gradations it is difficult to make anyone look good in a limited palette.

Photoshop also has tools such as posterize to help simplify the layers of color in an image. (This is a life saver for my online ads). Also always using save for web optimization will help insure you get the file right.

Double Trouble

The last couple days I have been dealing with some double trouble, that has me completely distracted. Sometimes some unexpected arrivals leave piles of dishes and other chores undone. And today, that is okay.

Warm and Cyan, Muted Filters, and Nostalgia

Lingering like the smoke of hooka "hip" photography has been utilizing warm muted palettes. Photographers and photo editors are trying to hit us at our most basic human emotion "nostalgia" all the warm fuzzy feelings of the past are projected to current trends.  Partly due to hipster fashion stores such as Urban Outfitters, appealing to the techy 20-year-old take s a backward step in time. Photography, fashion, and electronics are going back cir. 1970s for a perceived counter-cultural  style. But it is these persons who are inspiring current design trends.

Photographers have responded to this audience by provide images that feel more like film photography. Colors of the 70s of golden hues, cyan, and burnt umber are prevalent, as well as the use of grunge textures to give the image a sense of age. Instagram thrives on a series of nostalgia filters and trying to counteract its digital nature with film-like qualities. Should this trend continue to linger or does it need an exhaust fan?

2012 Resolutions

I know that creating a New Year's resolution is cliché, but if it makes me a slightly better person I am all for it! Making a list allows us to strip away our bad habits and develop new good ones. 

1. One Photo A Day: I want to make photography my priority this year, because without practice I cannot improve myself. By forcing myself to take photos everyday I can develop habits that encourage the ability to be observant and use photo-editing tools.


2. Exercise: the most cliché resolution of all, but it is a good one. Like many Americans I have a very sedentary lifestyle. I drive 30 minutes to work, sit for 9 hours straight, drive 30 minutes back home, and then sit for the rest of the night in front of my computer. I need to take some time out and be more ACTIVE for my health and well-being.  My goal? Exercise more. I am hoping an easy goal like this will make it easier for me to keep up with it, instead of dropping it a couple weeks later.


3. Take a Break: I am naturally a hard working and overly stressed person, who finds it difficult to take breaks or slow down. Often times, I find that since my "to do list" isn't complete that I don't have the time or don't deserve giving myself a break. With more research I have read that taking breaks is essential to being a more productive being and happier as well. 

 
 

Holiday Joy

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday. I know I did. My husband said it was a good idea to take a break this holiday, and NOT follow everyone around with a camera. I couldn't resist entirely, but I enjoyed myself that I could actually have a conversation with my family. Here are a few of my exploits over my little break.

Take time to enjoy the season and your loved ones.

Photography Inspiration: Diane Arbus

A very well-known American photography for capturing images of "freaks". Arbus' images have always inspired me by their ability to break down barriers and break through comfort zones. Her images are often edgy or oddly discomforting. She managed to reject societies comfort with people who were considered unusual, she discomforts her viewers by the essence and subject matter of the photography, and often times she invaded these people's homes and taking multitudes of photos invading their own comfort level. I wish I had her ability to leave my discomforts behind and because an artist behind the camera lens. I am too shy to jump in and take the photo, but Diane Arbus was brave.

"Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They are aristocrats" - Diane Arbus

Inspired by William Eggleston

I have been inspired by William Eggleston for years. His snap-shot-like photography captures his subjects in dramatic pose. All of his color photographs impress me with their brilliant color in their ordinariness. Normal people and ordinary places are given a new creepiness or edginess by pose, placement, and color. William Eggleston is my photographer inspiration for now. Do you have a favorite photographer.

Color Inspiration

Keeping in Shape

No I am not talking about going to the gym, but practicing photography. Being busy is no excuse, and I neglected my photography skills.


"You will never play really well, unless you practice" - Pride and Prejudice

In school I would take photos everyday, but I have really neglected this artistic outlet. "If you don't use it, you will lose it." Okay, I guess I am full of clichés today, but its true. Perhaps my problem is I have too many hobbies, and too little time. Photography is essential to my job. From understanding equipment and light, taking photos, photo arrangement, and editing.

Each photograph you take is a practice for your next one...and the next one. Improvement comes from inspiration, practice, and the software to editing the digital photos.

Cooking & Design

Cooking and Design are not foreign enemies, and for me they have a symbiotic relationship. It is no surprise that cookbooks are the most commonly designed books. From the recipe to the beautiful image cooking controls the push and pull of form and function. There are many food makers, whether chef or the at home type that want it to taste great and plate beautifully. If recipes are not well organized it can become a nightmare to work with. Some recipes start with information but forget to tell you until a paragraph later that you were supposed to let the eggplant sweat before you put it in the marinara.

Plating is no different. Just like on Top Chef and Iron Chef presentation is part of the battle. Imagery is only a minute portion of design. Taste and sustenance are the functionality that makes cooking not an art but design.

The I Know How to Cook book that I added to this collage was a cookbook I bought at the Border's clearance because it is beautifully designed and has wonderful  illustrations. This book is more than a pretty cover (which the dust jacket could be a poster if you wanted); it's recipes are well organized and provide good information too! I love my new cookbook.

All of these images and more can be found on my pinterest.

My Idle Hands

"Idle hands are the devil's play things" Work has an ebb and a flow. There are times that are very busy that require long hours and caffeinated beverages, and then there are other times when there is a definite lull. I usually fill those times with cleaning my desk, going through old paperwork that I ignore most of the time. That barely takes an hour. What to do? I have found a new way to make this time more profitable by refueling my creative juices. This new tool is Pinterest. I love being able to pin images from anywhere and categorizing for when I want to access them later. I can look for inspiration or help develop my ideas for this blog. I know I have a lot of fun hours ahead of me repositioning my multitudes of bookmarks into workable image boards.

Of course this also might just be another digital life distraction! Especially since it can connect with your fackbook and twitter. Happy pinning!

Laundry Day

It's laundry day, and since we can only wash one load at a time I sit with nothing to do for hours. I had lent my SLR to my brother, so I only had my phone to take pictures with. It always surprises me the advancement in technology. MY first cellphone 5 years ago was a little flip phone, with no camera at all. I bought my second phone one year later, because the flip phone had split in two along the hinge. This new camera had a 1 megapixel camera in it. The images were not the best, but could be a great way to communicate with some grainy and pixilated  images. My next phone I replace 2 years later, when my contract expired. this phone has a 2 megapixel camera. It was better, but it is still grainy and blurry. Then in March I replaced my phone again when I switched carriers. My latest phone has 5 megapixels and takes photos like this:

Okay I am no William Eggleston or Cartier Bresson or Diane Arbus, but these photos strike my fancy a little. Taking photos can be a great way to pass the time, while being creative. Technology is a allowing us to this with smaller and smaller equipment. I still would have rather pulled out my SLR, but this little phone camera did well to fuel my creative outlet. What do you do while you wait for laundry?

Sweet Tart and Spring Rains

Strawberry Rhubarb Tarts. Jealous? Life is best when I am wearing my apron covered in flour making some baked good as the Kansas storms roll by outside. If you want the recipe just let me know, and I will be happy to share it with you.

 

And excuse the look of the blog right now, Blogger and I are fighting. I may just have to take the extra effort and code my blog.

Dealing with the Demons

 

Porn is a big industry in this country, heck this world. Forbes says the porn industry does $10 to $14 billion dollars each year. Now it can be scary to admit it but FOOD porn. I can’t help looking through glossy cookbooks and drooling over the decadent desserts, sassy soups, salivating sandwiches, audacious appetizers, and so on…

Food photography is a growing field, but it is be taken over by freelance and your everyday blogger. Some of my favorite blogs, that appeal to my secret fetish, are: http://big2beautiful.com/ , http://ohjoy.blogs.com/my_weblog/ummummgood/ , http://www.sweetfineday.com/  ,  and a place that allows me to just stare at images (if I choose) http://photograzing.seriouseats.com/ or http://www.carnetsparisiens.com/.

Gourmet food is really the industry pushing the food porn industry. Gourmet has taken leaps in bounds with the development of the food network and the cooking channel. Taking this food for the wealthy to become plebian that anyone can and should take gourmet into his or her own homes. In response blogs have blossomed with abundant photographs of sizzling skillets and scrumptious desserts.

Food and designers have often gone hand-in-hand. Cookbooks need skilled organizers to separate the information in a pleasant and logical way, therefore designers make a clear choice. Food photography draws in designers because food can be a very designed thing: making sure you have a “colorful” salad, texture, or they way the sauce appears on a plate. Pretty much food can combine everything that we, as designers love. Plus, food just tastes good.

Getting Inspired

Matthew Sporzynski is the man responsible for the paper sculptures seen in the Sherman Williams print ads. The television ads have been on air for awhile, but these handmade sculptures are pretty inspiring.

He has been creating his whimsical sculptures for Real Simple magazine since 2005.

Photos of Matthew at work for Real Simple