Sailing in Panama

We helped our friends, Don and Karna, sail their boat from Bocas Del Toro, Panama to the San Blas Islands. All I have to say is, "wow, Panama!".

Bocas Del Toro is a gorgeous and relaxing community, full of delightful expats who have found a way to make a living and enjoy the island lifestyle.  The San Blas Islands are stunningly beautiful and home to the Kuna Indians- from wikipedia: The San Blas Islands of Panama are an archipelago comprising approximately 378 islands and cays, of which only 49 are inhabited. They lie off the north coast of the Isthmus of Panama, east of the Panama Canal.

 On our way to the San Blas Islands, we weaved our way through smaller islands, and enjoyed the company of a number of dolphins who would find our boat to swim and jump in it's wake. We crossed the opening to the Panama Canal and were amazed by the size and number of freighters lining up to work their way through the Canal.

Once we sailed into the San Blas Islands we visited a couple of different islands where many other "cruisers" live year round on their boats.  I have included this link to the San Blas Islands to give you more information about the it's history and people. I will say that the smaller islands were the absolute perfect tropical deserted island that all of us picture in our minds.

The sailing was amazing and Panama City was beautiful.  We did get to spend a day and a half in the city exploring and taking photos...

Ten Slices to try-a Pizza Story for Madison Magazine

January- it's cold, it's dark, it's time for the perfect comfort food- pizza!  We love pizza and to have 10 new flavors to try, uhhh... I mean, photograph for the January issue of Madison Magazine was the perfect way to beat the Winter time blues. Check out some tempting new flavors from of our favorite Madison pizzerias:  Grampa's Pizzeria, Ian's Pizza, Paisan's, Pizza Brutta, Cafe Porta Alba, Glass Nickel Pizza Co., Lombardinos, Naples 15, Luigi's Pizza, and Roman Candle Pizzeria

Pancakes!

What a great shoot with Art Director, Tim Burton, for the December cover of Madison Magazine. We photographed this tempting stack of blueberry goodness on location at Marigold Kitchen.
  A popular place like Marigold's doesn't slow down for a photo shoot so we tucked our set up & gear into a corner next to some hungry breakfast patrons one early Thursday morning.  Coffee and a photography tutorial while you wait, courtesy of Madison Magazine! We also want to give a shout out to Tim for the food styling on the stack of pancakes and, ofcourse, the great cover design.

Photographing real ice cream with Jim Rude

I have always been a proponent of "keeping it real" in all aspects of my photography and photographing ice cream can be the ultimate challenge.  Food stylist, Jim Rude, is an amazing food stylist and happens to specialize in working with real ice cream.

During our shoot we took a little time to film Jim on set and prepping in the kitchen.  Check out the video to see a true master at work.  Jim offers his personal philosophy, insights and tools for working with real ice cream.  Video credits go out to Mark Gillespie at GHP Studio and Emily Kuh at Kuh Creative

103rd Race to Mackinac 2011

This year's Chicago Yacht Club's race to Mackinac Island captured by my iphone's Hipstamatic app.

July 15-18, I competed in the 103rd Race to Mackinac. Our S2/9.2, "Intuition",  finished 9th in it's division and weathered the horrific thunderstorm that swept through close to midnight July 17.  The sailboat "Wingnuts" capsized during the storm and 2 of it's crew lost their lives. It is the first time in the history of the race that anyone was killed sailing in the race.

Our boat had a crew of 6, with designated pairs rotating shifts. Two of the crew had competed in the race the past 3 years (finishing 2nd in their division the last 2 years).  For the rest of the crew it was the first time to compete in one of the most challenging and longest annual freshwater sailing races in the world.
Total elapsed time  72:56:17 
I'm already planning for next year's 104th challenge.

Racing the Queen's Cup, 2011

Now for something completely different.

We are sailors.  My husband, Mark, and I co-own a S2, 9.2 with several friends.  Mark and the crew have placed 2nd in their division in the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac the past 2 years. This will be the first year I will be joining the crew.

The CYC Race to Mackinac is one of the most respected fresh water yacht races in the country. All sailboats, big & small may compete with an invitation from the race committee. Our boat, "Intuition", is in the small category and races in it's division with similar boats of size and sails.

In preparation for the Race to Mackinac we took on the Queen's Cup race on July 1, 2011. The race starts at the South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee, WI and ends in Muskegan, MI. Our elapsed finish time was 10 hours and 31 minutes. The beginning of the race was intense. One of the boats in our division demasted (exactly what it sounds like!) and we were pushing the hull speed of our boat by surfing off of 8 foot swells for the first third of the race. Well, here's a short clip of what you could see from our boat:

We will start the Race to Mackinac for our division on July 15. If you would like to share in the fun just check back here for a link to track the boats during the race. I will post that information as soon as the CYC  web site has it available.

Also, here's a bit of our new video endeavors, a rough cut right now but we hope to continue developing our video and editing capabilities.  We have also made investments in better sound equipment- the goal is to do all of these things AND sail the boat at the same time. Enjoy:

Steenbock's and Fountain Prairie

I had the opportunity to photograph some of Chef Michael Pruett's creations for Steenbock's on Orchard. Michael's passion is developing recipes in the "molecular gastronomy" tradition. New tastes, textures and visual surprises provided new opportunities for experimenting with lighting and camera angles.

Steenbock's focuses on sourcing foods from local farms and vendors and the menu reflects seasonally diverse fare based on availability of certain ingredients throughout the year. I wanted to document where the food comes from as well as the final dishes served at the restaurant. Michael invited me to join him for a morning at Fountain Prairie Farms while he inspected what the organic garden would offer him for the week's menu.

After touring the farm I took a little time with Michael in the restored barn to do a few film portraits. I found one last roll of Agfachrome 1000 for my Hasselblad 500C.  It felt amazing to hold the camera again and it was easy to remember how to load the 120 film back, even after 8 years of not using it. I love that camera and I will be making a point of bringing it to more of my projects.