Education Not So Unplugged
If there was even a shred of hesitation about coming on this trip, it has all but vanished. Not only have I made new friends, gotten my Mexican food on, enjoyed sun, surf and pool — I’ve learned a great amount about blogging, writing, food photography and food styling. I’m feeling a bit like a sponge. And I think God spoke to us in the afternoon…
…in the form of Matt Armendariz as he talked about photography and light. During his chat with us about directional light and shooting with natural light, Matt shared this with us; “Just as I showed you that I can add light, I showed you I can take light away.” And he did. He showed us how to use inexpensive tools to make and remove light. And you thought there was a higher power involved with giving light and taking it away. Feh! I give you Matt.
Now — after all these years, do I have to question Hebrew National answering to a higher power? Quite possibly.
Look at all of us with our cameras! It's like the food paparazzi have overrun Club Med, Ixtapa.
Adam gets his food styling mojo on for us
In the morning in another relaxed, laid back environment, Adam shared some of his food styling techniques. First things first … GO SHOPPING! And if anyone’s going to win my heart, it’s someone that extolls the virtues of shopping. While I love to shop, I’ve got cabinets and closets full of props, but I suddenly feel the need to look at things with a purpose when we go to market in Zihuatanejo on Friday. Nothing big. Nothing breakable. I’ve got a crystal ball and I see vibrant textiles finding their way into my luggage.
The styled plate at the window
We watched a step-by-step demo of a dish being transformed from bland white strands of pasta into a photo-worthy dish that I’d like to recreate when I get home. Adam’s presentation was clear, it was informative and it was relaxed. I’ll bet this is hard to accomplish when you’ve got someone with the power of giving and taking light at your side.
I’m can’t speak for the others, but I feel more confident in my ability to compose better looking plates of food now.
Speaking of disappearing light …
In 2007 my career with a large, but shrinking high tech Fortune 50 \"left me,\" leaving a void in my life. While lamenting the loss and flying around the world looking for a new career to get married to, I discovered a way to use a familiar outlet during tough times -- writing. My blog-writing morphed into writing about my favorite past time -- Food! I purchase food, sell food, make food, watch food being made, broadcast meal preparation, photograph and blog about food. Like I said; Food! To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box. 
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OH THAT LOOKS LIKE SO SO MUCH FUN! I’M GLAD YOU ARE HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME! You will have to TEACH ME some of the things you learned!
Fun is only 1 word for it! Fabulous. Relaxing. Stimulating. Invigorating. Delicious! Educational… This is a GREAT vacation!
Fran, this is great, how do I follow if I don’t twitter?
Kathleen, I post almost daily, so you can bookmark the blog or put it in a feed reader if you have one so that each new blog post will appear like magic.
Fran it was so wonderful to meet you. Love your blog and looking forward to following it!