Homemade Pizza Party!

Now I am a much better blog follower than I am creator/author. Fact.

I do see myself improving and benefitting from my cyberspace creation. So forward and onward.

One of my favourite blogs is WhiteOnRiceCouple.com - maybe one of the cutest couples that blog and they like me love photography and food hence I follow, admire, and aspire to be like them. So yesterday they did a post on their commissioned promo video for Jeff Hertberg and Zoe Francois's new book, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five minutes a Day and there are beautiful photographs of an artsy fartsy pizza gathering amongst friends.

This inspired me to share photographs from the little pizza party that I hosted in the summer.

So at a Sunday beach picnic we decided to have a pizza party at my aunt's house (I was house-sitting) the very following day (the Monday) and before I knew it - AAHHH - people were coming to eat pizza by me!!!

A few things we did that worked and I recommend:

• I mixed dough in the morning before I headed off to work (which allowed the yeasty dough to rise while I slaved away at the daily grind). I cannot recall what recipe I used - so sorry - and I didn't want to lie to you so no recipe in this post.
• I asked everyone to bring toppings. This works because usually people can gather odds and ends from their refrigerator (at last minute notice) and as a result your pizza party has an eclectic mix of toppers. We got everything from feta cheese to pesto to picnic ham to olives to balsamic vinegar.
• Another thing that worked was making your guests do hard labour - get them to the top the pizzas - duh!! We divided up the dough so that everyone could get creative and construct their own masterpieces. This however had an unexpected catch - their masterpiece had to be shared amongst the party.
• Since we only had one pizza stone (and it was on the BBQ - impressive no?) the speed of producing toasty, melty, yummy pizzas was extremely slightly hindered. This handicap was rectified by simply sharing. One pizza went on and when cooked to perfection it was cut up and placed in the centre of the table for everyone to have a nibble. So basically it was one course of pizza goodness after another.

My favourite topping for that evening - a cracked egg!! yummy!!!

Now these photos are nothing to brag about - they are dark, the ISO is high but you got to give me points - I didn't do the dishes :)

The day there was no Blackberry Messenger

On Wednesday, 12th October 2011 - a pretty good day in the year - Blackberry messenger took a snooze!

It was slightly inconvenient and people had to resort back to archaic texting and the dreaded phonecalls :P

People vocalized their frustrations on Facebook and cursed the world. Ultimately a day without free instant messaging sucks but it is definitely NOT the end of the world.

Below are two videos that suit this momentous, not-really-a-big-deal, sans-BBM day!

Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk in Barbados

About two weeks ago I went on my second official photo walk. The walk was organized by the BPS (Barbados Photographic Society) and was part of the Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk. 

Consett Bay

Approximately fifty people attended the walk and we all meet up at Codrington College. This way no one would get lost on the drive down to Consett Bay where the walk commenced at 5:30am sharp (crazy person hour). To get there on time I had to rise out of a very deep slumber at 4:00am on a Saturday morning - pretty sure I am going to think long and hard before doing that again.

Once my mind and body were alert-ish, and I arrived safely at Consett Bay with fellow photo-takers, I got into the photo-taking mood. On the walk we visited 2 bays/beaches and one cliffside on the East Coast (Atlantic Ocean side of Barbados). Beautiful!!

Photo compliments Google.com and the magic of Photoshop

Despite the beautiful rugged scenery I wasn't too enthused to take photos of the sea and bays. Now I am not 100% why but I figure it was one or a mix of the following reasons:

• waking up on the wrong side of the bed (highly doubt this - because I found enough time in the morning to make eggs and brew coffee before heading off)
• not having the right equipment to shoot landscapes
• the weather was not ideal for landscapes shots (it was a hazy morning)
• not remembering how to do bracketing (taking 3 images at different exposures - correct, over, and under exposed photos - so that you can combine them to create on immaculate High Dynamic Range (HDR) photograph).
• or that landscapes just aren't my thing

However I did enjoy finding the quirky objects that might have been over-looked details of our surroundings. I photographed two signs that were displayed in an area that appeared to be the common area for the fisherfolk to drink and socialize. Take a read of the above and below signs - priceless!

Grandmaster Earl Bobsy Watson (a damn good name for a security dog)

Below are some other photos of the day!

Photo-taking friends :)

The cliffside we visited - but my sea is over exposed and the cliffside under exposed :( boo

Another quirky-ish shot - an improvement from my first attempt at photographing weeds.

After the walk I returned to Codrington College to take photographs of the lily pond - you will see those photos soon!

First Photowalk with the BPS

So I know I keep bigging up the Barbados Photographic Society - but I just got to. My first photo walk was about 3 weeks ago and we went to Bulkeley Sugar Factory - all organized by the BPS. It was refreshing to be in other photographers company - other people with tripods and camera bags - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now this isn't a working sugar factory as far as I know. It is in fact very run down but the lack of human activity has resulted in a mossy, moldy, rusty, overgrown property full of interesting texture and colours. The early wake up call allowed us to photograph around sunrise - so we got good morning, warm light.

I took a whole bunch of photos but while going through all of the ones I edited - I noticed that not only did I focus on different textures (rust, moss, bricks, vines, etc.) I got a lot of photographs of doors and windows. When I am taking photos I am realising that I am drawn to symmetry and architectural features - I like lines whether round, straight, or curved.

So here are some windows and doors - who would have thought that a factory would have such an array!! :)

Conquered my first photo walk and 4am wake up call - that called for a photo of myself!! Thank you self timer.

Since this walk I have done another photowalk along the east coast of Barbados. Those photos are soon to come - just need to be edited.

I really want to watch LOVE ETC.

So it is Friday and I officially have a weekend of relaxation ahead - the plan tonight is leftovers and a film.

I like going to the cinema and sharing the popcorn but I do not go often at all - for the last year I have gone 3 1/2 times.

1. Hangover 2
2. Kinky Boots (watched at an Independent film festival - so so so good - real British humour)
3. Bridesmaids
4. ... attempted to go to Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Pt 2 ... got there at the wrong time.

A couple months ago I saw the trailer for a documentary film called LOVE ETC. on a blog I follow and have been wanting to see it ever since.

The film's website describes the documentary as "a witty, poignant and humorous exploration about the universal stages of love, depicted through five real stories over the course of one year in New York City. Young, old, gay straight - everyone has experienced love - and the joy and frustration that come with it. ... LOVE ETC. documents the intimate journeys of engaging characters aged 18-89 who reflect the city's diversity, and takes an honest look at life's most challenging pursuit."

To me this movie looks like the real life LOVE ACTUALLY! One of my all time favourite films - especially coming up to Christmas time.

Take a look at the trailer:

I really wanted to watch this movie tonight (after watching the trailer - you might want to as well) but sadly I could not find it on sale on iTunes. :-(

Looks like I have to remain waiting with baited breath and tonight I have to settle with HBO.

If you too want to see this documentary film check out their website!

Happy Weekend All! x

A learning experience - Child photography

Last weekend one of my closest friends asked me to take photographs of her beautiful 2 1/2 year old daughter. She liked the photograph that I entered in the Royal Commonwealth Photography competition and really wanted some nice photos of her baby girl.

Now as a very amateur photographer - I jumped at the opportunity. Afterall I said I was going to take the reins of photography and move forward. Another challenge :)

Now we decided to meet up on the island's boardwalk located on the South Coast. It had been raining for two days straight and by the afternoon it was still overcast but later there was an amazing orange glow - got to love a good sunset.

Again I used my 50mm 1.8 lens.

What I love about this lens is that I can get the 1.8 aperture - this is depth of field on a camera (it allows a small area of the photo in focus and the rest of the photo (in my case the background) to be blurry). For some reason I enjoy photographing faces with a small/short aperture - I think it is because you automatically focus on the face because there is no/little distraction in the background.

What you need to know is that this lens does not allow you to zoom in and out because it is a fixed lens. This is a challenge because you physically have to move to be able to get your desired frame of the subject.

So down the line I will need to upgrade and find a more versatile lens.

But you be the judge. Take a look at what I got!

Kayleigh (blurry background)

Kayleigh and Mummy

Now one of the things I learnt that day - when taking photographs of children especially ones that are shy in the beginning (most will be like deers in a headlight) - you need some props. Luckily, Jackie came to the rescue with a fantastic black and white umbrella. The umbrella changed Kayleigh's demeanour. She was now playing and not getting her photograph taken by mum's weird friend.

Thanks Jacks for the umbrella (it added so much to the photos) - I will know now that props are necessary. Because PROPS = DISTRACTION.

Somebody was excited!! :)

Then there were baby turtles being rescued from the shore (poor little things were going in the opposite direction of the sea) that was the next distraction. 

Checking out the turtles - but not getting too close.

And then the last bit of the sun's rays poking through the clouds - what a nice glow!

Toodles! 

Royal Commonwealth Photographic Awards 2011

Exactly one month ago today - I was having a pretty shitty morning. Most of you can relate.


I came to work looking like a wreck and feeling like a wreck but little did I know what glorious news was waiting for me in my inbox. So I continued with the usual routine - made a latte, checked my work  inbox, chatted to my work colleagues about my shitty morning and then finally made it to my personal inbox.


BOOM!


There it was the pivotal moment when my shitty day took a turn for the best. An email from the Royal Commonwealth Society announcing that I was a Senior Bronze Winner for the 2011 Commonwealth Photographic Award.


WOW!


I entered this competition at the beginning of summer - the primary reason was simply to enter a competition. I have only been doing photography for one year and 2 months and I wanted to "push" myself to enter a photo of mine into something... anything.


And the second reason - was not only the well recognized Society but also the theme that the photograph needed to embody: "Women as agents of change". I like boundaries and outlines and in this case themes: it makes me more creative and ultimately challenges me.


So I entered the following image:

My main goal was to get an image to illustrate that Women are agents of change through generations. I did a little write up to go with my photograph and it can all be found and read on the society's Flickr account. You can also browse through the other winners - Amazing stuff :)

And to quote the congratulatory email: "We received hundreds of entries from young aspiring and professional photographers from every corner of the Commonwealth. Just 22 photos have been chosen for exhibition and 8 have been awarded these top prizes. The standard of entry is always extremely high and entrants competed with their peers from 46 countries. Congratulations!

As a special prize commissioned by the Western Australian Government, your photo will be exhibited at the Commonwealth Festival Perth. This will take place during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (23-30 October), attended by 54 leaders from across the world. Every two years all Commonwealth leaders come together, with Her Majesty the Queen, to discuss important global priorities. The 2011 CHOGM in Perth is a special event as it is here that the findings of the Eminent Persons Report into the future of the Commonwealth will be released."

There will also be an exhibition of the winning photographs during the Commonwealth Week in March 2012 in London, England.

BLIMEY!!

You can check out more about the Royal Commonwealth Society on their website. They also have a competition running at the moment: Jubilee Time Capsule - go check it out!

And on top of all this lovely stuff already - I just got an email yesterday saying 12 photographs (mine included) will be featured in the October Edition of Silvershotz - the International Journal of Contemporary Photography.

BOY OH BOY!!! 

Below you can see some other photographs I was able to snap that morning. The biggest challenge was photographing inside the house on a cloudy day with no external lighting (need to work on my flash photography skills) - I used a 50mm 1.8f and it worked :)

Drawing on Toilet Paper

Norma and I

So 1 photoshoot, 1 photograph and 1 award later - I have decided to take this photography thing a little more seriously. I am participating in the Barbados Photographic Society's events. In the last month I have done one workshop (macro photography) and one photowalk (a rundown sugar factory) and I am signed up for another photowalk this Saturday morning.


So look out for photographs!!

Gift giving - make it personal

For my birthday this summer I was given a basket of grocery goodies. Fun and exotic spices you do not find on the shelves of the ordinary grocery store or even items that I think to put in my shopping cart.

Nowadays birthday-present shopping is not easy.

People of today are usually able to buy what they want, when they want it and it leaves the present-buyer asking the question "what the **** can I get them??".

My solution is to turn to personal gifts.

Now to the ordinary person - getting a bunch of packaged spices and herbs is not the idea of a fantastic gift.

But this gift was tailored to me!!

I enjoy cooking and experimenting with different ingredients. Occasionally I read recipe books and now I have the challenge (a good one) of introducing new flavours to future dishes.

Here is what was in the birthday basket of grocery goodies:

1. Mathie: also known as Fenugreek is used in pickles, curry powders and pastes. 
2. Mix Massala: is a combination of dried spices. Mine is a mix of Coriander seed, cumin seed, mathie, Souphe (not sure what that is), black cumin, mustard seed, and other spices. 
3. Geera (whole cumin): Apparently cumin is the second most popular spice in the world after black pepper - who would have thought? Cumin in either its whole or ground form is used in many different cuisines around the world.
4. Red Cooking Peppers: the bag says that it is a selection of dried chili peppers - add a little spice to my cooking.
5. Saffron powder (tumeric): Tumeric comes from the ginger family and is a spice commonly used in curries and other South Asian Middle Eastern cuisine.
6. Massori Dhal: also known as Dal is a preparation of pulses (dried lentils, peas or beans) which have been striped of their outer hulls and split. Massori is red lentils.  
7. Whole Cardamon: also a member of the ginger family and also known as Cardamom. There are two types and this one photographed is Elettaria (Elichie). It is used in Indian cuisine - they even use it to flavour coffee and teas.
8. Raw Geera: same as number 3 just ground into a fine powder.
9. Tamarind: is used in desserts and apparently is found in Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce. 
10. Mangril (black cumin): there are two types of seeds that come from different plants and are both given the name black cumin - mine is Nigella (or Nangilla as my packet says) and is more common in the West.

All the above information was taken from Wikipedia. I hope to start cooking something soon. Mostly it will be a big pot of curry - mmm mmm good!!

So the moral of the story: give the gift some thought and go with something personal :)

Need an Exercising Playlist!

Last Christmas, I received an iShuffle from Santa Claus aka Dad. This device was on my Christmas wishlist because my MP3 wasn't waterproof and decided to go belly up upon contact with water.

Now I want to start back running and desperately need a musical companion - Mr. iShuffle. But unfortunately he is a mute - due to lack of music files.

So this weekend's challenge is to put a high-energy, good running, self motivating, booty shaking playlist together. This will definitely be a challenge for me - I haven't had a radio in my car for over a year and a half - so my only connection to the musical world is via Jango.com (my internet radio of choice), Rick.com (Top 40s - that plays on the radio every Sunday here in Barbados), and from the occasional night out to the bar (mind you - I rarely can recall the songs I heard and liked).

It will also be difficult because I am stuck on mellower music (only listen when I am doing mellow things). I decided to share one of my favourite songs of the moment - he is Paolo Nutini (a mix up of Jason Mraz, David Grey, and Damien Rice - and some old school feel). It is hard to explain - this is not my forte. But anyway - have a listen!

Guess who's back?

So I am starting small. I took a very long hiatus - 2 months and 16 days - but who is counting... honestly.

I am not.

But today is the day - I am back. And I am starting small.

On Saturday we got a new puppy and we have named her Rosie. She is a mutt, about 8 weeks old and we adopted her her from the RSPCA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in Barbados.

And after work this evening I picked some avocados from our neighbour's tree (the tree is littered with these wonderful fruit)- they are so green and perfect - photo op.

So here are some photos - so enjoy!

Rosie

See you again soon!

long live soca music

You know it is summer in Barbados when you hear soca/calypso/ragga ragga music on the radio all day, everyday. It is comparable to carols at Christmas time.

I have to say first thing in the morning, soca = not my thing. But on a Friday afternoon, it is the best thing to get your weekend started especially during summertime.

Each year new songs come on to the airwaves to compete. Below you will find my favourite (so far) for 2011 - It is from Trinidad and it is brilliant. The song is called Wotless and the music video features all walks of life dancing and having a good time = cutest thing!!

Below that is my Dad's favourite road march - Something's Happening by RPB's (Red Plastic Bag) a Bajan soca song from 2009. Dad has bought the CD twice and it is definitely the go-to party-starter song. There is no music video but the lyrics give an accurate account of Barbados' Crop Over.

Click here (Wikipedia) or here (random site) for more on the history of soca/calypso music.

Even though it is Monday morning, one might as well embrace the soca season! So take a listen to the my favourite soca songs below.

Wotless by KES (Trinidad) 2011

Something Happening by RED PLASTIC BAG (Barabdos) 2009

Enjoy!

Grenadines Sailing Trip

So the family has decided that this year we along with 3 other Lewis families are going on a sailing trip through the Grenadines for our summer vacation.

A trip to France and England was our initial plan for the family getaway but the cost of airfare was steep steep STEEP!! New ideas needed to be created and explored.

We contemplated the city of New York, northern coast of Jamaica, the rockies in Canada and the list went on. It got to a point were we were not sure if a family vacation was even going to materialize because budget and multiple opinions were not aligning.

But then... we heard that my uncle and his family were heading down (aka sailing through) the Grenadines for a week. Then we found a boat that met our criteria (a/c, 4 cabins, 4 washrooms, catamaran): Leopard 47 Kilkenny Kats. And then we found more family to fill up the two extra cabins on board (aunts, uncles, cousins). Sweet!!

So now that the boat is booked: a count down has been started, an exercise plan commenced and necessary nautical outfits jotted down on a shopping list.

Planning vacations can be stressful but the end result can be amazing!

Let the planning begin!

Champagne and Firecrackers

So my little brother (not so little any more) is back from boarding school and his arrival started with a bang... literally! Not only did we cook a feast fit for a king but we popped champagne and lit some firecrackers.

While Dad and Ryan played like young boys, Mum and I sipped champagne. 

Action shot

We are so happy this dude is home!

Summer has officially begun :)