Spring Cleaning

Here in France, spring is gloriously peering around winter's corner even though in England spring remains lurking in a dreary disguise. With the dawn of spring's arrival comes new changes and new directions for me. It has been a busy and stressful few weeks finding the courage to take this new direction towards something I love, but I'm happy to say that I'm excited and ready to embark on a new adventure. I'm throwing myself into the world of photography and fortunately I have been given a wonderful opportunity, an opportunity which has truly made me feel that life has handed me a piece of gold, a door leading to my dream. I have a long way to go but these are those first steps and perhaps life has some great things in store. Indeed I hope so. But I do believe that to a large extent you make your own luck and so in pursuit of my dreams, I am determined to work hard and give it my all, and hopefully, fingers crossed, success will be given in return.

I have come home to France to spend some time with Samuel and my family. It's a long needed break and within the 24 hours I have been here, I feel a huge weight has been lifted; a weight of stress, worry and a mountainous workload. Perhaps an escape every once in a while is what is needed to gain some clarity, clarity that things are not always as confusing and stressful as they seem and that I need not be afraid.

When Samuel and I touched down in France we were greeted by my Mum and Dad and of course our boy Toffee (I have decided to dedicate a later post to Toffee as I truly feel that a dog so unbelievably gorgeous, odd and nutty deserves a literary dedication, even if only in blog form). Within minutes of arriving at our house I just felt a warm, cozy blanket of comfort wrap around me and I was happy to be home. Later on in the day, my family and I took our boy for a walk along the sea front and thus the inspiration for my post was born. It was an afternoon enjoying the small things; walking our dog, spending time as a family, taking photos and noticing those little things, although small, still worthy of a look in, and perhaps a quick snap with my camera.

Following our lovely afternoon stroll came the most amazing home cooked dinner courtesy of my Mum. We had roast turkey (we are probably the only family who eat this after Christmas day), Mum's famous roast potatoes (recipe is in an earlier post), roasted parsnips with honey (recipe included today), roasted cauliflower and broccoli cheese, and brussel sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts. It was amazing, nothing beats a home cooked meal, so much so I ate far too fast and left myself feeling like a heffalump. However, I am a firm believer that sometimes it is simply wonderful to just enjoy a meal to the point when all you can physically do is lie on a sofa and ask your other half to rub your belly.

So here are some photos from our lovely day. You can click on all photos to enlarge them! On an exciting note (well an exciting note for me!), all of these photos were taken on my new 85mm lens. This lens makes me so happy, the colour rendition and sharpness is just lovely!

I know it sounds somewhat corny but I really encourage you to go out with a camera, any camera, and you will be amazed at how different the world looks. You will start to see things you wouldn't normally notice, colours will pop out at you, shapes will grab you, and you will look for the most beautiful and interesting angle in everything you see. I may not be a photographer yet, but I can appreciate the wonders that come along with taking photos and seeing the world through a lens.

I knew spring had arrived when I saw these in our garden, the colour is amazing.

These kids were out playing on the rocks; I love how all of them are in motion and in a straight line!

While having our stroll we noticed lots of older couples sitting together looking out at the sea. It was nice to see people taking the time to sit together and enjoy each other's company and perhaps the smaller things in life.

I hope these two still have something to say to each other!

This just made me relish in the anticipation of summer's arrival.

Samuel noticed this love heart sand castle.

Samuel may have felt like a plonker while I took this photo, but I love it. Summer in your hands!

Our beautiful boy! I have lots of photos of him for a later post but I couldn't resist this one.

The love of my life!

Probably one of my favourites from the afternoon.

I felt a bit sad that this man was sitting all alone. I'm one of those people who will become overwhelmed with sadness when I see an old man or woman alone somewhere, without a partner. I always hope there is someone at home waiting for them...

I liked the shapes on this wall.

I wonder what he was sketching? I like to take pictures of people while they are unawares.

So I encourage you all to have some time with your family and enjoy those days when you have time to notice those little things which become lost in the midst of our hectic lives, and of course, preferably with a camera!

Here is the recipe for the honey roasted parsnips I mentioned earlier. I am a firm believer that vegetables are boring and will remain boring unless you know how to bring them to life with your culinary charm. Vegetables are a bit rough around the edges and need your love and care; in turn your taste buds will be overwhelmed with surprise and you will love them! Roasting vegetables is always much better than boiling. As parsnips are naturally sweet, adding honey or even maple syrup really brings out that sweetness and it works so well. This recipe would also work with carrots or half carrots, half parsnips. You could throw in some sprigs of thyme if you fancied.

Honey Roast Parsnips

Serves 4-6

1kg of parsnips or carrots or both

2 tbsp honey or maple syrup

1-2 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt an black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200 celsius

2. Peel your parsnips and chop off the rooty tops and ends

3. If your parsnips are small, slice them in half. If somewhat bigger slice in half then half again. You want thickish fingers or chunky strips of parsnip!

4. Parboil in salted boiling water for about 3 minutes so they have lost some hardness but are still firm.

5. Place them in your roasting tray and pour over the olive oil and honey or maple syrup and season with sea salt and pepper. Then place in the oven.

6. Roast for 20 minutes or until golden and browned. Turn them every so often. Just keep cooking until they look yummy! Towards the end you could turn the oven up to 220 if you want to colour them faster.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading and wish me luck on my new adventures. I promise to keep you posted! Feel free to leave a comment, I love comments!

xxx

                                 

Snapshots of Darband

I was pondering about my friends the other day and I realised that despite being English and living in England, only a few of my close friends are actually English. Now this is not to say that I dislike the English in any way, but rather it appears that my earlier lifestyle as a fully fledged globe trotter seems to be reflected in my multicultural group of friends. Perhaps my peculiar, somewhat Americanized English accent repels them, indeed I hope not. However, I am really grateful for my multicultural group of friends; it means I am constantly learning about other cultures and this never ceases to interest me. The other week I experienced a Chinese New Year festival and this week my Iranian friend Asieh took me to an Iranian cultural event called Darband. Asieh and I met about 15 years ago when I moved to Malaysia and our families have stayed in touch ever since. It was great to see her again and I am very happy that so many friends from my past still have a place in my life today. I really believe that the friendships you make over the years and the people with whom you develop close relationships, become a big component of who you are and how you see the world.


This event was a mixture of live music and the arts and it was a great opportunity for me to get rather camera happy! The lighting and atmosphere was crazy; multicoloured, flashing lights, red walls, you name it, it was there. It was a great challenge and I hope you like the photos. Before I get to them I thought I would tell you a bit about this event and what it represents. Thank you to Asieh for providing the info! Also thanks to Asieh for letting me sneak in a few photos of her, she looks stunning. You can see these towards the end of the post.


The event was taking place on Chaharrshanbe Suri; this is celebrated on the last Tuesday night of the Persian year. The Persian year starts on the first day of spring (21st March). This celebration dates back to 1700 BC and is a Zorastrian tradition. The name of the event is composed of two words; "Chaharrshanbe"meaning Wednesday and "Suri" meaning crimson. Crimson because for this occasion, people make fires (fire symbolizes light) and jump over them while saying "take my yellow (pallor, sickness) away and give me your crimson, which symbolizes health, life, and joy. This feast of fire is a prologue to spring and therefore, Nowruz (the Persian New Year). Asieh explained to me that Darband was simply a fun way to gather together Iranians in London to celebrate this occasion and we were really happy to go along with her. This is the first event I have covered and Asieh is kindly using some of my images in a report she is writing! I thought I would keep this as a somewhat shorter post as there are so many photos included.


You can click on the photos to enlarge them.


This is Radio Tehran, they were a huge hit on the night!

I loved this cellist; she was really great and had some wonderful expressions! I think I got carried away!

Check out the crazy red lighting!

You can see what a huge hit Radio Tehran were!

I love looking around at people and capturing their expressions. The atmosphere here was great.

The bassist in the band. I love the way the camera man looks hidden in the light.

A bit of still life!

I couldn't resist another one, she's so photogenic.

After Radio Tehran finished there were other live events. This guy was really into it!

I will end with this photo of Asieh, I love it! We took it on a London Underground platform, waiting for our train home.

I hope you enjoyed the photos, feel free to leave a comment. I am rushing to get this post up for my good friend Asieh so she can choose photos to include in her report, so I won't include my usual recipe. I promise there will be one with my next post!
xx

Baby Steps

I thought it was about time I filled you in on what has been going on since my last post. If I'm honest I have been having quite a hard week; I have a lot of work on, deadlines looming and I'm feeling rather deflated. Sometimes life just sucks the air out of you and you just drearily flop your way from one week day to the next. Yesterday was quite a low point. You see I found myself getting excited about a falafel sandwich from Pret a Manger. Quite frankly I could have made a better sandwich myself and I'm not even that big a fan of brown bread nor am I vegetarian, but for some reason the chickpea and falafel filling got me somewhat excited, so much so I took a picture for you all. Before you say it, yes I do realize that my days are starved of excitement at the moment but please do not pity me, I have a plan of action. Upon looking at this picture, I noticed a random, lonely basil leaf clinging for dear life, to the edge of the bread; perhaps this was an arty food metaphor for my feelings that day. Oh dear. (you can enlarge the image if you wish to take a closer peak at said basil leaf).

Anyway, what excites me most about this picture now is just how much I love my 50mm lens. It's my little photo friend; light, reliable and it gives me sharp images with great smushy backgrounds. It's going to be most jealous when my new 85mm lens joins our family in a few weeks. This brings me on to some exciting news in my photography adventure!

I assisted at my first wedding on Sunday! I, of course was not second shooting, as I am nowhere near ready, but it was a great learning experience. I was assisting for a photographer who unfortunately (for me) has an assistant already but needed a back up/stand in for this particular wedding, so of course I happily obliged! This was just a one off opportunity so I'm not sure when I will find more assisting opportunities (soon I hope!). However, I must say I am being a bit choosy as I really want to assist a photographer whose work I admire and inspires me.

One of the most important things I got out of this experience was a reaffirmation that this is what I want to do, that I love it with a true passion and will put my heart and soul into it. You see, there is something so special about a wedding day and everything it represents; two people in love who are committing to each other, the joining of two families, the pride of a mother and a father, the next chapter in two people's lives, the start of a bright future; of new families. It's a lovely and emotional feeling that sets the tone and atmosphere of the day and without sounding like a mature and cheesy cheddar, I really loved being a part of that. It was really special being at the brides' home while she got ready with her family; seeing her full of anticipation and excitement about what was to come. I'm sure as a photographer, it's a great pleasure to be invited to share those intimate moments, and if it's something that I am lucky enough to do one day, then I will never take it for granted.

Following the preparations we headed to the venue for the ceremony. I have to admit I did cry a bit during the ceremony; not only because it was lovely, but it also brought back memories of our wedding day and the rollercoaster of emotions that went with it. What I love most about weddings, is that unparalleled feeling of happiness and love from everyone that is there. There aren't many occasions in life when everything is so positive, uplifting and simply a celebration of two people and their families. It's most definitely a warm and fuzzy atmosphere and I love that. More than anything, I would love to one day be able to document these special moments with my camera and pass them onto others who will hopefully cherish them for a long time. I guess I'm in love with love!

On a photographic side I realised how fast paced and down right exhausting shooting a wedding is. There is so much pressure on a photographer at a wedding; they have to get all those key shots in limited amounts of time, and they must do so amidst an obstacle course of staff, guests and changing venues. But all that excitement excited me and I loved the fast paced feeling of it all. I can't wait for the time when I am ready to tackle a wedding; for me it has become a sort of personal Mount Everest to climb and I have a lot of training to do before I'm ready, but I am so very determined. With that determination comes obscene impatience. I am having to learn to take baby steps, not to rush my progress and my learning, not to expect to be great straight away, and to take my time (I will have you know, I say this with gritted teeth). It can be quite frustrating trying to find opportunities to assist at weddings and practice at shoots, so hopefully along with my hard work will come a dose of luck and good fortune. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

In keeping with my photographic excitement, here is my new Kelly Moore camera bag. Well actually it's a shooting bag with compartments for your lenses and camera body and it makes me most happy to have a bag which I can carry all my lenses in.

I have a lot of blog posts planned for the coming weeks with lots of photos along the way, so stay tuned!

I thought I would end with a recipe for a great way to roast chicken. Obviously I am not the inventor of roast chicken but I do find this to be quite a reliable way of roasting it and it's loosely based on a recipe for roast turkey by Jamie Oliver. I am partial to the dark meat and work to keep it nice and juicy. If there is one rule I live by: there is nothing worse than an overcooked, juiceless chicken. It's a most sorry and unappetizing sight. I have varied this recipe with different stuffings etc, but I thought for the first version I would keep it simple. If you are feeling at all animal friendly and aware, please opt for free range. Not only does it mean the chickens were much happier before they copped it, but it also means the meat will have much more flavour. Better yet, try organic; we weren't meant to eat antibiotics with our food (I am starting to sound like Jamie Oliver here). I have to admit, I don't always practice what I'm preaching!


Roast Chicken Fuller Style
Serves 3-4
1x1.7kg free range whole chicken
2 big knobs of butter softened
Handful of hearty herbs such as rosemary and/or thyme finely chopped
1 lemon
Generous handful of dried cranberries and apricots (or even one or the other, just chop the apricots)
Handful of whole garlic cloves unpeeled
Sea salt-seasoning is key!
Pepper
Olive oil


Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius
1. Pat the chicken dry with kitchen towel (this will help the skin crisp up)
2. Add your cranberries, apricots and finely chopped herbs to the softened butter and add a good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper (this will help the flavour of the meat)
3. Very gently put your hand under the skin and rub the butter over the meat. You can rub whatever is left over the thighs, leg and skin. Be careful not to rip the skin as it will peel back while the chicken is cooking-a back of a plastic spatula may help to loosen the skin
4. Cut a lemon in half and add this to the cavity of the chicken along with the unpeeled garlic cloves and even a few whole sprigs of thyme or rosemary
5. Drizzle olive oil onto the skin to help colouring and sprinkle with a good seasoning of salt and pepper
5. Season the inside of the cavity really well with salt and pepper
6. Cook for 1hr and then check the meat. I find chickens don't need as long as you think (this size will probably take 1 hr 5min or so). Check by poking the thickest part of the bird (generally between the thigh and body) and see if the juices run clear (holding a spoon under the juices helps you to see them). If very pink, put back in the oven for another 5 or so minutes, if only slightly pink remove.
7. Cover the chicken loosely with tin foil and let it rest for around 10-15 minutes. This is SO important in keeping it juicy and allow it to finish cooking.


Enjoy!


Feel free to leave a comment and I hope you have a lovely weekend!
xxx