Raw Tomato Soup

You are looking at a bowl of my raw, organic tomato soup. What do I mean by raw? Nothing is cooked. It's a cold soup, similar to Gazpacho but a little different. I put tomatoes, onions, garlic, fresh dill, fresh basil, red bell pepper, sun dried tomatoes, raisins, olive oil, and salt in a mixing bowl and puree everything until its a smooth soup. Then I add diced avocado, diced red bell pepper, and fresh kernels of corn if organic corn is available. Every ingredient is organic. Nothing is cooked. Everyone loves my soup, even people who don't like "healthy" food.

I'm slowly making the transition to raw food. Why? Nothing you eat has any nutritional value. When you heat food above 115 degrees, you alter its composition and destroy half the vitamins and enzymes that your body needs. When you go to the store and buy things that have been heated, processed, filled with chemicals, and finally sweetened with corn syrup so you won't mind the taste, you're being fooled into thinking you're eating food. You're not. There's more nutrition in my single bowl of soup than you probably get in a week!

I'm not there yet. I still eat some cooked food. I still go to Starbucks every now and then. I certainly don't want to eat salads every day. I have two friends that eat all raw- my friend David in Miami and my friend Thea in NYC. I've learned from both of them that you don't have to eat salads all the time to be raw. There are many amazing dishes you can make from raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains... and I'm learning how to make them! If you want to see what you can make using only raw ingredients, I highly recommend the book, Raw Food Real World.

Hint: Japanese restaurants have a lot of raw food. =)

Happy Birthday: Kellen

Lizard in the grass

I moved in really, really slow just to see how close I could get. Usually these small lizards will dart away in the blink of an eye. I think this one thought he was hidden in the blades of grass. Nikon D200, ISO 400, F5.6 @ 1/60.

Fort Lauderdale Sunrise

I shot this at 7am one morning after I had stayed up all night. Nikon D200, ISO 100, F8 @ 1/640. No adjustments or retouching.

Fort Lauderdale beach at dusk

It's 8pm. All of the tourists and sunbathers are gone. Nikon D200, ISO 100, F4.5 @ 1/60. No color adjustments. That's how it looked. The only thing I did in Photoshop was stitch two images together to make a large panoramic image.

Wedding

My friend Sedna is learning photography and she had to shoot a wedding. I went with her for support and took a few pictures with my own camera. I didn't bring a flash so this shot was done using available light. Nikon D200, ISO 400, F4 @ 1/6 handheld!

Exceed Wetsuits Shoot

This is an image from the shoot I did for Exceed Wetsuits. My friend Sedna was my assistant and the model pictured is Megan. I've done several really exotic shoots for Exceed's magazine ads. One year we flew to a desert and rented camels. Another time, we were in the Everglades and I was in the water with alligators. I also shoot their catalogs. You can see all of these pictures and some really cool wetsuits on their web site, www.Exceedwetsuits.com.

Riverfront bars at night

I was walking around downtown Fort Lauderdale at night with my camera and tripod and I took this shot of Tarpon Bend and the other downtown bars around Riverfront. I set up my tripod in the middle of the street and waited for some cars. The exposure was ISO 100, F16 @ 15 seconds.

Dana

I went to my friend Courtney's house one night and did a photo shoot with our friend Dana. She needed a professional headshot and obviously this is NOT one of them! This is one of our "warm up" photos. Dana is so funny. She had Courtney and I laughing hysterically with all of her different expressions.

Broward School Board Building

I was wandering around downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Broward County School Board building looked really nice with the reflection of the sky and clouds in it. In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma came through and blasted most of the windows out. I took pictures and you can see them here.

Old Yacht, Las Olas

I was shooting several high end properties in Las Olas Isles for a Realtor and I saw this old yacht. I'm not sure how old it actually is but it looks like an older yacht that has been meticulously maintained or perhaps, restored. I'm not the kind of person who would own a yacht in the first place but if I did, I'd want something like this. It almost looked steam powered yet it has some modern features, like radar.