I shot these on HP5+ at 400 and developed them in Microphen at 1 +1 for 12 minutes.

March 15, 2011

Penne with caramelized onions, red peppers and chicken. This dish works because it is so light, fresh and low-fat. No heavy cream to weigh down the whole wheat pasta. While it may seem like a simple meal, it was fairly involved, especially caramelizing the onions in a bit of brown sugar for 20 minutes.

March 13, 2011

March 11, 2011

March 9, 2011

Oatmeal raisin muffins.

Chickpea curry and naan. The chickpea curry was prepared in the slow cooker. I cooked it on high for about six hours and we served it over brown rice cooked with vegetable stock. The naan was from Trader Joe's. I have to say, I really enjoy the Le Paradou viognier. Whole Foods has been carrying it for the past few months and at $8.99 it's a steal. Pairs really well with curry.

March 7, 2011

Sara gave me a Blickbird Fly camera for my birthday. The Blackbird Fly is a twin-lens reflex camera that can shoot square format on 35 mm film. I've wanted one for some time, so it was the perfect birthday present. What I like most is that I can take multiple exposures. I can't do that on any of my other film cameras. I dropped in a roll of Kodak BW400 CN. I've never cared much for that film but I wanted to kick out a quick roll that I could take to be developed at the drugstore. Here are two of my favorite shots...

The Blackbird Fly is a tricky little thing. Framing is fairly easy but the focus is harder to nail since you have to use zone focusing. Still, I think it's fantastic little camera!

March 4, 2011

For whatever reason I decided to take some self portraits today. I suppose it has something to do with being stuck inside. I haven't had much luck with taking self portraits in the past. Usually it has something to do with me rushing to get too much done at once. Today I slowed down. I used three off camera strobes. One as my main light with a 60 inch umbrella, one with a grid, and one as a rim. I've never used three lights before, so the goal was to get everything balanced properly. I think I did ok, especially since the battery in my light meter died. Unlike most devices these days, if you leave the meter on it won't shut down by itself to save the battery.

First I used my camera meter to set my ambient exposure and then I added the various flashes to the mix. Here are two shots.

With the exception of the model, I think these turned out ok. I have a few technical issues with these and they aren't the most compelling images, but I like them. For the suit photo I dropped the strobe power down on the key light.

Here's the setup of the small room that I convert into a studio.

March 3, 2011

Sara asked for homemade pizza tonight. Usually we just buy pizza dough and sauce from Trader Joe's. Since I seem to have a lot of time on my hands, I decided to make everything from scratch...

March 1, 2011

I took a much needed unintentional vacation from specbebop.com during the month of February. Later this month I'll celebrate the seventh anniversary of specbebop.com. I don't think I ever intended to keep the site going for so long.

Now for a huge photo update...

Sara and I went to the girls basketball division 3A Loyola supersectional last night to cheer on the Marshall Commandos as they competed for a spot in the state tournament. They defeated St. Joseph 46-37. This marks the 25th state tournament for the Commandos.

Thankfully I run marathons because I've been cooking up some pretty great things to eat lately.

Coffee cake for two from America's Test Kitchen

Tomato bread soup.

Red beans and rice from America's Test Kitchen.

Cinnamon rolls.

Blondies.