Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth!, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

A mess of blueberries, one raspberry, natural light and one four year-old trying to eat the product!

A Photographer by any other name….

Frank Chu, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

…is just not a photographer.

I’ve had to call myself on a bad habit. Whenever someone asks me if I’m a photographer I hem and haw. I qualify my answer with phrases like, “sort of” and “on the side” and “well, I try.”

Not good, not good at all.

One of my goals for the next year is to live my artistic life without qualifiers and to increase my skill and confidence. In order to do this I need to get out there and shoot, show people my work and talk about photography and what inspires me. I also want to figure out how to run a business, attract clients and squeeze in a little time for my day job and family. Although I did study photojournalism in school, I feel that what I know about the technical side of photography could fill a thimble. At the time I was in school we were still using film (Hey! I’m not that old!) so there is so much to learn about the digital world.

I’m so ‘essited to get started!!!!

About the photo:

I took this photo about 6 years ago at the San Francisco Dyke March. It was taken on B&W film and scanned from the negative. I doubt that I did much to it outside of a little dodging and burning. (I actually have no problem with manipulating images in Photoshop, but at the time, dodging and burning were about the extent of my Photoshop skills.) In the photo is San Francisco personality Frank Chu and an unknown march attendee.

I am very willing to admit to some less than adult behavior.  There was a guy in my class who was, in my opinion, had a very high opinion on his collection of Frank Chu photos.  I felt very smug about mine and rather offended when he didn’t fall down at my feet with praise for my quick shutter action.  Bastard.

I’m promising honesty here, not maturity.

A First Love

Zocalo, Oaxaca, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

Yes, changes abound and it’s a good thing!

After a year of blogging I have decided that I no longer want to be an enabler to my natural tendency to bitch and moan.  I’ve turned over a new leaf and it is all about positivity…and photography.  Ok, maybe there will still be a little room for a little kvetching, but I’ll keep it to a minimum, pinky swear!

At some point I will officially move this over to my new blog site at www.questionablysharp.wordpress.com, but I’ll continue to post here in the interim.

I thought that this image was a fitting way to begin my new photo blog and my new outlook on life and photography. (Yes, I am going overboard with the optimism, but bear with me, it’s been a hard year.) I took this photo in 2004 in Oaxaca, Mexico while on my honeymoon. And because I am a multi-tasker who can’t-say-no to the core, I was also completing an assignment for the photojournalism class I was taking.

On the off chance any of you are considering this particular double-task, please let me save you some considerable heartache. DON’T EVEN GO THERE!

I remember the the sheer joy of looking at the negative on the light table and my feet doing a little happy dance thinking, “it’s good, it’s good, it’s really, really good!”

My joy lasted for exactly one day. I scanned the negative and printed it out to show in class thinking that I would finally get some freakin’ love from the self-professed master of light. What I got was a big fat, “Well it might have been a good shot, but he’s looking at the camera.”

Please insert balloon deflating sound effect here.

Years later and about a million images later I still love this picture. I love that he’s looking at the camera. I love that in looking at it I can still perfectly call to mind the energy of the zocolo that night. One of the most difficult things about photography for me has been the confidence that it takes to put your creative self on the line. It’s scary and there is ALWAYS someone in line to tell you that your work is mediocre, your vision lacking or that your subject is looking at the camera.

Maybe all of those things are true. Maybe it’s self protection that makes us bristle at criticism.

Maybe.

But guess what? I still love my little photo and it’s enough to propel me forward.

An Open Letter to Maine

Not prepared for hiking , originally uploaded by lisapicante.

Dear Maine,

Had I purchased my shoes from L.L. Bean I could have been dry and married.

Hugs and kisses,
The General

No winning.

bad cupcake, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

The star chart is a brilliant idea. The Private loves nothing more than earning a star – although she prefers pink hearts. It is has been a great tool for us and we put it in place just in the knick of time. She’s getting a little old for the counting. “One, two, three…” was magic for a while, but she’s getting a little too savvy these days.

We don’t have a fancy store bought chart. It’s a regular piece of paper with her name at the top, some decorations and about 15 “windows” that she has to fill up. She and The Commander sat down together and made it and I think that added to the appeal of the whole concept. She also gets to pick her treat. I was a little worried that she would come back with something like, oh I don’t know, a pony or something, but her choices are so sweet.

For the first chart that she completed she asked for a lollipop. How cute is that! The second, however, she decided to go for broke and request…..a cupcake!

Anyway, the big day arrives and we were going to take her to get her cupcake after school. When The Commander picked her up she told her friends, “Bye, I’m going to get a cupcake now!” Isn’t that just a cruel thing to do!

We arrive at the cupcakery – Love at First Bite. It’s in North Berkeley and it is darling. She agonized over her decision. Chocolate? Yes! No. Lemon…..no. Finally she settled on stawberry. It was the most awesome looking thing ever!

We went outside to sit down (I got the lemon cupcake for myself) and The Private, of course, proceeded attack her cupcake from the top down and in a matter of minutes her icing was gone.

“Mama, can I have a bite of yours?”

Are you freakin’ kidding me? Sugar is my one addiction, my first love and girl child do not come between me and my cupcake.

Oh boy.

“I don’t want this cupcake. I want the lemon cupcake. I don’t like my cupcake…..”

It went on and on and finally detioriated into what you see above.

Can’t wait to fill up this next chart. Maybe we would have better luck with a pony.

Holy Giant Dog!!!!

Sookie and Cherry, two months later, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

When did my puppy turn into a giant dog? When we brought her home she was smaller than than Sookie (that’s the little one) and I could tuck her under my arm.

Today I had to pick up Cherry (the holy giant dog) at the dog park – recall is not her strength just yet – and almost broke my back.

Aside from being shocked and awed by how quickly she has grown, I love this dog. She is just so….average, and that is a good thing. She doesn’t want to bite anyone, she isn’t on mood altering drugs and she has not eaten any parts of our cars.

She’s just a dog. I loveit!

Birthday Dinner

Birthday Dinner, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

So you’ll have to forgive yesterday’s post. I began it on Flickr thinking I would go back and edit, or at least write something that made sense, but it never happened.

My intention was to share the fabulous dinner that I prepared for the wifey the other day. This is big news, because I am not the chef in the family. I…assemble, occasionally bake, and often, very often, make mac and cheese and heat up the occasional tater tot. Organic tater tots, but tater tots none the less.

Anyhoo, I was inspired by my friend Laura’s post on Pinot and Prose and decided to try out the Tortilla Espanola. It looked good and was endorsed by Gwenneth Paltrow – could it really go wrong?

I prepped for this meal all day. I made sure I had enough potatoes, I went to the wine shop for the perfect pairing, and I gladly skipped out on chaperoning my daughter’s field trip to get it all done!

I was even very proud that it was a very economical meal and I managed to use a good deal of stuff that was already in the fridge. I spent $10 at Whole Paycheck, $15 on wine and $6 at the butcher for prosciutto. It was supposed to be jamon, but even the bounty of Bay Area falls short from time to time. Prosciutto is saltier, but lucky for me, I under salted the tortilla and it all balanced out perfectly!!!!

For those of you who are tortilla purists, I must admit to cheating a bit. We only have a small-ish cast iron skillet and my tortilla was pretty thick so at The Commander’s suggestion, I finished it off in the broiler.

It worked like a charm!

Tortilla Master!

Totilla Espanola, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

I decided to make an ambitious (for me) birthday dinner for The Commander. I took a cue from my friend Laura (of Pinot and Prose) and decided to try the Tortilla Espanola.

No Place Like Home

My agency’s fundraiser is coming up and I needed to come up with music that provided inspiration, but wouldn’t scare the ladies-who-lunch. I hope that I’ve succeeded, because I don’t want to be forced to play Frank Sinatra. No offense, Frank, but yer played out!

The theme of the event is “No Place Like Home” and we’re raising funds to benefit homeless and low-income families. I was trying to achieve happy and hopeful. Success?

Thanks, Vermont!

kauai_sunset, originally uploaded by lisapicante.

Dear Vermont,

Way to go!

In return, I promise to only use genuine maple syrup on my pancakes.

Love,
Me