Food pictures – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Food

Around the world, fall is a time for celebrating the harvest. Next week, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving here in America. It’s a time for family and a lot of food. Photographing food can be tricky at times. This photo is from a family baby shower last weekend. My niece put this beautiful charcuterie board together (including molding the intricate salami rose in the middle). The only time I’ve photographed food “professionally” has been at events like weddings, so I don’t consider myself an expert, but I do like taking pictures of food. I guess that’s the best place to start when you want to get better at something: just do it.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT FEATURES FOOD.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Preparations

Baking always requires preparations. If you don’t have all of the necessary ingredients ready, it can ruin your bake. This is my set up when I make french bread. It’s a very easy recipe, but as I demonstrated in an early challenge (Something Missing), even one thing wrong can spoil the whole loaf.

As a wedding photographer, I’ve had the opportunity to take pictures of brides and their attendants as they get ready for the ceremony.

When I sang with the Utah Symphony Chorus, I was able to take pictures backstage as we and the symphony prepared for concerts.

Sometimes photos of the preparations are as much fun as photos of the finished products. And here’s mine:

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) OF PREPARATIONS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Circles on Circles

PSA: I seem to be posting a lot of challenges with food photos recently. Sorry about that, but please know that it in no way means that your submission should feature food, too. Please feel free to post anything that you feel fits the theme.

I mentioned to my husband yesterday that I wanted to make an apple pie. We had someone coming over for movies and dessert, and I was trying to think of something that would be a fun and yummy dessert. He suggested that I make it with an apple crisp topping. Until making this pie, the only single crust pie I have ever made is quiche, and my edges always collapse, so I was worried that would happen with this pie as well. I also searched Dutch Apple pie recipes to see if there were any that used more of an apple crisp topping instead of the traditional one. I couldn’t, so I was pretty much on my own for this. (It did turn out great, and I’ll make it again.)

When I was photographing it, I put it on the edge of our new kitchen table. Without the leaf in it, it is a prefect circle. When I put a couple of rogue apples by it, I realized that my photo had more of a theme than just pie. Even the bits of oats in the topping are round.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) FEATURING MULTIPLE CIRCLES.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Something Missing

Every other Sunday, we take bread to church to use for the Sacrament (Holy Communion). I have a wonderful, no-knead French bread recipe that I make almost every week. I don’t need the recipe any more. Or so I thought. Saturday, I made this beautiful loaf of bread. It was light; it was fluffy. The crust was nice and crackly, like you really want it to be with this bread. We cut into it when it was still warm enough to melt the butter. It was going to be so good. Except for one thing. I forgot the salt. It is the blandest bread I have ever tasted in my life. It took me about two hours to figure out what I had done wrong. Kneadless (ha, see what I did there?) to say, I made another loaf, this time WITH the salt.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) WHERE SOMETHING IS MISSING.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Take a New Photo

Today was a bit of a banner day. My husband and I got our first dose of the Covid vaccine. Wahoo. Now I just have to get over the sore arm (and the possible symptoms in three weeks when we get our second dose). To celebrate, we hit one of our favorite burger places, Crown Burger. If you haven’t been to Utah and experienced crown burger, I highly suggest a visit just for the pastrami burger. Just for fun, and because food is a lot of fun to photograph, I grabbed a shot of our shared meal. The burger is big enough to share, and the onion rings are divine. The book is my current read, so I was able to get in a few pages while I waited for my husband to get to the restaurant (he had to visit a job site on the way back to the office from the shots, and the restaurant was nearby so I went ahead and ordered while he finished up his meeting).

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE NEW PHOTO TAKEN FOR THIS CHALLENGE (SUBJECT CAN BE ANYTHING YOU WANT).

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Something New

We recently bought a new mirrorless camera. It’s been really fun playing around with it. I still need to get used to a lot of things with it, but I plan on taking a lot of pictures with it in the next few weeks. You’ll probably see some of them in future challenges. This recipe for venison stew is not new to me, but I had just finished making this pot of stew when I took the photo, so it was new for dinner.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT INCLUDE SOMETHING NEW.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Tasty Treat

When we go up to the family cabin, we like to take the fixings for s’mores. Over the years, we’ve tried different things to make them taste better, easier to make, less of a hassle to lug all of the ingredients around, etc. My sister came up with the idea of using the Kebbler Fudge Stripe cookies in place of the Hersey’s mini chocolate bars and graham crackers. I must admit, she did a good job. This is now our go-to way to make s’mores. Yummy.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF YOUR FAVORITE (OR SOMEWHAT FAVORITE) TREATS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Cracked

Most of the time, we don’t want things to crack. When it comes to artisan bread, the more cracked the crust, the better. My brother gave me the recipe for this delicious loaf, and it has become the most requested item from my kitchen. It’s pretty easy to make, you just need a dutch oven that will fit in your oven. I use a smaller enameled one I got at Sam’s Club, but my brother uses a standard camping one.

Here’s the recipe: The Best No-Knead Bread

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF SOMETHING THAT IS CRACKED.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Something Baked

Okay, okay. I know this pie isn’t baked yet, but it was soon after I took this photo. When summer starts turning toward fall and all of the fruit trees are bursting with ripe fruit, my heart turns to pies, especially apple pies and peach pies. This pie happens to be peach. I have been using my mom’s no fail pie crust recipe for many moons now, and it has failed on my only once (and it was my fault; old flour). Not this time. This time, the crust was the flakiest, melt-in-your-mouthiest I have ever made. I doubt I’ll ever be able to duplicate it. I sure love it when my kitchen smells like a bakery.

Here’s the finished product.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF SOMETHING BAKED.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Nostalgic

I’ve mentioned before that my mom’s dad built a cabin in the Uinta Mountains in the 1950s. He was a postal worker by trade, so it’s a bit clumsy, but after nearly 70 years, it’s still standing. When we go up for a weekend, there are a few things that are “must haves”: s’mores roasted in the fireplace, sugar wafer cookies, and breakfast toast cooked on the old wrought-iron griddle. This is seriously the best toast ever. I’ve tried making it at home. It doesn’t taste the same. Not even close. Years and years of seasoning have gone into that iron, and there’s nothing else like it. Anyone up for a nice mountain adventure?

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS THAT SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU NOSTALGIC.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.