Gluten-free Gourmet

For those of you are not aware - and why would you be, really? - for health reasons, I try my best to follow a wheat-free, soy-free, dairy-free, sugar-free diet (among a few other other things). Whew! That's a mouthful. The reason I say "try" is because when you're attempting to avoid so many things that are prevalent in day-to-day foods (there is sugar in everything), one of the aforementioned offending ingredients inevitably slips in. Thank goodness this happens in small amounts!

Now why would I tell you this on my photography blog, you ask? For two reasons:

1. I'm trying to blog more often.
2. I found an absolutely AMAZING website and had to share!

Elana's Pantry is possibly the best thing that's happened to me since sliced bread (preferably of the brown rice based variety). Not only does she have some delicious recipes that have been ravely reviewed all across the internet, she has decent pictures to back up what she's whipping together.

Can I get a "Hallelujah?!"

Okay, I am off to go rejoice in a delightful Dianne-friendly dinner cooked by my amazing, thoughtful boyfriend. I leave you with a picture as food for thought. *Ahem* Pun intended.

Cheers!


*The photo above is neither sugar-free, wheat-free OR dairy-free. I attached it because a post without a photo on a photography blog seems rather silly, don't you think? Besides, it's the only photo of food that I have taken in the last three years!

3.10.09 Ana!

Here is Ana ... she is such a kick in the pants. I can't start to explain how fun it is to hold a full conversation with a two-year-old - especially when taking her pictures! My favorite interaction of the day:

Mom: "Ana, don't you want to play with your umbrella?"
Ana: "No thanks, Mom. I don't need it, it's not raining."

Hah!

Ana Teaser

Little Miss Ana ...

Reminiscing ...

I discovered my missing back-up CDs! AH!

For those of you who didn't know me in college, here's a little background on the j-school at the University of Montana: we were required to shoot film. We started with b&w, then after getting into the program as juniors, we were required to shoot slide film. Even in the studio. For each assignment, we basically had 24-36 frames to get it right. Exposure, composition, framing - everything had to be done correctly in the original image otherwise you had to re-shoot the assignment, took a docked grade and ate $16 ($8 for the film, $8 for developing). We scanned our negatives and were allowed some post-processing (such as cleaning up dust), but we turned in our RAW files as well as our edited files and were graded on both. None of the wonderful editing capabilites of photoshop we now have as digital photographers that can save our butts if we didn't get it right (even cropping!). Don't get me wrong, I love digital, but mainly for the financial breaks - not it's many technological abilities. It probably explains a lot if you have ever had a conversation with me about digital photography and my end seemed anything but knowledgeable!

Now I rely on my digital for the majority of my work, but still shoot film at every session. Bottom line? I can't afford to shoot film! On top of that, I haven't found a decent place in PDX that I trust for development (I had a bad run-in with a developer in Missoula and am now uber-cautious). But I love the look of film, and I'm more comfortable with it as a medium. I think I take better photos when shooting with it and I am grateful that I was taught the essentials of photography basics with film (the U has now moved to an all-digital format). Don't get me started. I wrote my entire senior thesis on the transition from film to digital, and it's many cons ... enough of this tirade.

Anyway, here are a few images I found in my long-lost backups. They were all shot with film and I just thought I'd share since I need to blog more anyway. Enjoy!




My beautiful aunt ...

3.7.09 Timothy Arlen One Year!

Finally! Sandra and I rescheduled this portrait session about four times before we finally lucked out on weather and/or lack of sickness (on both of our parts). Timothy is technically 14 months now, and he is running and talking! It's been amazing to watch this little man grow up. What a ham. Enjoy!

3.7.09 Teaser for Timothy Arlen

Timothy! He's such a grown up little man!

2.21.09 Photoshoot with Missy Cochran

I apologize for taking so long to get these up, but here they are! Last month, my friend Missy Cochran and I decided to go play on one of those beautiful Saturdays that Portland randomly seems to get mid-winter. She took pics of me, I took pics of her. My new banner on the blog are all done by Missy herself! We had a great time, and it was a great practice shoot! Let me know what you think ...

3.2.09 Overhaul

After doing some research, I discovered that the name "dbphoto" is already taken! Therefore, on this wonderful day off of mine, I overhauled the blog. The link is still the same, but the name hath changed! Enjoy!

-dianne