Well, how many kinds of cool is that? Admittedly, my February/March seafood paella cover had Patrick's face on it, too, but does this mean that there are now only something like 2 degrees of separation between myself and Patrick Dempsey? Ah, my brief brush with Hollywood. . .
This was an enormously delicious chocolate mousse tartlett served in a dark chocolate "cup." I liked the way the birthday candles looked in it.
Both of these confections were made by the European Bakery on Route One in Falmouth, Maine: http://www.europeanbakeryinc.com/Welcome.html And they were delicious!
Shot with my Pentax K20D and the Pentax SMC-FA 50mm f/1.4 lens that does such a nice job. I shot the one below using my grandmother's delicate green Depression glass set. I like how the color of the kiwis are echoed by the dishes. . . By the way, this is a fruit tartlett with slices of strawberry, kiwi, half-grapes and dark cherries, on a "bed" of sweet cream cheese mousse. Yum. . .
Ah, the simple life. . .
Hope you enjoyed the shots as much as I enjoyed taking them (and eating the subjects later!)
I was pleased with how this shot of lemons in a bowl came out. It got into istockphoto last week, which was cool. New shots keep trickling in to my gallery there. . . 
I like this shot of the eggs. It makes me very happy. It reminds me of something one might see in a Martha Stewart Living Magazine article about organized cooking. I like the soft, natural lighting and the asymmetry of the whole thing that somehow brings it together.
I bought a huge 11x14" picture frame at JoAnn Fabric last weekend on clearance for $4.95 so I could have the large sheet of clear glass at my disposal to create shots like the ones above! I love the reflection look. . .
I got really interested in taking the "perfect" shot of slices of lemon floating in bubbly water recently. I haven't gotten it where I want it yet, but I will continue to work at it. What I need is better lighting, I'm afraid, as I already "have the technology," to create the shot, but not the light needed to backlight the slices enough to make them translucent while also showing a larger part of a glass, indeed maybe even a large chunk of the glass. This is because I am using cheesy contractors' lights, shining them directly on the glass, and if I were to open the shot any wider, you would see my truly amateurish lighting setup!
Last month, as many of you may recall, I was lucky enough to meet and photograph Yo Yo Ma at a wonderful concert he gave in Portland at Merrill Auditorium. He is such a generous, outgoing and amazing person--the energy in the concert alone was just beautiful, but meeting him in person, he instantly makes you feel comfortable as opposed to nervous that you are talking to a world-famous, brilliant cellist/musician. He also has a silly side!
Here is Aimee Petrin, of PCA Great Performances, Yo Yo Ma and MPBN's Suzanne Nance, helping me make a few very fun photos!
The staff of PCA Great Performances with Yo Yo Ma after the show:
And one of my favorites--the closeup shot of Suzanne Nance and Yo Yo Ma:
It was a really fun night and I was on a high for several days after that, and when I saw the photos in print in Portland Magazine, it was fun all over again! (Some of them were used in the Flash Column at the end. And finally, I think I posted it a couple of posts ago, but here is the photo of myself and Mr. Ma, kindly taken by Suzanne Nance! She did a great job, didn't she? 
Thanks for taking the time to read and look as always. Cindy
Well, I promised a lot of you back in December, when I was shooting all these food images (including the one above of Local 188's delicious Seafood Paella that made the cover of Portland Magazine last month) that I would post the other images when I could. None of them in my humble opinion came out as well as the Local 188 image, but they're yummy-looking for the most part. In order of presentation below, these are what they are and where they're from.
The Old Port Sea Grill's spicy Lobster Fra Diavolo, served with broccolini:
Pat's Meat Market Cafe's Lobster Newburg with homemade cracker:
Caiola's delicious Seafood paella, served on my favorite rooster table in the restaurant:
Hugos' fabulous Hake Bouillabaisse, which doesn't look the most appetizing, but I honestly have to say it was the most delicious fish dish I have ever tasted in my life--I very nearly licked the bowl clean after I finished it. It came with these wonderful fried bread croutons that were spiced really well (the brownish pieces) and the sauce was absolutely incredible. I highly recommend it and Hugos!
And finally, Street & Company's Whole Fish Dorade, served up by the chef himself. Once again, not a dish that presents as prettily in photos as the first photo of Local 188's seafood paella, but it smelled divine! 
Thanks for looking and reading as always. Cindy
I made some Ginger Crinkle cookies yesterday (mostly so I could photograph them, but they were good to eat too!) Photographed them with my Pentax SMC-FA 50mm f/1.4 lens at f/16 on a tripod with only natural, cloudy light.
Okay, okay. . . I'll admit it. I'm obsessed. . . I love shooting tulips, and I'll shout it from the rooftops. The first ones, I call "Martha's Tulips," because I was trying for an effect I sometimes see in Martha Stewart Living Magazine: soft, gauzy and high-key, with only one element in focus.
And this one was taken last week, with over-exposure in mind. People seem to have mixed feelings about it, but I like it quite well. My mother and I have done a piece together--my photo (above) printed on watercolor paper and her encaustic painting technique. (She painted beeswax paint onto the painting and adding highlights of gold rub to the picture selectively and added a small piece of text from a very old book of poetry to the bottom right.) It looks great and I wish I had thought to take a picture of IT when I was up visiting on Saturday or Sunday last week. Oh well. . . We're putting it in an art show in Deer Isle soon and of course, like any piece of art, it may or may not sell, so I may be able to post a picture of it here eventually.
Well, that's all for today. Hope you liked my continuing tulip obsession. Thanks for looking, Cindy
Yesterday I had a brainwave: I figured out how to light the beautiful tulips that were sitting in a vase on my kitchen table from above and take dramatic pictures of them. At least I hope you'll find them as dramatic as I did. (I almost dropped my camera, I was so excited to download them!)
I'm sure all of you remember this photo of Portland Head Light. Well, I have discovered a contest called "Name your dream assignment," sponsored by Lenovo and Microsoft, in which the winner picked receives $50,000 to achieve their photographic dream. I entered with the idea of photographing every lighthouse from St. Augustine, FL all the way up to Maine at the "golden hours" of the day, dawn and dusk in my own style, eventually combining it into a book. I'm hoping that you'll all take a moment to past this link in your browser address bar to my entry and vote for it, to help me achieve this dream!
