So, it’s time for a moment of honesty – you really can’t have a great food blog unless you can take great photos of your food. In this area, I feel like I’m stunted. I have several cameras, and now I’m on a mission to learn how to use them. There’s something so immediately fulfilling about digital photography (in the fact that you have immediate access to your photos), but there’s also something deeply satisfying about film photography. Taking photos with a film camera reminds me of the excitement of being a kid – taking pictures with my first little 35mm point-and-shoot and then waiting impatiently for the pictures to be developed so that I could reminisce about those things that I took pictures of (and by the time I got the photos back, I had often already forgotten about what I had taken pictures of). My parents recently gave me several cameras they have been holding onto – their old Nikon SLR from 1994 (I can’t remember the model off the top of my head, but it comes with a super nifty fisheye lens) and my grandfather’s old Yashica Lynx 5000. I also have two Cannon Elf point-and-shoot cameras (one digital and one 35mm), a Holga, and an old Polaroid 600 camera (which, sadly enough, I cannot find affordable Polaroid film for).

In the interest of not getting overwhelmed, I think I’m going to begin with the Holga and Nikon and see what happens. I know that part of what makes for a good pictures is also the lighting, so I need to play around with that as well (the lighting in out apartment is dim and casts a warm glow on everything). I have thought about purchasing some table-top photography lights, but I want to mess around with the cameras first to begin seeing what they can do.

In other news, Kirk and I are gearing up for our wedding. I don’t know why, but I’m super stressed out about it. I’m thinking of all of the things that I still need to finalize… We need to compile all of our RSVPs to get final guest counts and meal selections…. We need to work with the caterer and the florist to finalize how many tables we’ll have and how many bouquets we’ll need…  We need to do a walk-through with our vendors… We need to make sure our DJ gets the music we want to dance to…. We need to work with our officiant to finalize the actual wedding ceremony… We need to get out to the Cook County Clerk’s office to get our marriage license… I need to go in for my final dress fittings… We need to make sure Kirk and his groomsmen have tux/suit rentals… We need to get the rehearsal dinner in order… I need to make sure that my parents have ordered the alcohol… I still need to find jewelry to wear… We need to get gifts for our parents and our wedding party… We need to make sure we’ve made all of our final payments to our vendors… We need to make sure our honeymoon reservations are in order… AHHH…. It’s too much. I know I’m a weenie, but I should have hired a wedding planner. This is all the nitty-gritty nonsense I did not want to have to deal with. I just want to get married and go on my honeymoon and sit on the beach in the Dominican Republic for 10 days. Now that sounds nice, doesn’t it?