Barbara Barry

Today I shot downtown for the Merchandise Mart. You’re a better person than I if you knew who Barbara Barry was before you saw these images:

Hail Barbara Barry

Happy Blasphemy Day

I’m off for a shoot downtown today. I’m hoping all kinds of havoc will be wreaked while I’m gone on this Happy Humpday Blasphemy Day.

While I’m shooting people, I’d like to know: What’s your favorite blasphemy? If you could think of one thing that would offend you, what would it be?

Cloud Gate

Here are some other shots I grabbed while around Cloud Gate.

Outtake Photo Blogging

I had a family portrait shoot on Saturday. Shooting groups are difficult, because there are so many personality dynamics to tackle. These are some of the shots the family won’t see, but I thought were interesting.

Curiosity Kills Kitties

I knew you were curious about what my Ps looked like. Here they are near Chicago’s “Cloud Gate” (aka the Bean*).

Pieter and Susan Witteveen

Here's me shooting all three of us while my dad is shooting all three of us in the reflection of "Cloud Gate"

*FWIW, I find it a little lacking that people call a piece of art by a moniker rather than its name. As an artist, I would want people to respect the name I gave the art. So when I can, I encourage people to refer to Cloud Gate as Cloud Gate. Not the “Bean”.

Dude’s Head Ruined the Shot

The guy in the foreground of this picture ruined the shot. I think it’s a great one … if only the blurry head didn’t look like it was felating the gentlemen in focus.

Food Photo Blogging

Le Café Witteveen wanted to remind you of some items on the menu. First I want to say that it seems people are confused that many of the photos I upload are my dishes. Sundays are the only days that Michael cooks. I usually cook two out of three meals a day, and try to photograph the meals that turn out best or are new to the menu. So I usually have between 6 and 10 shots that I’ve taken, but I tend to only update with a few as everything doesn’t photograph well.

All that said, two of the photos below are Michael dishes.

This first shot (below) is grilled figs that Michael does. He grills them with a little olive oil, slices and puts over ice cream. Very good. Sorry about the picture quality, I took it in passing and didn’t notice how shitty it was until now. I guarantee you it’s great. I’m uploading, because it’s a great idea to impress friends. Figs are really good for you, and they taste really nice off the grill.

Michael Serfini's Grilled Figs

Below is a dish that Michael prepared for my parents this past Sunday. It’s grilled chicken in pesto with four-cheese raviolis. In the pesto is basil, pistachios, cilantro and lots of olive oil.

Michael Serafini's lemon pesto with grilled chicken

Finally a dish I did last night. It’s non-sloppy sloppy joes. The half-sandwich is tofu and the full sandwich is beef. Served with slightly sautéed potatoes that I had cooked on the grill during another meal last week*. On the sloppy joe, I added sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. I made both tofu and beef, because we are trying to eat more vegetarian and I went ahead and experimented with both styles. The tofu version turned out excellent. I added some to a salad for lunch today, which brightened it up.

Integrating more vegetarian dishes into your diet is not only good for you, it decreases your carbon footprint. Try eating vegetarian once a day, if you don’t already. Tina and I are going to remain carnivores, but we have successfully become part-time vegetarians. Usually, two meals are vegetarian per day, and at least two to three days are completely vegetarian per week. For example, I’ve started using mushrooms instead of lunch meats. The taste is excellent. It’s lighter and meaty.

Bon appétit.

Jeremy's Non-Sloppy Sloppy Joes

Cooking Non-Sloppy Sloppy Joes and Potatoes

Intelligent Design

LIPDUB – I Gotta Feeling (Comm-UQAM 2009)

172 communication majors at the University of Quebec @ Montreal strung together this epic single-take lipdub of the Black Eyed Peas’ hit single “I Gotta Feeling” soup-to-nuts in all of two hours.

The kid or kids who directed this bit probably have a nice long career ahead of him/her/them.

It’s very well done for being what it says it is.

(via the daily what)

Nisht gefloygn

I want to do a post on these two wiki articles about the names of god and the word and derivation the word “satan“. I think they are fine reads for people who have an inkling of interest in history, etymologies, and the like.

I haven’t time to hack out my thoughts, but I wanted to put it up. I think the link for “god” puts you at “shaddai” but you can scroll back up for other information.