In February, I worked with Lindsey Binz photographing a home of one of her long-time clients located in an exclusive neighborhood in North Little Rock. I photographed the kitchen, the formal living room and a preteen, boys bedroom. I love the red pops of color in both the kitchen and the living room.
For the boys bedroom, I was really drawn to the wooden focal wall and the teal walls and the accents. Another favorite of mine is the collage of nature photography.
Low in fat and amazingly high in protein, relatively inexpensive and easy to raise on your own, chicken is a staple on the dinner table around the world.
Memorial Day is next Monday and the vast majority of the U.S. are taking advantage of the upcoming long weekend. It's a safe bet that many of us - most of us - will fire up the grill at some point and chicken will be on the menu.
When it comes to the grill, I'll admit that I am a proud charcoal snob. I can hear the collective *gasp* of the gas grill lovers, but sorry, charcoal just tastes better. Simple (and cheap) chicken drumsticks are a perfect evening dinner.
I used the leftovers to make BBQ chicken pizza...more on that below.
BBQ chicken legs.
If anything deep fried is more your flavor, the possibilities with fried chicken are endless. I ate deep fried chicken quite often as a kid, but as an adult, I don't indulge as much except when it comes to the fried chicken sandwich. Thick and juicy, with just a hint of spice, sandwich your perfectly fried chicken breast between a toasted bun topped with, spicy mayo, homemade slaw and bread and butter pickles (my fave) and you have perfection.
Fried chicken sandwich with slaw and pickles.
For those with a wicked sweet tooth, here's a twist on chicken and waffles. Use the waffles as the bun and the maple syrup as a dipping sauce and these chicken and waffles sandwiches are a great for Sunday brunch. Or any day of the week.
Warning: this can - and will - get messy, but who cares? It's chicken and waffles sandwiches.
Chicken and waffles.
I'm a huge fan of Hoisin Sauce which is a thick, somewhat pungent sauce commonly used in Chinese cuisine as a glaze for meats. With it's sweet and salty taste, It's also used in some stir fry's and as a dipping sauce. For a twist to the standard BBQ sauce, use Hoisin sauce and make lettuce wraps garnished with scallions and sesame seeds for a fast and easy summertime dinner. Chopsticks are optional.
Chicken lettuce wraps.
A favorite for a weekday, a weekend lunch, is the chicken salad sandwich. Chicken salad is one of those items that can be made in bulk and it'll keep in the fridge for several days...if it lasts that long. I like to buy chicken tender strips, add them to a large pot of water and let it come to a slow simmer for just a few minutes. The slow poach yields a wonderfully moist chicken tender that's easy to shred with endless uses.
The uber health conscious scoffs at chicken salad because of the mayo, excessive amount of mayo. It CAN be made healthy and lower in fat with the right substitutions. Try subbing 3/4 of the mayo with nonfat, plain yogurt. Greek yogurt doesn't sub as well. I find it too tangy with a slightly gritty texture. The rest of the ingredients are up to you, but for me, it's a finely diced apples, grapes, chopped walnuts and fresh thyme.
Chicken salad.
After the long Memorial Day weekend is all but a memory, and your fridge is full of leftovers from the grill (if there are any) what can you do with the leftover chicken? BBQ chicken pizza is the perfect solution.
Homemade pizza dough is always best, but if you're not up for making your own, the store bought kind will do just fine. Take any and all leftover chicken, shred finely and add just a touch of your favorite BBQ sauce. The topping are left to your imagination. Sauteed red onions, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh pulled mozzarella cheese with a few ribbons of basil are my favorites. Simple, easy and messy...the perfect pizza.
In late 2016 and in early 2017, I spent a several days over the course of six weeks traveling throughout the southeast again working with the Milken Family Foundation photographing the Milken Educator Awards. I worked with this incredible foundation previously in 2015 for the same event.
What are the Milken Educator Awards? An initiative of the Milken Family Foundation, founded by Lowell Milken, the awards honors up-and-coming educators around the country and awards each with a $25,000 unrestricted cash prize. In the words of Dr. Jane Foley, senior vice president, Milken Educator Awards, at the Milken Family Foundation, who won the award herself for the state of Indiana in 1994, "Movies has the Oscar's, music has the Grammy's, science has the Nobel Prize and sports has its gold medals. We have the Milken Educator Awards." Teacher magazine calls it, "The Oscars of Teaching."
For 30 years, the Milken Educator Awards has recognized and rewarded excellence in education by honoring, and surprising (more on that below) top educators around the country in a very public way. To date, more than 2,700 Awards have been given out, totaling $68 million. Once an educator wins this award, their careers in education will never be the same.
Simply put, this is an absolutely wonderful event to photograph. The winners have NO idea they've won until their names are called. No one knows. Not the students, not even the rest of the faculty have any idea what's about to happen. Only a select few administrators knows who wins. An educator cannot apply to receive this award. You don't find them, they find you. As you will see below, some of their reactions range from shock, to utter joy to disbelief.
Below are some of my favorites moments from each state I photographed: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi.
I am really looking forward to working with The Milken Family Foundation again this year.
