Category: commercial photography

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Farm to Table and Beyond

Well, it’s July, it’s hot, and that means it’s time to jump in the pool briar patch. Say whaaaaat? Yes, it’s time to pick some blackberries!

Forget the swimsuit. It’s time to put on your tall leather boots, your best thorn resistant pants, a big brimmed hat, and a long sleeved shirt you don’t mind ripping to shreds or dowsing with your favorite garden variety (no pun intended) chigger repellant. Mix that repellant with a little hard-earned sweat and you’ll be a soggy mess before you know it. You’re in, right?

So Don, bro-in-law Charles and I went to the family farm Saturday to do us some berry picking. Here’s Charles reaching in to pick that one ripe berry.

What a classy style and fine technique. You see, Charles is actually a blackberry pickin’ master. His parents groomed him as a young child for this moment by taking him to the most challenging blackberry patches around. They were filled not only with berries and chiggers but wasps! Oh how he hated those wasps. So here he is in a wasp free zone pickin’ the low hanging fruit.

Well, hmmmm … what are we to do when the berries are plentiful and we come home with more than we thought we would? Give some to others? Check. Ask Don to make some of his could be award-winning blackberry cobbler? Check. Freeze some? Check. Learn how to make preserves and can some? Working on it.

So this morning I woke up in the mood for baking some homemade blackberry muffins and to document this unusual event I decided to also get out my camera. It seemed like a great time for stock photography because who doesn’t need a little yummy in the tummy AND a little extra income on the side?

So here’s stock photo #1. You’re supposed to forget any aforementioned suggestion of DEET and look at this mouth watering bowl of blackberries and think of such sale worthy keywords as “organic,” “healthy” and “antioxidants.”

healthy bowl of antioxidant packed organic blackberries – yum!

Stock photo #2 is in fact a Pinterest wannabe:

Fresh blackberry muffins as easy as 1, 2, 3

Stock photo #3 is pretty much the same scene but shot at a different angle.

Fresh blackberries to be folded into muffin batter

Stock photo #4 is the finished product – homemade muffins on a plate Scott made in kindergarten. Aw …

Blackberry muffins served on a handmade polka dot plate

So what are we baking up next? Well, I think perhaps in honor of that time honored British lawn tennis tourney known as Wimbledon, we’ll be serving up blackberry lemon scones at tea time. You may have to follow me on Instagram @maryricephoto to see if they really pan out.

Thanks for grinnin’ and pickin’ my blog. Happy summer ya’ll.

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What’s new?

So I’ve been considering blog topics for over a month and finally the obvious hit me – blog on “new,” as in, Happy NEW Year!

“New” allows me to show you a broader spectrum of what I photograph and a lot of what I capture is fresh and brand new. That’s both a privilege and exciting. So let’s view some highlights of the “new” I photographed over the last year.

A good starting point is newborn photography:

Fisher’s mom describes him as cuddly – I’d add super sweet and cute

On the commercial side, Nashville is booming. It’s become one of America’s “it” cities, a mecca of what’s new. I was pleased to photograph a large new shopping complex in Bellevue:

One Bellevue Place, Nashville, TN

I also had the pleasure to photograph Nashville’s new (and best) assisted stretching studio:

The Power to Pause
Brentwood, TN

and I photographed new products for a familiar client.

some of Boconi’s new socks and bags

I shot lots of headshots this year to give folks a “new look:”

and I shot this spectacular event which produced new champions:

Saddle Up’s 2018 Country Music Grand Prix

The real winners from this event are the kids who participate in Saddle Up.

What’s new for me in 2019? Well, the year’s just unfolding, but for the art fans amongst you, I recommend two new Nashville photography exhibits.

Running now through the end of March at the Laskey Gallery at Scarritt Bennett is Shifting Perspectives: Images of Hope in Troubled Times. In this exhibit, Sharon Brown Christopher, Sue Henry, Susan Ruach and I share hopeful messages through abstract photography. For more information, please visit http://www.abstractlensnashville.com.

And from February 4 – March 8, you will want to visit the art gallery at Nashville State Community College to view SNAP: The Photograph Celebrated. Here’s the promo card for this exhibit which was curated by Beth Gorham (possibly my favorite photography instructor ever).

anyone else experiencing deja vu to a May 13, 2018 blog post?

Thank you for following my blog. I look forward to bringing you more of what’s new in the coming new year!