They told me it was a good thing: I’m juicing.

Back in November/December, my brother-in-law Michael told us that he was reading a book about juicing.

He loaned Tina the book over the holiday. It’s called, “Green for Life” by Victoria Boutenko. 

From Michael’s reading and explanations in casual conversation, it made it sound like Juicing cured everything from cancer to shin splints.

I exaggerate this a little. But from what I remember, Michael basically made it sound like there’s a LOT of information that the world isn’t getting about the magical wonder treatments known as juicing.

I’m a skeptic of everything. At least  I think I am. I think some people might say differently. As if I’ve concluded there’s no god, or concluded evolution is true, that global warming is a truth or that Santa is not real.

Thing is: I’m not convinced. I’m persuaded by certain information to lean a certain way. That’s it. No more, no less. My beef with anyone is that they aren’t able to at least admit their perspective might be wrong.

Regardless, when Michael was telling me things about juicing that seemed too good to be true, I yawned and rolled my eyes.

After Tina read the book, she asked if we could get a $100 NutriBullet from Target just after the new year. Juicers can cost upwards of $1000. And the draw to the Nutribullet was that it was inexpensive, easy to clean and easy to use.

So I agreed.

So we’ve been juicing since around January 5.

I essentially agreed to buy it and do it with Tina, because (1) I’m a follower and (2) I don’t believe I eat the right amount of fruits and veggies per day. And even if juicing doesn’t really cure cancer or dispel 9/11 conspiracy theories, it would definitely give me the excuse to consume more fruits and veggies.

I haven’t read a damn thing on Juicing. And maybe I will sooner than later. I can’t seem to find anything wrong with consuming more fresh produce and vegetables, with flax seed and some water. It’s amazing.

I usually put in the following ingredients (maybe not in every juice):

• A handful of greens (kale, spinach, broccoli, arugula, etc.)
• Mixed berries (grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, dingle berries, etc.)
• Pomegranates and Cucumbers
• Citrus (oranges, lemons, limes)
• Bananas, apples, pears, mangoes, etc.
• Beets, radishes, carrots, jalapeños, avocados, etc.
• Greek yogurt and flax seed

But I can say that I feel good and refreshed after a Juice. Since, Thanksgiving, Tina and I have upped our workout routines. We workout more per week, a routine that has already provided more energy and strength.

My poops have been amazing. Before Juicing, I had a loose or diarrhea stool at least once or twice a week. Eureka! I’ve had one once since juicing.

I’ve cut down on alcohol and caffeine consumption as well. I purposely stopped taking melatonin at night, and I’m trying to read more to relax instead of working on my computer or watching TV until bed time.

See. Juicing is magic.

Well, it may not be magic, but it’s definitely helping to push me in a healthy direction.

Do you juice? What do you think? What’s your favorite recipes?

 

 

Leica Fan Fiction: “I leica my leica™”

The other day I setup table top lighting for a food shot.

No wait. I set it up to photograph a video camera that we’re selling.

But with it setup during dinnertime, I photographed our dinner plates. You may have seen it here.

I shot it with a Hasselblad H3D-31 with an 80mm lens. I’d love to have a macro for things like this, but the pixels to push in are available so I resort to this.

Lighting is a strobe through a large silk diffusion (camera left and behind the subject) with a white reflector front (camera right and in front of the subject).

I ended up shooting Tina’s new camera a few different ways, but I’m kinda proud of this shot (above). It’s five photographs with five different focuses, stacked and auto-blended using Photoshop.

I knew I wanted my depth of field to drop off behind the camera (see the strap, but I wanted the front of the lens while open to be in focus back to the Leica logo on the top right of the front of the camera.

Once blended, I did a series of other touchups, dodging and burning, color selection and enhancement, etc.

I’m not a product shooter, but I love quality images. I feel like no matter what the subject matter is, I should be able to treat it like a portrait … whether a human face, the façade of a space or the face of a camera.

Enjoy.