My Arch Nemesis: Photographing Cookies

At Spring Fling this year, Glory from Glorious Treats gave a fantastic talk about photographing cookies.  If you haven't seen her site, you seriously need to go check it out.  It's beautiful.

She emphasized the importance of using natural light whenever possible, editing your photos, and experimenting with different setups, props, and angles.  She also made me realize that I almost never allow myself enough time to photograph my work.  Why would I spend 12 hours baking and decorating a collection of cookies, and spend 10 minutes photographing them!?  It really doesn't do them justice.  At all.  So I'm trying to allow myself more time for photography.

Glory taught us to layer cookies in a shot to give it more life and dimension.  I attempted to do that in this photo.  And oops, you can also see that I took Maryann's advice to use a piece of plastic wrap on your platter to prevent the cookies from slipping.  I'll have to remember to edit that out next time :)

Some wadded up pieces of aluminum foil were perfect to prop up the cookies for this shot.  Lace scrapbooking paper made for a prettier background than my standard white posterboard.

This was another attempt to layer cookies in a different way.  I made these cookies for my cousin's wedding and they were included in the hotel gift bags.  I thought that was such a great way to add a personal touch for all of the out of town guests.

And finally, my addition of a prop - the beautiful wedding invitation.  This was my "one pine cone" as Glory would say.  I think it's my favorite shot!

Obviously these photos are nowhere near perfect and they aren't even close to the fabulous photos on  Glorious Treats and other beautiful food blogs out there.  But hopefully you'll continue to see my photography evolve as I get braver with different props and layouts and learn more about my camera and Photoshop.  Big thank you to Glory for showing me the importance of photography and for pushing me to improve!

Spring Fling 2012

This past weekend, I was able to attend the first ever Cookiers Spring Fling in Louisville, Kentucky!  Spring Fling was a "cookie convention" that brought together lots of women from all over the US and Canada to talk about decorating cookies, types of icing, new techniques and tools, where to find inspiration, how to arrange and photograph cookies....pretty much anything that you can think of related to cookies (including how to stay sane when it's 3am and you're trying to get an order out the door!).

May and Kay from Cookie Two Shoes

May and Kay from Cookie Two Shoes worked so hard to get everything ready for us.  After preparing something like 60 DOZEN cookies and over 290 pounds of icing, coordinating with sponsors, printing brochures, and coordinating travel plans for 64 cookiers, I can't believe they could still stand up by the time we got there!  But they were the most energetic and fun MC's that an event like this could possibly have.  Talk about southern hospitality!

They also arranged for some of the BEST instructors to come and share their cookie wisdom with us.  Here are all of our fearless leaders: (from left to right) Karen from Karen's Cookies, Ali from Ali Bee's Bake Shop, Maryann the Cookie Artisan, Glory from Glorious Treats, Pam from Cookie Crazie, and Callye from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.

If you aren't familiar with these ladies work, you need to go check out their sites.  Seriously.  Do it now.  And then go order your cookie supplies from KarensCookies.net!

It was so exciting to meet them in person after watching their cookies on Flickr for years and reading their blogs every day.  Someone compared it to learning about football from Peyton Manning, and I think that was a pretty accurate analogy!

Here's Cookie Crazie Pam in action, talking about her glaze icing:

I can't even begin to describe how much fun I had with all of the other ladies at cookie camp.  When you get that many women together who love cookies, it's hard to get us to shut up.  Just ask "Red Rover" Kay.  We couldn't contain our excitement!

We all brought cookies for the Kentucky theme and voted for our favorites.  Mine were the Woodford Reserve bottle and Kentucky Derby horse.

The winning cookies were the ones next to mine with the adorable blackberry plaque and jar by Jackie from The Cookie Corner.  She is so talented, and she even brought her own burlap prop!  And how cool is that KFC cookie in the back by Alyson from Corner House Cookies?!

Maryann is amazing at creating cookie platters, and she graciously agreed to arrange all of our cookies for us.  Look at all of this talent!

And it wasn't all about the cookies either.  We got to take a tour of Churchill Downs where they're busy preparing for the Kentucky Derby!  We learned about all of the superstitious idiosyncrasies of the jockeys (a hot tub from the 1950s?!) and got to check out Millionaire's row.

Maryann and Glory out of the gates!

I'm so happy to have met so many wonderful cookie friends this weekend!  It's nice to know that you're not the only one who's crazy about cookies :)

I'm so sad about the shadows in this picture. Sorry but it's the only one I had!

I didn't know my roommate Cynthia before the event but I couldn't have asked for a better one!  We had a blast together, hitching rides all weekend and meeting new people.  She raises sheep in Nevada and her cookie name is Cookies for "Ewe" - love it!  And check out the beautiful location we were in for cookie camp!

Keep in touch ladies and don't forget to share those pictures!

For anyone who is interested in attending another event, May and Kay have said that they are actually crazy enough to host another one!  Keep an eye on CookieTwoShoes.com for more information about a Fall Fling!