Let's keep the food photography going, shall we? I learned a lot about myself and how I shoot through the process of entering that juried exhibition, and I made a promise to myself that each week I'd be on the look out for something beautiful at the market and bring it home to photograph. A little weekly push to get my eye trained to be on the look out.

Well, how could I pass up this beautiful purple asparagus? Purple! Asparagus! Well. I had fun.

We love roasted asparagus (Face it, we love asparagus any way you slice it.), but for this gorgeous stuff, I wanted something special. Enter the poached egg.

The only problem? I've never poached an egg. I know, I know. Sounds silly, but everything I've heard about it is how tricky the process is, and I was intimidated.

So I read a few recipes and looked at a couple of videos (there a quite the varying opinions regarding technique, it seems), and finally, with Cal standing by for moral support, I got brave and just did a trial run. The recipe/technique I used was this one.

And you know what? It turned out okay! We were astonished. Since he's allergic to raw or undercooked eggs, poor Cal couldn't even reap the reward, but he was still thrilled! We did it again for dinner that night, and things turned out just as tasty.

You've roasted asparagus, right? That part's super easy. Just break or chop off the tough ends, toss them on a cookie sheet with some olive oil and some salt and pop them in the oven (maybe 400º-425º ?) for 30 minutes or so. I just keep an eye on them, really. When they soften and brown a bit, they're ready. Put an egg on them and they're something else entirely. Something pretty special.

After I took that last shot, I added some balsamic glaze, and that was pretty special too.

So. Deep breath. How about these apples? Earlier this month, food photographer Matt Armendariz put out a call on his twitter feed for submissions for a food photography show at Darkroom Galleries. The show, called Feast, would be judged by Matt who would chose 45 photos including a Juror's Choice and three Honorable Mentions.

Well, dear reader. I entered it. It took much deliberation, honest it did, but I culled through my food photographs and even shot some new ones. Once I narrowed them down to about ten, my photography group helped me narrow those down even further to the four you could submit. Finally with the back up of Neel and Cal, I hit enter. Matt chose two, the ones you see above, for the exhibit.

I never, in a million years, dreamed that this would happen for me.

When I decided to submit some of my photos, my real goal was simply to go through the process. I haven't really done anything like this before, and I wanted to learn a bit about myself (I did) and a bit more about who I am as a photographer (I really did). Working with my photo group was amazing. Just talking it out with them, helped to focus my thoughts, and gave me more confidence in the choices I made about my submissions. I know what I'm good at and where my weaknesses lie, and I knew were not to push myself and where to really trust my eye.

You may not know Matt Armendariz, but people, he's the bomb. Aside from being a phenomenal photographer, he's written two books, one a cookbook and the other a food photography book, and he's shot for many big names including Target, the Food Network, Food and Wine, Pom Wonderful and Coastal Living. Just knowing that he'd be looking at my work was enough to A) terrify me, but B) give me the push to do it.

And knowing that he chose two of my photos? Well, I'm proud, and astonished, and humbled, and pretty much over the moon.

I still haven't come down yet.

Here's the link to Feast, where you can see all of the photos chosen for the exhibit, including the Juror's Choice and Honorable Mentions.

put an egg on it {life}

feast {still + life}