Oscar

I was lucky enough to get to spend a weekend with Oscar recently. Look at that nose! Isn't he adorable?

One tip for photographing animals: get down. Like, really down. I was lying on my stomach to take this shot, and I don't think it would have worked any other way. If I could have gotten any lower, I would have.

Weeds

Or wildflowers. Depends on your perspective, right? If you're sitting in the hot sun, trowel in hand, trying to eradicate that stubborn dandelion, you're probably in the former camp. If you're going for a hike on a long weekend, breathing in the pure mountain air, you might be thinking along the lines of the latter.

I think sometimes we forget that it's all perspective. Just because we can give something a name doesn't mean it's the right one. And names don't make things so. I can tell you that when I came upon these, I breathed "wildflowers," lay down in the dirt, and took a few pictures. With nary a trowel to be seen on the premises.

Incredibly Delicious, Incredibly Easy Peach Galette

You know that saying, easy as pie? Well, they got it a little wrong. It should properly be 'easy as galette.' Not as catchy, perhaps.

I can't take credit for the brilliant simplicity of this recipe; all I can do is shout its brilliance and simplicity from the rooftops. And then I can make it, again and again. Seriously, I've made it four times so far, and all I can tell you is that the quality of the peaches you use makes a big difference. The better the peaches, the better the galette. And use them ripe. Sometimes unripe fruit can bake up better than ripe fruit - not so in this case. Wait until the peaches are almost falling off the stones, when you can slip the skin off with a little pressure from your thumb.

Ah, peaches. You could do this with nectarines just as easily, I'm pretty sure, especially since the original recipe calls for them (thanks go to to Real Simple's 3-ingredient recipes).

Ingredients:

2-3 peaches, sliced thin (Real Simple advises 3, I advise 2. 2 big peaches will be exactly enough, in my humble opinion. But if you've got little scrawny peaches, use 3)
lemon curd (my addition, just a little extra bit of deliciousness)
one pie crust (homemade, if you can, store bought if you can't be bothered)
a little butter (optional, I used this the first time I made it, and skipped it afterwards)
some sugar (turbinado is probably best if you have it, but any kind of sugar will work)

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Slice the peaches as thin as you can. Roll out the pie crust. Take a spoon, and spread about 3-4 tablespoons of lemon curd on the crust, skipping about the outer 1 inch of crust. Then arrange the peaches on the crust, leaving the outer two inches of crust uncovered. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar on the peaches at this point (Real Simple calls for turbinado sugar, I didn't have any, so I used regular white sugar). If you're using butter, cut about 2 tablespoons onto the peaches at this point as well. Then fold the edges of the crust over the peaches as shown in the picture.  Using a brush or a wet paper towel, brush water over the edges of the crust. Sprinkle the wet edges with a little more sugar. Bake on a parchment paper covered baking sheet for 35-40 minutes (check earlier, as baking times have varied a bit for me, and no one wants a burnt crust!)

Enjoy!

Blue Skies

A shot from a job today. Finally it wasn't raining or foggy! And great timing.

Delights of Summer

Here in San Francisco it sometimes seems like summer is a cruel joke played upon us by California's propaganda campaign. This is California, land of endless summer, where all the cows are happy and every blockbuster gets its funding. Right?

Well, the past week of rainy, cold, gray days says no. I don't know about you, but if I were a cow I don't think I would call this fun. I might even consider moving to Wisconsin, where I could get some respect and have seasons that behaved themselves. Fortunately, there are still some glimmers of summer here and there. Most obviously in the produce at the farmer's market.

I've always loved peaches. Apples are my winter fruit, peaches are my summer. Soft, sweet, juicy, delicate, perfumed. There's nothing like the smell of a ripe peach. And it seems that peaches are having their heyday; every stall has cardboard boxes full to the brim, swarmed by customers looking for the perfect peach.

Well sorry guys, I think I nabbed it.

Infrared

ISO 800, 17mm, f/2.8, 6 seconds. Mouseover to see what the infrared image looked like straight out of camera.

I've had a loaner infrared filter for a few months now, but what with having to pull out the tripod to use it, I hadn't played with it at all until this past week.

And I'm still a bit unsure as to how much I love it. Seems like I like infrared photography when other photographers do it, but my own efforts so far leave me feeling a little underwhelmed. The exposure times are just so darn LONG. 6 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 800. Crazy, right? I know. If anyone has any tips for best image quality when shooting with an infrared filter, I'm all ears.

Still, it's always good to experiment, right?