Lauralee Magill Photography has a new portrait blog. http://lauraleemagill.net/theblog
We’re still tweaking, but ready to retire this one and move on to something that’s a little more our style. Check it out! Any comments/ideas/feedback appreciated, we’d love to know what you think and if there is anything you’d like to see to make it a better experience for you!
By random drawing goes to entry #2, b/w cat!
Congratulations! I’ve sent an email to the winner with more details.
Congratulations!! Winners have been notified via email so check your inboxes!!!
First Place: Nosey Doggie
Second Place: Girl on Swing
Third Place: B/W Baby
Congratulations to you all, and a BIG thank you to everyone who entered!! This was so much fun that I’m sure there will be more contests in the future. 
And check back in this weekend, we are going to be unveiling something brand new- but for right now I have some v-day chocolate and some hugs and kisses to dole out to the loves of my life.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, spread the love today.
To get your votes in for the Valentine’s Day photo contest, see poll in the post below.
I’ll be posting the results and notifying the winners by email tomorrow, Good Luck!
Poll is now closed. Thank you for voting- winners announced tomorrow.
Here they are, in random order. Vote in the poll for your favorite.
Poll will be open until midnight February 13th, and the winners will be announced here on Valentine’s Day!
[polldaddy poll=1340694] Good luck, and thank you so much to everyone who took the time to send in a photo!
is everlasting and unending.
And I will not apologize. In fact, I feel sorry for anyone who looks down on ABBA, (yes, this means you my dear husband) because they are missing out on truly some of the most insightful and cleverest songs ever produced. And if you are honest with yourself, you will admit that you have been pretending to hate them all this time.
I recently watched the movie version of Mamma Mia, fully expecting it to be silly and to not like it very much, but, ABBA triumphed once again! Those songs set against that Greek landscape, oh my. Such a treat for the eyes and ears, even with Pierce Brosnan’s goat-like singing (he was mostly just nice to look at).
So I say thank you for the music!
Meryl Streep singing ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ made me cry. Twice.
Not sure if I’d call myself a bibliophile quite yet, but we all read a lot at our house, and pretty much every available surface will usually have a stack of books on it. Geronimo Stilton and dinosaur books for the kiddos, classics for the husband, and of course, for me, photography books.
I thought I’d recommend a few.
1. Annie Leibovitz: At Work
I was given this book for Christmas, and loved it. I’m a fan of Annie Leibovitz anyhow, but even if you’re not it provides a neat insight into the world of a working photographer.
2. The Tao of Photography: Seeing beyond Seeing
This is a book I’ve had for a little bit, but keep coming back to it to re-read and get a little more from it. For anyone who is interested in the philosophical side of photography. Warning- the cover scares my 3 year old and I have to keep it face down!
3. The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers
Essential and always on my desk.
4. The World’s Most Dangerous Places ( I think I have the 5th ed.)
Not a photography book, but also always on my desk… not sure why…
5. Saudek
The photography of Jan Saudek.
Beautiful, disturbing, surreal, inspiring. We spent a class looking at images from an earlier collection of Saudek’s work over 10 yrs ago- and I regret not buying that volume- though I would browse through it everytime we went to the bookstore since they had one copy. Now that particular book is out of print or something, and I can’t get it.
I’ve linked to Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeebar on Wellington where I could, and Amazon where I couldn’t. If you can order through a local business, please do so, it benefits everyone in the long run. I’ve ordered from Collected Works before and they were lovely to deal with- great little kids section in the back, too.
If you’ve submitted a photo to the Valentine’s Day contest, and HAVE NOT had an email from me in reply, it means I haven’t received your email. I was contacted by someone who didn’t think her emails were getting through, and she was right. I think I’ve fixed the problem, but please, if you sent in an entry and didn’t hear back from me thanking you for you submission, it means I didn’t get your email and can’t post your photo.
Because of this I’m extending the deadline for entries until Monday, Feb. 2 so everyone has a chance to send in on the weekend. Thank you so much for your patience, and thank you to the lovely person who brought this to my attention.
That is all. :p
Just a reminder that the contest will end tomorrow- so if you are planning to enter and possibly win some really great prizes ( I would personally LOVE the gift pack that Foundation Studio is donating!) get your entries in before tomorrow at MIDNIGHT. Send your photos to info@lauraleemagill.com
and entries will be posted for voting shortly after.
Good luck!!
Making these is like therapy for me. Whenever I’m having a bad day, or I’m stressed, baking a batch of cupcakes just calms me down and clears my head. The measuring and mixing take enough concentration that everything else slips away for a while. And there is nothing more comforting than the smell of something sweet and yummy baking in the oven.
I’m not much of a baker- oddly, a lot of people who like to cook and can cook decently cannot seem to bake, or so I hear from Rachel Ray- but I have a pretty good grip on the art of the cupcake, after much practice. I’m at the point now where I can’t just make a simple vanilla or chocolate frosted cupcake, and have to try umpteen variations. The latest batch was 1/2 vanilla chocolate pecan and 1/2 cherry chocolate pecan. I use a recipe that I’ve cobbled together from different bits, so can’t claim it as my own, but it works every time. In a hurry I wouldn’t have a problem using a mix rather than from scratch, though generally the texture is much nicer when it’s all homemade. The boxed mixes tend to be a little spongy and less cake-y.
Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 F
Cream 2 and 1/2 cups of white sugar with 1 cup of butter, add in 3 lightly beaten eggs. Add in 1/2 tsp of pure vanilla extract (not artificial) and 1/2 tsp almond extract. Add to this 1 cup of milk. In a separate, large mixing bowl sift together 3 cups of flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and a little more than 1/4 tsp baking powder. Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry. Beat for a couple of minutes until the batter is mostly smooth.
Line cupcake tins with paper liners, and fill about 2/3 with batter. Place in the preheated oven and bake about 22 minutes, until tops are golden and springy. Watch your first batch carefully, since ovens vary, and mine runs a little hotter than others.
Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to fully cool before icing with whatever you choose.
Enjoy!
