As a child, I was an avid fiction reader. I loved anything from Chronicles of Narnia to The Babysitters Club to Anne of Green Gables to Amelia Bedelia. …and…wait for it…Choose your own adventure!!!
I think I actually believed they were non-fiction though!
Wrapped in a blanket hiding away in one of my homemade forts, I would read my favourite series over and over until the pages were falling out and the glossy coating wrinkled away from the fading cover. I loved nothing more than getting lost in a fantasy world.
Nowadays, my passion has evolved from reading story books to informational books. I still occasionally enjoy reading a good fiction book (mostly if I’m on vacation though), but I love to read non-fiction books to learn more about my passions. My love for non-fiction books started when I fell in love with health and nutrition. I bought books like Dr. Oz’s YOU series, Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Cancer, Howard’s The Owners Manual for the Brain, and later, Pollan’s In Defense of Food. When cooking and baking became a passion in my life, my cookbook collection grew, and grew, and grew and I found myself inspired to follow a similar path.
And then there’s the photography.
Growing up, my family would always teasingly call me, ‘the little tourist’ because I took pictures of everything…every moment…everyone…nothing could escape my wrath! Mom in her robe first thing in the morning? Photo worthy. My sister Kristi taking one of my beloved belongings? Also photo worthy.
My love for photography started with a Polaroid camera and progressed to using my dad’s film camera and eventually receiving my own point & shoot digital camera from Eric as a birthday gift. I think Eric’s words were, “I think you need to switch to digital so we can stop wasting so much money on film.” He did have a point, but little did he know that I would soon require more computer storage to fit all my digital raw photos and a new lens to go with it. ;)
There was just something about capturing the beauty of real life in a photo that excited me to no end.
Even though I always loved photography, I never expected that it would blossom into something that I do everyday as part of my career. Now, rarely a day goes by that I am not practicing.
When I started the blog in 2008, I used my old, beaten up Point & Shoot camera (we now call it the “point & shit” because it doesn’t always turn ON). Eric bought a Canon DSLR in 2007 and I was so intimidated by it, I didn’t start using it for my blog photos for over 1.5 years. Over time, he was able to show me the difference a professional camera (and the right knowledge) could make in a photo.
After several months of shooting in “auto” mode with the DSLR, I decided that it was time to shoot in RAW format to give myself the freedom to post-process photos without compromising the quality. When Ashley was visiting, she showed me how she uses Adobe Lightroom to edit photos (something I had been using blindly for a couple months prior) and with practice, I fell in love with it a bit more each day. Now, I couldn’t imagine shooting in auto mode because shooting in raw is just so much more fun. Post-processing is also super quick once you get the hang of it. It typically takes me less than 30 seconds per photo.
I typically have a few books on the go at the same time (including several cookbooks), because as always, I can’t just pick one thing to focus on! I like to spend about a half hour at night reading, so I don’t get through books very quickly. ;)
Right now, you can find me reading through a ton of vegan cookbooks as well as my recently purchased Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin, otherwise known as Tartelette!
I fell in love with Plate to Pixel from the moment I opened the book. Not only does Helene’s passion for food photography jump off the page, but it’s brimming with full colour, stunning photography throughout the book. I’m only a quarter of the way through and I’ve already learned so much and brushed up on some skills that were a bit foggy. I highly recommend it to those of you who are interested in pursuing food photography at a deeper level.
What are you reading right now? What were your favourite books to read as a kid?
Great post! Even though I am already a vegan, right now I’m reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Its a wonderful book.
Right now I’m reading Crazy Sexy Diet (which I heard about from here) and a fluffy novel for my lunch breaks.
As a kid, I loved to read also! Babysitters Club, Saddle Club, Thoroughbred, Sweet Valley, Goosebumps, anything and everything! I loved coming home from the library with a stack of unread books :)
(love this post of yours!)
ahhh sweet valley, how did I forget that one!
If you were a sweet valley fan, you need to check this one out! I read it front to back on a air trip from Toronto to LA this spring… I felt 12 again that is for sure!
www.sweetvalleytenyearslater.com
I’ve read and loved Plate to Pixel. Helene makes all her topics so accessible, and as someone who loves food AND photography, I love how most of her examples are food based. Since that’s what I’m shooting every day, it’s great to have such super relevant examples. I also took a basic photography class this year that I got a Groupon for that was so helpful. Sometimes having a teacher explain things like aperture and shutter speed and having you demo with your camera is more helpful than any camera manual you could read!
I also love reading non-fiction, and tend to fall hard and fast for any book on a topic I’m interested in. I have more than a full shelf of books on our food systems and health, including the Omnivore’s Dilemma, the China Study, Diet for a Small Planet, and many others. I have a whole other shelf devoted just to running books and biographies of some of the great runners of our sport. Kathrine Switzer’s autobiography is probably my favorite. It’s amazing to me to read just how much women’s running, and women’s access to running has changed in the last 30 years. I’m so glad to have been born when I was!
That’s so great to hear! I definitely want to take some classes some day.
This book is sitting in my Amazon basket right now! I just need to find another book for the free shipping :)
Right now I am reading on of Sarah Desshen’s books, I usually stick to easy reads, even some teen books!
As a kid I loved Anne of Green Gables, and Babysitters Club!
Books on food photography are so interesting but really overwhelming because it seems so complicated. I also have a horrible camera.
I read every Sweet Valley book as well growing up. I cycled through them from the local used bookstore. I’m currently reading All Different Kinds Of Free by Jessica McCann about slave laws in the 1800’s.
Thanks for this post – I was JUST talking to another food blogger/photographer yesterday about my issues now that the nights are getting dark earlier and how, working full time, I can never get decent shots of my dinner recipes because I have to use artificial lighting and it’s just AWFUL. She recommended a few lighting kits and Lightroom as well.
It’s such a frustrating issue but when you get better it’s so rewarding! But if you have any lighting tips when you have to deal with artificial lighting, I’d love to hear them too!
Hi Anna,
I would recommend a light box, but I must say I don’t bother with the one I made very often. It’s just too big to pull out. I’ve heard other bloggers using freestanding photography lights that you can purchase at photography stores. I think Kath from Kath Eats just blogged about hers the other day and said it made a big difference for her evening shots.
I’m half way through plate to pixel! I’m loving the book, it has taught me so much! But oh boy do I still need loads of practice!
I have this on my amazon wish list!
Right now I am reading Shucked, about life on a (local to me) oyster farm.
OMG I’ve heard about this book and I want to get my hands on it SO badly!!! Photography is something I never thought I’d take interest in, but it really is an art and I am looking forward to learning more about it. As for what I’m reading – Joy Bauer’s Food Cures. So far, it’s great! I’ve got a review coming up soon. :)
We totally could have been in a book club together – all the books you mentioned were my favs too. Sweet Valley High was my VERY VERY favorite book series though!
My daughter has become quite the reader and it makes me soooooo happy! I can’t imagine life without books.
Someone just yesterday gave me Pollan’s Food Rules. So my love for his books will begin shortly ;)
I loved Anne of Green Gables so much! And all the classics like Little Women and the Secret Garden. Anything horsey too – I loved the Saddle Club series :)
I’m reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks at the moment – really enjoying it so far.
Secret Garden….yes!
What is Saddle Club I keep hearing about? I think I missed a good one!
So great! I still go back now and re-read them! A series about 3 young girls who love horses. There were over 100! And then they had an teen series with the same characters called Pine Hollow. Also really good and you don’t need the background to be able to keep up. There were 17 of those books.
I actually ordered this from indigo on Monday! Can’t wait to get it :D
I just started Ready Player One, a really awesome sci-fi book that came out this year. I’m already hooked. As a kid, my favorite books were the Saddle Club series… I think my whole collection is still at my parents’ house!
Thanks for this post–I’m still taking point-and-shoot pics and trying to convince my photog friend to help me out.
I think I need to pick up that book! I’ve been using my camera in “auto” mode with no lighting, and it definitely shows! I might have to pick up this book!
I just finished reading “A Dance With Dragons” and now I’m going back to the “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest”. But lately I’ve been playing the latest Professor Layton game on my Nintendo DS! Puzzle games are my addiction, and this one is a favorite series of mine.
You should do a photography tutorial about Lightroom! That program mystifies me…
And me mentioning that I need to pick up that book twice in one paragraph is an indication of how little sleep and how little caffeine I’m rocking today! ;)
Sorry!
A tutorial is a fun idea :) I would love to show how easy it is. It honestly takes me about 30 seconds per photo.
I’ve heard so many good things about this book, it’s going on my Christmas list :)
I got my DSLR in June and forced myself to never shoot in automatic so I feel like I’ve learned a ton in the past 5 months but I know there is so much more out there to soak up.
I went through a food book phase that has passed and now I’m back on fiction. I’m reading Slammerkin right now and love it.
Awesome book! I am still with a P&S right now and want to get a new Canon cam that my sis has already tried out and loves. It’s not a DSLR but it’s a step up from a Canon PowerShot. Not enough $ for anything more unfortunately!
Funny, I just blogged about books today too! I’m reading “The Pact” by Jodi Picoult and can’t put it down. I’m DYING to find the answer to the mystery but have a ways to go!
Awesome post! The book looks amazing – I’ve already added it to my christmas list :P
Thanks for sharing!
Ahhhh, Sweet Valley!!! I loved Nancy Drew and Roald Dahl books too. Oh, and Charlotte’s Web! Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, the Ramona books. I could go on and on. And this makes me want to get my hands on the Sweet Valley books and just give them another read :)
But seriously, this photography book looks great! I really need to learn a thing or two, and get out of auto myself. A better camera is also needed. Have you taken any classes? Your photography is always so stunning!
Thank you :) Yes Nancy Drew! Man, I can’t believe how many I forgot.
I haven’t taken any food photography courses, but I would loooove to.
I LOVED babysitters club and sweet valley high- especially the mystery series and I also read them in my fort! (underneath the stairs lol). Unfortunately most of my reading these days is academic a.k.a boring!!
I remember those days…I dont think I read one book “for fun” in 7 years…lol. The best feeling was giving the books away when I didnt need them anymore. :) You’ll get through it!
Yes! I can’t wait to give away all my books, except for a select few which I actually found interesting. I’m in my last semester and can’t wait for exams to be over to pick up a good book :)
I read Plate to Pixel, my first ever photography book. I love how Helene has tackled all the topics so easily. She made me handle my DSLR like a dear friend :)
I am yet to read more about food styling and photography. I would like for more suggestions on books for photography.