Ian's Earth Fare video

Just in case you haven't already seen it, here's Ian's video for the Earth Fare video contest. If you like the video, share it with your friends! Even the honorable mentions get fantastic prizes, and having an Earth Fare gift certificate in any amount would be so helpful with the economy as it is!

Happiness is...

It's iris time in Tennessee!
We were back in Tennessee this past weekend, and the irises were really putting on a show! One of our neighbors has reportedly spent $300 on fancy varieties of irises, and I must say they are beautiful!

We're headed back to Tennessee tomorrow after work, but I don't know that I'll get to take (m)any pictures. Ian has an interview, and I'm sure I'll be working outside. As I first reported here, Ian and I are gearing up for something MAJOR. I don't want to say anything publicly and jinx us, but things are really looking up. If this comes into fruition, it will truly be a life changing experience for the both of us.

...and no, we're not expecting a baby.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of our happiness. Living in such a big city (yes, I know Columbia isn't like NYC) can really erode your love for your fellow man. Being around family like we were this weekend, and having people be so excited for you...wow...it's just so refreshing.

Introducing our Kodak DuaFlex IV

So this is our newest camera, the Kodak DuaFlex IV. We haven't had any of the film developed yet, and all of the film we're using is technically expired, so it's all going to be one huge, fun experiment!

This camera takes 620 film, and yes, I know what you're saying...

But Ashlie...they don't make 620 film anymore!
I know, but it can be had. If you loved me, you'd go to B&H and buy me a roll or two!

But why don't you just use 120 film?
Well, that's certainly a possibility, but again, this is all new, and Ian and I both want to take it slow. Plus, I'm not terribly keen on the idea of fumbling around in the dark in attempt to respool film from one spool to the next just to get 120 to work.

So why *this* camera?
Ian and I found a DuaFlex II in a local antique mall. It was $20 and it looked like it was missing a part. I instantly fell head over heels in love with it, and left determined to see a) if $20 was a good deal, b) what, if anything was missing off that camera, and c) will it work? That is, do they still make film for it?
I have to admit I was a little sad to find out that these cameras were selling for as little as $5 on ebay, because even as broke as we are, I would've put down my last $20 to have that DuaFlex II (priorities, anyone?). The more Ian researched these cameras, the more he fell in love. He did all the research and found the camera we ended up getting off of ebay. We've decided to share the camera since it's something we're both very interested in.

Anyway, I'll keep you updated with what's going on. I'm going to call tomorrow and see how much it'll cost to get our film developed. Thankfully, we have a great mom & pop (weird saying that because it's owned by two twentysomething guys) camera shop that develops this type of film.

All my best,
akc

Ian's birthday burgers

Ian's birthday was in the first week of May. I got him some nice tickets to see Tony Bennett, but since that concert isn't until June 10th, I wanted to do something special.

I knew Earth Fare had some yummy sounding burgers in their meat case, but we'd never had a chance to try them. So for Ian's birthday dinner I went to Earth Fare with every intention on buying two black (Angus) and bleu (cheese)  burgers, and a sweet potato to make baked sweet potato fries (or chips, as Ian calls them).

However, my inner impulse shopper got the best of me. As the man at the meat counter helped me [and I must say he was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable], I eyed two other burger options I wanted to try. The first was a feta cheese, spinach, and turkey...boy did it look tempting! But out of the corner of my eye I spotted the gouda bison burgers. Then I asked myself, "Ok. We eat spinach all the time. When will we ever get the nerve to try bison?"

I ended up buying two black and bleus and two bison burgers. We ate the bison burgers for Ian's birthday dinner. I must say that the meat counter man was correct in that the bison burgers really need no condiments. They're good just as they are. We topped our burgers with some Rudi's whole wheat buns, and the meal was fantastic.

The following night Ian cooked the black & bleu burgers, and filmed it. He's going to enter the video in Earth Fare's "my decade, my health, my journey" contest. In the video he shows what an amazing meal you can make for less than you'd spend on a nasty, chemical-filled value meal. Let's goad him into posting it here! Leave a comment or tweet him @iconway and hopefully he'll post it!

More later.
xoxoxo

Back again!

Hi folks,
I'm back again. Life's been getting in the way of taking pictures and posting them. I've been considering redoing this blog to make it fit more of my life, and be less about selling photography. I've found that if people want your photography, they'll just email you, which works for me!

I've posted here a picture from ShawFest 2010. It was a fantastic show at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, SC. I have more pictures to upload, but I haven't had the chance to upload them.

I also got another camera, but I'll save that for another post...
akc

Bunny Biscuit

So here's the picture of one of the biscuits I made this past weekend. Somehow, this one biscuit looks like I made a bunny out of the dough!

absence

Howdy friends,

Just wanted to apologize for our extended absence. We've had a death in the family and have been traveling back and forth to Tennessee quite a bit. Things will be tentative with us for the next few weeks, but if things work out as we hope, we'll have some MAJOR news by the end of the year.

In the meantime, I made biscuits this weekend, and one looked like I'd shaped a bunny out of the dough and placed on top. I'll post a picture asap.

Thanks for hanging in there with us,

ashlie & ian