Happy Birthday, Donald!

[Katy Noelle]

Corn Chowder! (as requested)

#1



#2



#3



Happy Birthday, Donald.....I think!

Didn't I hear a rumour that it was your birthday a week and a half ago? (The Saturday before Palm Sunday, actually.) Well, maybe my mind made it up but I've been thinking of you! Anyway, aren't you having a birthday somewhere around here, this year... I mean, I really do love UN-birthdays, too! (Any excuse works for me.)

In any case, you did mention that you'd like some corn chowder, when I made it and you so well deserve it and I'll also say, btw, thanks for being such a great mentor and friend to me. You'll just never know how much we all appreciate you.

(and, er, I'd love C&C on the photos, too, if any one would be so kind.)

[jiro]

All 3 images... SPLENDID!!! Well done, Katy. If the rumor was really true, belated happy birthday, Donald.

[Donald]

GOOD GRIEF!!

Yes. Thank you. Gosh. I'm not sure how I can cope with being 35!!

On the pics. For me ....

#1 is neither really close in nor a wider view. It's sort of got stuck between the two.

#2 gives us a wonderful sense of a table setting and of a family about to come together. A lovely mood. And a lovely bal;ance of bright, clear, 'clean' tones. You can almost smell the fresh air in the room.

#3 has the same brightness and freshness (with teh flowers in the background being a hugely important element in that) and brings us up close to say that this is the food that's to be enjoyed.

Like I say, I don't think #1 works so well. #2 and #3 are beauties.

[ilovelucydog]

Happy Birthday, Donald! 35 isn't so bad.

[Clactonian]

Porridge with corn in it ... yep you would like that Donald!!
Nice pics Katy.

[ktuli]

Happy B-day Donald!

As to the C&C, I think the problem I have is with the cropping in all of them. #1 and #3 cut off too much or two little of the bowl. I'm ok with not having the entire bowl in the frame, but I think one side or the other needs to be able to close the line of the bowl. In the case of #1, I feel it close enough that showing the whole bowl would have worked better (I think similar to Donald's "neither close nor wide view" comment). #2, the crop is just minusculely too tight, I want just a tiny sliver of space on the left edge, a little more on the top to keep the flower in frame, and a tiny bit on the right for the glass. And #3 is close, I don't mind a large portion of the bowl being cropped out on the right, but I wish the left edge of the bowl were complete.

I do like the soft colors and bright exposures in these though. Gives that feeling of a dreamy memory of a lunch long ago.

- Bill

[jeeperman]

35? I thought you were in a holding pattern at 29! Happy birthday Donald.

[Vandenberg]

Happy Birthday Donald

[Wirefox]

35

Ooh a number puzzle. My guess is rearrange the numbers and add 7.....am I warm? Actually I would find it very difficult to guess your age Donald I could never imagine you looking any different.

Many happy returns old chap

Katy, very well executed. It is just the compositions that bother me a bit as The Old Man of Glens has observed above.

I am guessing that chowder is lumpy soup and a loon is a mallard...so you would have looney chowder in the states and a tin of Heinz Big Soup in the UK. See Master Chef is not lost on me after all.

[Crovean]

That looks yummy! Happy Birthday Donald!

[arith]

35 You need to get some exercise, spot of weightlifting, spot of running. You sure need to keep in condition,

[Donald]

Ooh a number puzzle. My guess is rearrange the numbers and add 7.....am I warm? Actually I would find it very difficult to guess your age Donald I could never imagine you looking any different.

Cheeky b..........! Then deduct 4, if you don't mind!

My partner tells me I probably never looked like a child, that I started out looking about 35. Must be just one of those wonderful, lived in, hunky looking faces!

[Katy Noelle]

My partner tells me I probably never looked like a child, that I started out looking about 35. Must be just one of those wonderful, lived in, hunky looking faces!

Oh, absolutely! (and, Phew! I'm glad that I didn't imagine it, then - your recent birthday, I mean.)

Thanks, guys, too for the feedback! (heh, heh) I can't change the first or third photos' crop but here's another one for the second. Also, in the third, I added more milk and a pat of butter and I think that it might make the soup look a bit more appetizing than the first two.



Anyway, the point still really is to wish Donald a happy birthday; so, carry on!

[jeeperman]

Oh Katy, I said Happy birthday and completely forgot to say how hungry your photos made me! very nicely done.

[wilgk]

Can I join with my American friend in wishing you a very happy birthday Donald - she has it spot on just how much we appreciate you

And Katy the pics are very well done, not an easy situation to metre with the white dishes and the window light, the final 1 here would be my pick.

[ktuli]

Katy,

Much better on the last one. I still really like the dreamy quality to the exposure.

And you know what gem I found in it looking this time? The absolutely awesome reflection of the flowers in the spoon. I don't know why, but that makes me smile.

- Bill

[Donald]

We were away over Easter weekend (watch out for images being posted tomorrow) and the family members we were staying with clubbed together and presented me with a copy of 'A Year in Photography : Magnum Archive', Prestel, 2010. There are 365 images (one picture per day) taken from the archive. Mouthwatering stuff. I am, very, slowly working my way through it. One to study many times over.

[Katy Noelle]

The book sounds inspiring, Donald!

Thanks, all, for your input. (Spoons are so awkward, I find - I needed the help.) Steve - you gourmand, you! Yes, Mike, chowder is porridge with corn in it - YECH! (It does kind of look like that, doesn't it.) It's just a milk/cream based soup. My favorite is NE clam chowder. Bill, thanks for your input and for noticing the flower reflected in the spoon.

whispered: happy birthday, again, Donald.

[purplehaze]

I'm late to the party, but want to wish you many happy returns, Donald, and Katy, you sure do know how to lay a table and shoot it in a way that makes me want to cook, and lay a table, and maybe shoot it too, but it would be pointless; I don't have your touch, never mind your lovely tableware. I love the yellows and the greens and the light and I too noticed the reflection in the spoon and was charmed by it. Way to go, girl! I love your sensibility.

[Peter Ryan]

Congratulations Donald and I am sure you enjoyed Easter with the family very much.