Coffee Feelings

I've been reprimanded... See I've been posting albums to Facebook and forgetting that some of my blog friends and followers do not have access to those albums that I post there... One friend reminded me of that fact the other day. I had mentioned in passing about my coffee antics the other week and she had very confused look on her face.... "I haven't seen any coffee pictures, Ebonie, I'm not on Facebook...."

Opps!!!! Lets just fix that situation right here and now. Let the story begin. Something completely different than family, children or wedding images. Let's talk coffee.

It was one weekday morning-early-the sun was just coming up when I shuffled into the kitchen to get some breakfast and put on the coffee to begin the day. I don't know what year I actually began to appreciate coffee in a whole new light but at some point I realized coffee just tasted better with fresh ground beans- so, I purchased a coffee grinder. This particular morning however, habit, routine (What ever you want to call it) just didn't happen for me. I poured the Starbucks coffee beans into the grinder and turned it on.

You may have noticed I didn't say "put the lid on the grinder". Yep, a very essential step when grinding coffee beans especially if you hope to keep a few to put into the coffee machine...

It happened way to fast, and 2 seconds later (There was a sleep induced time delay before my brain processed what was actually happening) I had beans all over the house, in my hair, in my clothes... EVERYWHERE!!!

When I finally "came to" and realize what had happened, I began to laugh. (I remember mom use to say "no point in crying over spilled milk" wonder what she would say about coffee beans!) And then the gravity of the situation hit me... I had hours of clean up to do with no COFFEE!!!! (Okay, I admit it I'm addicted).

I sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor amongst the scattered coffee beans to ponder the situation (You have to remember it's early and I haven't had my coffee yet!!!) I let my brain wonder, pondering the benefits of coffee, that I was yet to taste that morning. That is when I remembered the coffee assignment I once had to do as a board assignment in photography school and how much different I would do one now, especially in this situation. How would I do it? How was I feeling at the moment, could I translate those feelings through my photography? (My brain obviously does strange thinking without coffee...) I went and got my camera and the following is a documentation of the event that lasted about 10 min....

I think I'm feeling the effects of no coffee... I'm focusing on the coffee cup but things are going a little blurry...I could really use a cup of coffee...

The cup it's really calling to me... "Where is the coffee??? "

Something small is really growing to a larger concern, I REALLY need that cup of coffee!

Everything just seems brighter with a cup of coffee in the morning....

After the 10 min., when I could no longer stand it, I left the mess, my camera in the mess,

jumped in the car and drove to Starbucks , wisely letting someone else make the coffee that morning! Can you believe I was still finding coffee beans in various rooms of the house weeks later!

Coffee anyone???

This week's board assignment came from Ross. He wants to be "sold" coffee in any form. (Must have been influenced by the -48C temps we've been having this week!) Warm thoughts is what it is all about! Out came my black drop cloth and the kitchen stove soon became my mini studio. I tuck the cloth up under my cabinet doors and out comes the little Ikea spot lamp I bought for my son a few years back. Mom the cook is off - out comes mom the photographer (It's not that fast I usually have to let the stove cool down first to avoid any potential fire hazards!) Funny thing this shoot- I love coffee but ask any of my friends and they'll tell you (with a small snicker) that I can't make a good cup of coffee. Well, if I can't make it taste good maybe I can make it look like it tastes good. My only issue with this shoot- I couldn't make the steam show up more. Craig ( the school's director) gave me some advice - "try steam chips".

???????????? Is there such a thing? In my quest for the truth I googled the item and to my amazement you can actually buy them from a company in New York! Considering I had only a few days to do the shoot in, I think ordering these items are out of the question but may be in future considerations. I also got some other ideas for showing the steam rising from the cup. Photoshopping it in, using a dark backdrop (tried that didn't work) and opening a window letting cold air hit the cup after the coffee's been poured (I'm laughing at that one because my windows have had about an inch of ice on them over the last 2 weeks, and are far from being able to open!) Anyone have any other ideas? Keep warm!