I want your pictures out and on the walls for you to enjoy!

In the City- June 10th

Have your family pictures taken using Portland’s urban core as a backdrop. The colors and textures found around town make for a magazine style photo shoot.
$150.00 includes a half-hour session and a fully edited CD with 20-25 images. Book by May 15st and save $25.00

Majestic Oregon Coast- July 22nd

This is our most popular event. Join us just minutes outside of Cannon Beach for some truly magical portraits set against the stunning Oregon Coastline.
$200.00 includes 45 minute session and a fully edited CD containing 25-30 images. Book by June 15th and save $25.00

Space for both events is limited. Call 971.235.7637 to reserve your session.

A $50 deposit is due to reserve your session time and the remaining balance is due the day of the session

Naturally Vegan and gluten free.

Moroccan Chickpea Salad

Serves- 2 Main Dish or 4 Side Dish

Prep time- 5 minutes     Cook time- 10-15 minutes

2    Tablespoons Olive Oil

1     Medium Onion Chopped

4    Garlic Cloves Minced

1    Teaspoon Cumin Seeds

1/2    Teaspoon Turmeric

1/2    Teaspoon Cayenne or Paprika Powder

3 1/2     Cups Cooked or Canned Chickpeas drained

1    Cup Water

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Juice of 1 lemon

2    Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro

2    Tablespoons Chopped Parsley

1.    Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and saute onions until soft over medium heat, about 5 minutes

2.    Add garlic and cumin seeds and saute, stirring constantly for 2 minutes

3.     Stir in the turmeric and cayenne or paprika, then add in the chickpeas and reduce heat to low

4.     Add water and simmer until reduced to a thick sauce

5.    Add lemon juice and cook for one more minute

6.    Remove from heat and fold in cilantro and parsley

Serve immediately or at room temperature

Enjoy with a German Riesling Kabinett.

The acidity in the wine will marry nicely with citrus notes while the gentle sweetness helps carry the spices.

Have a wonderfully yummy week,

Olivia

Here is the before and after

Once you open your image in Photoshop make any exposure corrections to your image before you run the action. I always like to do a Curves correction to my images to give it a little pop. If you shoot in RAW like I do, the images are flatter and not as sharp as straight JPGs. Did you ever wonder why the image you saw on the back of your camera looks different then on your computer. It’s because JPG images have been slightly processed in your camera, unlike a RAW image, which is left pure. Create a new curves layer (press the black/white circle) and select curves. Pull the line up or down to your liking in the Curves panel. When your done, click back on the Background layer to highlight it.

Now for the fun part, watching your photo change before your eyes with one click of the play button. In a couple of seconds your Layers panel will fill with a bunch of new layers to play with. I like to start at the top and work my way down and then go back and make little tweaks here and there. First click on the layer you wish to work on and make your way to the opacity slider, then move it back and forth to see what it does. I also like to turn the layer on and off by clicking on the eye icon on your highlighted layer to see what effect it has on the photo.

You are going a long and you like what is happening to the trees, but not anything else in the photo. What to do? Layer mask time. A layer mask is built in to each one of these layers in this action, to give you more control over the look you are giving your photo. To use the layer mask, click on the white box and then select your paint brush having the color black. Next take your paint brush and paint over the area you don’t want the effect on. If  you make a mistake just change your paint brush to white and paint back the effect.After you have gotten your picture the way you want it to look it’s  time to flatten your image.  After flattening, I would look at the image and do a final look and take care of any distracting elements. I didn’t care for the way a pole looked and used the patch tool to remove it. That is about it. Now go and have some fun with action!

Until next week, Olivia

The Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie- Yes it is Awesome!

Makes about 18 Large Cookies unless you sneak a little dough (don’t worry, I won’t tell).

{Preheat oven to 325 and position rack to the top third position and line a baking sheet with parchment or use nonstick }

2     Cups plus 3 level tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2    teaspoon baking soda

1/2    teaspoon salt

12     tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled till warm

1     cup packed fresh dark brown sugar (gives it the nice rich color)

1/3     cup granulated sugar

1    large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2    teaspoons vanilla extract

1   cup chopped walnuts

1 3/4- 2    cups semisweet chocolate chips

Step 1-   Place flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl whisk until combined; set aside.

Step 2-   With a mixer ( or by hand ) mix the butter and both brown and granulated sugar until blended. Beat in the egg, along with yolk and vanilla until combined.

Step 3-     Add the dry ingredients in to mixer and beat on low until combined. Stir in nuts and chips by hand.

Step 4-    Scoop out a 1/4 cup of dough and roll into a ball. Hold with both hands and rip in 2 equal halves. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and rejoin the halves, leaving rough side up. Place them on your prepared cookie sheet with about 2 1/2 inch spacing between them.

Step 5-     Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet half way through. Make sure to not over bake. The outer edges should just be hardening with the center still puffy and soft and an overall golden brown color. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them with a spatula to a wire rack.

Enjoy with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

Have a wonderfully yummy week,

Olivia

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