Fall Quarter Catalog Layouts

School will be starting back up again, soon.  Less than 1 week, which is crazy! Next quarter is going to be a lot of work, from what I have heard. We have our colors assignments and our non-profit advertising campaign, I believe totaling about 30 images, when all is said and done. I finished my pre-production plans last week and between the two assignments and my creative brief I compiled something ridiculous like 50 pages worth of plans, ideas, inspiration to work from.  This will hopefully make things easier for next quarter though in the long run...

On that note, I thought I would take the opportunity to post my last quarter's catalog spreads, just in time for school to start back up again. This was a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun, and I think that I got some good shots out of it!

Now for a few days, I will be prop shopping, and hopefully have one full movie day before we get back in the swing of things. :)  Here's to a great 2013! 

Amy

Homemade Granola

I had been talking to a friend of mine, Manuela, from school about doing an outside of school photo shoot during our winter break.  I had been wanting to make something for a new blog post, and also, since it is the holidays, wanted to make something we could share as gifts for friends & family.  Solution: homemade granola!

We each went to the store and picked up a handful of items, dried cranberries, oats, olive oil, coconut oil, shredded coconut, trail mix, you get the picture...You really can add whatever you like to your granola, and it was great to find out we both have a disdain for raisins. "Raisins are gross!" was spouted at one point.

We had a few ideas in mind for recipes to use, so I will include the links to the 3 granola recipes that we based our granola off of.  We would say, "Hey, this recipe calls for this, what do you think?" "Sure! That sounds great!"  So feel free to add whatever you like for your granola, raisins or not.  It really tasted so amazing in the end, so I would recommend going for the shredded coconut,  and coconut oil.  I bought some little gift bags, to put them in, but you can also get canning jars at your local grocery store, which are pretty cute as well.

It was a really fun shoot, and we had delicious gifts to give in the end.  

Enjoy and happy holidays!!

Amy 

What Katie Ate Bob's Toasted Muesli

Real Simple's Olive Oil Granola

The Kitchn's Almond & Coconut Granola

 

Holiday Fattigman, a Scandinavian Treat

Welcome to Always with Coffee, a brand new food photography blog. My name is Amy Johnson, and I am a Seattle based food photographer.  I have been wanting to start a blog for a while, but I was having trouble coming up with a name. I was sitting at my house drinking my coffee one rainy Seattle morning, thinking, and the name always with coffee seemed a perfect fit.  It is one of the things I could never do without. ever.  

A little bit about me.  I love food, cooking, and photography, among other things, so I am hoping to document that here, and add recipes as well. However, I may add other adventures in photography, friends, snowboarding, etc. Only time will tell what the future holds.  For now I am planning on posting new cooking feats at least a few times a month.  

Last weekend I went on a trip to visit my parents with my sister for early holidays and we made Fattigman.  It's a Scandinavian cookie, made by rolling and cutting dough, tying it and then deep frying it.  Of course also coating with powdered sugar and grated nutmeg.  I always had such fond memories of these as a child. They remind me so much of my Grandpa, who I loved so much and my Scandinavian heritage. Not to mention that they are also delish!

Happy Holidays!! 
 

Recipe:

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup Baker's (superfine) sugar
• 3 Tbsp. melted butter
• 1/3 cup heavy cream (whipped to stiff peaks)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. freshly ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• vegetable / canola oil for frying
• vanilla sugar or confectioner's sugar

Preparation:

Cream together the eggs, sugar, and brandy (if using). Stir in the melted butter. Gently fold the whipped cream into the batter. Sift together the remaining ingredients; with a light hand, mix the dry ingredients into the batter to form a soft dough. Chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
Roll the chilled dough out on a floured counter to an 1/8" thickness. Using a fattigman cutter or a pastry cutter, cut the dough into diamond shapes (approximately 1 1/4" wide by 3 1/2" long. If using a pastry cutter: cut the dough first into 1 1/4" inch strips and then cut across these diagonally to form diamonds. Use a knife to cut a 1/2" slash in the middle of each diamond). Twist one corner of each diamond up through the center slash to make a knot.
Heat two inches of vegetable / canola oil in the bottom of a heavy pot to 375.º Drop in the pastry knots and fry until golden, turning occasionally. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Sprinkle with vanilla sugar or confectioner's sugar and serve immediately. (Note: if preparing ahead, store in an airtight container without sprinkling with sugar. Warm in a low oven before serving, then sprinkle with the sugar).
Yield: 4 dozen fattigman cookies.