Posted by katie ett on February 18, 2014 – 12:00 pm
I’m addicted to HGTV and its house-hunting shows, but I’ve realized in watching them that my idea of the dream home is entirely different from what the majority of Americans are apparently envisioning. Aside from not really minding non-granite countertops and never ever ever wanting carpet in any bedroom, I also couldn’t care less about a big backyard. Backyards mean bugs to me, and as much as NYC is known for its cockroaches, I’ve never seen one in my Brooklyn apartment.
And you know who else doesn’t care about big backyards? My best friend, Tracey, who has owned this gigantic four-bedroom, three-bathroom house in the ‘burbs for years now. Do you know how many times she and I have been out on her spacious deck or in her expanse of grass? Twice that I can recall. Once was to take this bird’s nest photo, which she spotted from inside, and where we immediately retreated back to once the picture was taken. I’m still shocked every time that the color robin egg blue is based on actual robin’s eggs.
Posted by katie ett on January 23, 2014 – 12:00 pm
While I was in Ohio for Christmas, I got to take some portraits of my lovely friend Sarah in the old-timey town of Canal Winchester. I met Sarah when a guy I grew up with started working with her at the science museum where I also used to work–though it was well after I had left and moved to NYC–and told her she should look me up as she passed through NYC on her way to live in India for six months(!). It didn’t work out that time (I blame her entirely), and then when she returned to the U.S. and decided to stay in NYC for a time, I put off our meeting for months and months for no reason other than that I was like, “Meh, whatevs, I have enough friends.” But then we finally DID meet, and it was like I had known her my whole life and wanted to continue to know her for the rest of it. So of course she moved back to Ohio, like, two months later.
Anyway:
Bemused Sarah.
Meandering creek.
Winter flowers. (Weeds.)
Sultry Sarah.
Posted by katie ett on January 13, 2014 – 12:00 pm
Have you ever painted paint samples on your wall and then become absolutely obsessed with them? My roommate/landlord/former co-worker/boyfriend, Jack, helped me paint these on my bedroom wall yesterday afternoon, and I’ve since checked on them approximately 400,000 times. As if they might have dried a different color between seven hours on my wall and eight hours on my wall.
I think I might like the two on the right together, but I really have no idea. And it’s not like it actually matters, since we’ve lived in this apartment for three years now and have gotten along fine without paint so far. And we’ve actually been seriously talking about painting for eight months now but haven’t, so this is clearly one of those “no, really, I’m totally going to make all of these crafts I’ve pinned to my Pinterest boards” situations.
By the way, I took that photo with the new 14mm f/2.8 lens Jack bought me for Christmas. I was about half a foot away from the wall when I took it. The lens on this thing is so curved that I can see inside your ears when I’m two inches from your nose.
Posted by katie ett on May 22, 2013 – 12:00 pm
I’m leaving for Ohio tonight to visit friends and family, eat all of the fast food in the world, and photograph the wedding of Kim and Jack, two friends introduced to me by my BFF, Tracey. I don’t want to say that this is my first wedding, both because I want you to think I’m a professional and because I helped Jessica shoot Cassie‘s sister’s wedding in Pittsburgh last October. But this is my first time photographing one alone.
I’m totally unprepared for this wedding in that I have no idea what the venue looks like, where I’m allowed and not allowed to stand, and how the service is going to go, but I’m totally prepared for this wedding in that I’m confident Kim and Jack are going to look amazing in every shot. She’s one of the bubbliest people I’ve ever met, and he’s a total James-Dean type of cool guy who doesn’t have a bit of interest in being a model and then he kills it anyway. Here are the engagement photos I shot for them last fall to prove it:
So. Excited. (Slash so-nervous-I-may-faint-at-the-alter.)
Posted by katie ett on May 15, 2013 – 12:00 pm
If you read my food blog, you’re probably tired of hearing about my love of Chef David Santos’s food, so instead I’ll just brag about myself and how one of my photos from his restaurant opened the “Where to Take Mom for Mother’s Day“ article in the NY Daily News:
I’ve absolutely loved cutting my teeth as a photographer on the mean streets of the NYC fine dining scene. There’s something really rewarding about being stuck to a seat in a restaurant with “mood lighting” where I’m trying to be inconspicuous with my camera so the chef won’t ban me and still somehow coming out with a shot that doesn’t embarrass my good name. I think half the reason I like food photography so much is that restaurants make it such a challenge.
But. Being invited to privately photograph Chef Santos’s food is dreamy. I get to stand up, move around the table, crouch, or hold the camera above my head. I get to arrange napkins and flatware. I get to request a glass of wine from the bar to add to the background. I get to ask the owner to turn up the lights over the table if I’m having to set my ISO above 100. I get to put the plate on the chair or the bar or the floor if it’ll make for a better shot. I get to tell the kitchen when I’m ready for the next dish. And then I get to eat everything, too.
Here are some of my favourite photos from the shoot:
The exterior, shot with the brand new 10-20mm f/3.5 wide-angle lens Kamran bought me just before he moved away last month. (Thanks, Kam.)
The Louro interior: a little bit country, and a little bit books-all-over-the-walls.
watermelon radish, baby lettuces, housemade buttermilk vinaigrette
octopus bolognese, hand cut tagliatelle, goose pancetta, parmesan
pork belly, uni, togarashi cabbage, shiso puree
skate chop, watercress purée, watercress, meyer lemon vinaigrette, rhubarb
walleye, guajillio sauce, avocado purée, hominy, onion ring
lamb shoulder rack, pea-mint purée, english purée, rye berries, carrots, pea shoots, lamb jus
white asparagus ice cream, strawberry compote, shortbread crumble
(cross-posted to my food blog)
