Think of someone that you admire, whose work you admire.
Now imagine having the opportunity to learn your craft directly from that person.

That is exactly what I did for two days this week in Boulder, Colorado.

I spent a wondrous, inspiring and exhausting two days learning food photography and styling from some of the most incredible photographers: Jen of Use Real Butter, Todd & Diane of White on Rice Couple and Matt Wright of Wright Food.

They covered information that was valuable to photographers who are beginners all the way to seasoned shutterbugs. From learning camera settings (Aperture, shutter speed, ISO) to post-processing to telling a story with your photographs, there was something that everyone could learn from this workshop.

Although the workshop was named Food & Light, it really was that and so much more. We learned to use light to tell the story of the food we were photographing, to style the food to enhance that story, all while exploring and finding our personal style.

One of the most rewarding parts of this experience for me was being able to learn directly from Diane, Jen, Matt and Todd. Seeing them in action, what their workflow and thought process is like and learning what kind of mindset to have when going into a photo shoot were the most valuable lessons that I learned.

The other most rewarding part of the Food & Light workshop was meeting new, wonderful friends from all over the country:
- Erin from Bloomington, IL.
- Kimberly from Atlanta! I can’t believe we had to fly all the way out to Colorado to meet each other.
- Chris from Los Angeles.
- Shu-Huei from Chicago.
- Nicole from Fairbanks, Alaska.
- Averie from San Diego, CA. I’m so happy to finally meet you in person!
- Manisha of Indian Food Rocks from Louisville, CO.

There could not have been a more perfect place to have this workshop, than right in the heart of Boulder, Colorado. Surrounded by beautiful light, wonderful food and stores within walking distance, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly inspired by this place.

Your eyes are your best lens; your heart is your shutter

Those words by Diane will remain with me for a long time to come. It’s a change in mindset, a change in how you see the world and how you will tell your story to others.

Thank you Diane, Todd, Jen and Matt for helping to give me the confidence to jump-start/catapult this professional photography dream of mine. You guys are some of the most inspiring, talented and giving instructors that I have ever learned from.

The Food & Light photography workshop was a life changing experience for me, and I am coming home to Atlanta with my heart filled with inspiration, motivation and happiness of new friendships.

Sushi was one of the (many) foods that I introduced to Paul during the early part of our courtship. I also taught him to use chopsticks, but that’s a whole other story.

Paul’s been wanting to learn to make his own sushi for a while, and after seeing a special on the Food Network, his mind was set on making his own spicy tuna rolls.  I’m pretty sure he convinced himself that “it’s really not that hard to do.”  I, on the other hand, still had my doubts.

See… I actually listened to the Food Network show and watched a master chef (Bobby Flay) mess up roll after roll of sushi.  Not the taste of the ingredients, mind you, it was the handiwork of putting together a good lookin’ roll of sushi.  If Bobby Flay can’t do something perfectly on the first try (or two), what chance in heck do I have?  I mean, come on!

So, we decided to take a sushi workshop at Whole Foods and see try our hand at this sushi rolling business.  The cooking classes at Whole Foods are really great, the chefs always know their stuff and the food that we cook always comes out mighty tasty.

Our menu for the evening: Inside-Out California Rolls; Nigiri Sushi (Hand-Pressed Sushi with Salmon and Tuna); Spicy Tuna Rolls; and Cucumber Rolls.

First, we learned how to make and form sushi rice.  Basically, short-grained rice + vinegar = sushi.

Next, we assembled fillings.  Here I am cooking up some egg that is later cut into thin strips and rolled into the sushi rolls.  The egg was kinda difficult to work with since it was pretty thin.

But, I must say… I think I did pretty good.

Here’s Paul mixing up some wasabi – that stuff was strong!  You could literally smell it halfway across the room.  We also got some tasty Japanese beer while we made sushi.

Then we got plenty of practice rolling ingredients using a bamboo mat.

A few glam shots of our first attempt at sushi making… not too shabby.

And the failed rolls…