It's been a month since I came back from the International Food Styling and Photography Conference in Boston. And it's been a month since I wrote something here, in my blog. Somehow every time I sat down to write, it just didn't seem right. In the beginning I was so overwhelmed by the conference, that I needed about a week to get my bearings. Then all those wonderful posts about the conference started to show up and I didn't know if I can keep up with them. I cannot take journalistic  photos and I cannot write as well as those guys. So, yes, it took me a month, but I am finally writing this, although not too detailed.

The conference was amazing!! I was inspired in so many ways that I cannot describe it. I met wonderful people who I could not ever meet here. I heard countless inspirational stories and I felt so much "at home" when I knew that most people there shared my obsession with food.

But I actually had two different opinions about the conference. On one hand I absolutely loved it, but on the other hand I was a little bit disappointed with some of the talks. Some of the presenters just showed us their portfolio and that's it. It felt a bit strange paying a large sum of money just to see the same pictures that are on their websites.

No matter what my feelings were about the conference, the last day made up for everything. We went to Francine Zaslow Studio and it was an experience of a lifetime!!! How can I describe it? Beautiful big kitchen with countless of dishes, plates, bowls, forks and glasses. Large windows, amazing equipment and absolutely wonderful talented photographers, food stylists and assitants. I spent most of my time observing Deborah Jones who worked with natural light.

I came home absolutely amazed with the things that I saw and heard. I still feel a little bit out of my element. Wow, was I there? Was I at the conference?  I think it'll take me a few more weeks to realize that yes, it actually happened and it wasn't a dream, but for now I'm going to keep dreaming about it.

I am very excited and scared at the same time. I am going to the International Food Styling and Photography Conference in Boston this weekend. I don't really know what to expect and I don't know anyone there. I am new to the food blogging community and know any of the wonderful food bloggers yet. I know of them of course!! I know their blogs, their delicious recipes, their amazing pictures, but I don't know them any closer than that and they don't know me. So, it's a bit nerve racking going away by myself, but I am super excited to learn from the best and to meet new people.

I'll be back next week with pictures and stories

I saw this idea quite some time ago in a cookbook. I really loved the picture and wanted to recreated for some time, but all the spoons that I had didn't work. So, just recently I got a set of very lovely spoons that I figured would be perfect for this shot. First, I thought I'd wait until I make some chocolate dessert and then take this picture, but I was bored and the little spoons were so tempting. So, I decided to just go ahead and have fun with some cocoa powder.

I really liked the result, but I wanted to try something else. I wanted to drop a spoon and take a picture the moment it falls in the cocoa powder and the cocoa flies everywhere. That didn't work out at all. I couldn't get the shutter speed fast enough even with higher ISO and exposure compensation. But the main problem was dropping the spoon and clicking my remote at the exact moment of the spoon getting into the cocoa. Yep, that was (or wasn't) fun. As a result my whole place was covered in cocoa powder, it looked like there was cocoa snow. My table, my tablecloth, floor around the table, tripod, camera, spot light with an umbrella and, of course, me - we were all covered in a fine layer of cocoa powder. It wasn't fun to clean up, but it was fun working with it and a bonus - my place now smells like chocolate!!!

and one more... having fun with dypitchs...