Established businesses and blogs that have been around for a while may not appreciate the significance of this, but The Daily Artisan is one month old today!
It’s been a busy time creating the business and leading up to last month’s launch of the website with blog posts, photography galleries, and the online store, and I’m really enjoying it!
Thank you to all who are following and reading the posts, both on the website and on my Facebook and Instagram. I recognize that time is precious and you have choices for where to spend yours, so thanks for being a part of The Daily Artisan! And, thank you to the shoppers in the online store!
If you haven’t had a chance to visit the online store to check out the 2022 calendars and the note card sets made with my photography, I hope you’ll take a look. If you’re planning to order as holiday gifts, the necessary shipping time is getting closer by the day.
I thought it would be fun to select and show one favorite photograph from each calendar and note card set, and as you would guess, it’s challenging because I’ve enjoyed every experience behind every picture! I’ve provided a bit of backstory for each of them, and here are the results!
2022 Calendar (12 Months) – The Beautiful Blues
My favorite photograph (July) from this calendar was taken on Alligator Point Beach in Florida during the magical blue hour I’ve posted about – my all-time favorite (quick) moment for photography!
I’d been on the beach furiously shooting all kinds of things with the fleeting blue hour light, when I looked back over my shoulder and saw this quiet, gorgeous blue ocean with blue and pink skies. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of the blue hour and seeing how things magically unfold.
2022 Calendar (12 Months) – Farm Fruits and Vegetables
My favorite photograph (also July) from this calendar was taken at home after a Publix shopping trip for a variety of colors in fruits and vegetables. Some days I’ll buy only one color for a photo shoot, but on this day, I wanted lots of colors to signify our many nutritious options.
This picture required a good bit of setup, including cutting and styling the various fruits and vegetables (who, believe it or not, can occasionally have diva moments in front of a camera)! I like that the photo reflects the positive sentiments found in my recent color posts on (reverie) reds, (goodness) greens, and (optimism) oranges and yellows.
Note Card Set – Florals Satin Collection #1
My favorite photograph from this note card set was taken in Southwest Florida, and it uses one of my favorite techniques (and lens) – macro photography and a bokeh effect. For non-photographers, simply put, a macro lens has a very short minimum focus distance for shooting close-up photos.
And, bokeh (from the Japanese word meaning blur or haze) is the soft, out-of-focus background of beautiful light circles and swirls with no hard lines. Flowers and leaves especially lend themselves to this type of photography, as seen in some of the pictures in my photo galleries on The Daily Artisan website.
Note Card Set – Breads and Desserts Satin Collection #1
My favorite photograph from this note card set – as with all my food photos on the website – came after baking and cooking! In this case, I baked an orange/honey/olive oil cake (what an incredible mix of flavors, by the way), and styled the photo setup with fresh orange slices; drizzled and poured honey; a honey dipper; and an antique dessert glass with beautiful etching.
Be sure to enlarge the photo to see what’s captured inside the drop of honey just … before … it … spills.
It’s my favorite part of the photo and was an unplanned surprise I saw only when reviewing my shots! You can imagine that I had to shoot quickly before gravity set in for this drop of honey (and all the other ones before and after) suspended momentarily in the air. Other food photography can be seen in this gallery.
Note Card Set – Fruits and Vegetables Satin Collection #1
My favorite photograph from this note card set happens to be the “before” (as in before the knife!) look at the colorful fruits and vegetables that are shown above as the “after” version with my favorite from the Farm Fruits and Vegetables 2022 Calendar. I really enjoyed arranging them on this very old, spinning metal stand that’s about two-feet tall.
Some of you have asked where I find all the props used in styling my photos, especially the food ones. The answer is anywhere and everywhere something strikes me! For example, this metal stand was on the dusty bottom shelf behind some other things in an antiques store in Sarasota, Florida. Hunting for photography props is a lot like photography itself in that you look high and low for the unexpected treasures!
Note Card Set – Beautiful Blues Satin Collection #1
My favorite photograph from this note card set also is included in The Beautiful Blues 2022 Calendar, shown above. It, too, was taken at Alligator Point Beach in Florida, just as a blue hour was starting one day. I love how many of the white shells took on a blue cast from the gorgeous air and sky reflected around them!
With nature photography – unlike my styled food photography – I won’t set a scene. I try to shoot what’s there, and if there’s a distracting item, say a leaf laying on top, I’ll move on to something else. In other words, I came upon these shells on the beach just as you see them, and photographed them the way they appeared. Nature offers so many beautiful things that there’s always something else to shoot!
So, those are my favorite photos from the calendars and note card sets! You can check them out in The Daily Artisan online store. It’s been – almost – as fun picking my favorites as it was photographing them in the first place!
Thanks again to all of you for following The Daily Artisan on the website and social media as we celebrate the one-month anniversary today! I hope you’ll keep watching, and also telling your friends and family, as new blog posts, photographs to the galleries, and products to the store are added in 2022!
Do you have ideas of other themes I should photograph for new blog posts or items in the store? Please comment below!
