For this session we headed out to the industrial decay paradise that is The Goat Farm.  I love the light in this shoot, and all that brick and metal and broken glass along with these two beautiful people.  The weather was unseasonably perfect, and we had a great shoot.  Enjoy!

We’re iron chefs!  My wife and I won a recipe contest, and we feel pretty important.  Thought I’d share the recipe if you want to try it out.  Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Fuji Apple Soup with Roasted Cauliflower & Bacon

By Josh and Kalli Lamkin

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 small cauliflower, divided into bite-sized florets

4 slices of applewood bacon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small yellow onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small fuji apple, peeled and sliced

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced

4 cups vegetable broth

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place the cauliflower florets on a greased baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, then add salt and pepper. Bake for 35-40 minutes, tossing halfway through. When cauliflower is fork tender, remove from the oven and set aside.

While the cauliflower is roasting, cook the bacon slices in the large soup pot over medium heat. Once the bacon is crispy, remove from the pot and set aside.   Keep the stove on medium and add the onions to the bacon drippings remaining in the pan.  Cook onions until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for one minute, until fragrant.  Add sliced apples and sweet potato and cook for 3 minutes more.

Add the vegetable broth and turn stove up to medium-high.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce flame to low and simmer, uncovered, until sweet potatoes and apples are softened, about 30 minutes.  Remove pan from the flame and let rest for 10 minutes.

Blend the soup in the pot using an immersion blender. Once soup is blended smooth, serve soup into bowls and garnish with roasted cauliflower florets & crisp bacon crumbles.

I shoot these pictures while the action is happening, and often I’m running around on stage to get the shot while the scene is running.  I like to do the shoots “live” like that so that the images feel more real, more like a captured moment.  It’s a challenge, and it’s really fun.  I’ve gotten to work with some amazingly talented people over the years doing this, and I always look forward to the next play I get to photograph.  Enjoy!

I remember the day I came home and saw that my dad had bought this car.   It was 1990.  We pulled up the driveway and there it was.  We were so impressed–it had air conditioning, a stereo, electric windows and door locks, totally rad keyless entry, and it smelled fantastic.  The only other car I’d known that my dad had owned in my lifetime was a bright yellow 1980 Toyota Tercel, and it didn’t have any of the aforementioned luxuries.  The Tercel was pretty awful, actually.  Plastic seats that stuck to your legs in the South Carolina summertime.  No stereo (we used a Walkman that we rigged up with external speakers).  Did I mention the awful electric banana yellow color?  And the A/C barely worked–when it finally gave out, my dad bought this Nissan.

I know this isn’t the coolest car ever.  I’m not even sure it’s cool at all.  But I learned how to drive in this car.  I drove all over the place for years going to music gigs–the trunk is huge, great for sound equipment, suitcases and all that.  Once we had to drive through a horrible winter snowstorm with four or five inches of snow on the interstate and had not a single problem.  This car never broke down once in the 22+ years I knew it.  Yeah the windows didn’t roll down anymore, and the stereo speakers in the back were the only ones that worked, but who cares.  It was a great car, and on the very last day I had this car, it still had that great smell it had on the first day.

You might’ve guessed I traded this car in for a new car (more-or-less new anyway).  I was surprised how sad I was to drive away from the old Nissan when we left it at the dealer after trading it for the new car (I couldn’t believe they gave me even a single dollar for it).  The new car is great:  great stereo, windows that roll up and down, remote control door locks, hippy hybrid engine, and it looks pretty good.  It’s just not the same, though.

Maybe in 20 years I’ll love the new car like I did the old one.

Stephanie at Oktoberfest in Helen, GA.  I wanted to call this “Beer Goggles,” but beer didn’t make her this way–this is just how my friends and I are all the time.

This picture is a four shot panorama from my honeymoon last May in Dominican Republic.  I’m sure these shots were taken with a drink in my hand, which I think makes this pretty impressive.

Wish I were there…..

This shoot was a blast.  Ariail and Oliver are my new best friends.  Enjoy!