April’s boudoir marathon was such a success, I’m lining up another for June.  I’ll let these comments from a couple of last session’s participants do the talking on what the shoot is like:

“I was worried that I would be nervous, but Tracy put me completely at ease right away.  It was like playing sexy dress-up – I had so much fun!  The images were so professional- Tracy truly captured the best version of me.  When it came time for me to show the images to my husband he was completely floored!  We both agree that I’ve never looked sexier.  I will never forget the experience and would recommend it to every woman I know! ”

“From the moment I arrived at the hotel room, Tracy made me feel at home.  The photo shoot was a blast!  Tracy made me feel very comfortable and was great about helping me to pose in flattering ways. When I received my images, I had LOTS of favorites! The whole process made me feel sexy and empowered.”

The date is June 26th, 2010.  The $200 boudoir package includes a 1 hour shoot in a boutique hotel with a DVD of all high resolution images to use as you please.  A stylist will be on hand if you’d like hair, makeup or both done for you at an additional fee.  Contact me for more info or to reserve your spot.

The vision of yesterday’s shoot started as a Trash the Dress, but ended up more like an urban bridal session.  I couldn’t bring myself to make Morgan really trash her dress…not after wedding dress shopping myself on Saturday.  The only real trashing we’d considered involved romping in a fountain, and it was far to chilly to make that work.  So I’ll call this an “Urbanizing the Dress” session :)  I had such a good time doing this shoot – I think I’m definitely starting to get a feel for where all the great spots are Downtown.  Whoever told me back in January that there weren’t many run-down buildings in Denver clearly wasn’t looking hard enough.  :)

Many people have asked if my soup project stems from a desire to be the next Julie & Julia.  Many people.  (Not just the person who left a blog comment – I am not picking on you!)  The answer is no.  Yes, I’ve seen the movie, and I liked it.  It made me want to eat lots of butter, but it didn’t inspire me to invent a cooking project to blog about.  I just like to cook.  The inspiration truly was as simple as explained here, and Meryl Streep wasn’t involved :) (Although she was fantastic in that movie – you should see it if you haven’t!)

So now that we’ve got that cleared up, here’s this week’s recipe.  This soup is hearty and filling – it definitely “eats like a meal.”  Excellent for this crazy cold spring weather we’re having.  Enjoy!

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredient

• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 medium-size fennel bulb, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 medium-size onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2/3 cup chopped celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 15-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable     broth
• 1 tsp. salt
• 8 oz. whole-wheat ditalini or orzo pasta
• 3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add fennel, onion and celery, and sauté 7 minutes, or until vegetables are softened. Add garlic, oregano and pepper flakes, and cook 1 minute more. Stir in tomatoes and beans, and simmer 10 minutes over medium-low heat.
2. Add broth, salt and 2 1/2 cups water, and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in pasta, and cook 10 minutes more, or until pasta is tender.
3. Sprinkle with parsley, and season with salt and pepper.

The last four days were a bit of a blur.  I spent them at a lighting workshop with Cliff Mautner outside Philadelphia.  I drank too much coffee.  I sat in awe of Cliff’s talent.  I learned about light.

Learning to shoot in harsh lighting and creating dramatic light were my main goals for the workshop.  I still have to play around with what I’ve learned, but so far I’m happy with the information I took away from the experience.  These are just a few shots I took of models he hired to help us practice.  They’re all shot on location at some incredible spots in Philly.

Many thanks to Cliff and everyone who attended for making the workshop a success.  I look forward to testing out my new skills at my next shoot!

Christine and Caleb are not in love.  They’re just really good at pretending to be.

Don’t fret – they’re actors.  They’ll be pretending to love each other a lot in the next few weeks for a short film they are costarring in.  These images are promotional photos for the project before filming starts.  For people who claimed to need direction on how to look like a couple, I think they did exceptionally well.

I’m heading to Philadelphia tomorrow for a lighting workshop.  I’m really looking forward to it, and I’ll be back Friday – hopefully with some images to share!