Cold + Strong

It has been about 4 or 5 years now since discovering the magic of cold brew coffee. I'm sure you have had it at starbucks, your favorite coffee shop, or even at the grocery store but you're totally wasting your money. Cold brew is life-giving therefore it deserves its own blog post 110%. For that many years I have been trying to explain to friends how I make my weekly batch so it just feels right to make a little ( poorly executed ) tutorial so that instead of trying to explain it over a busy toddler from my Mom brain ... I can just direct you here! Viola.

 Cold brew is exactly that. NOO it is not hot coffee put in the fridge- heavy eye roll. Cold brew is STRONG coffee, much lower acidity making it easier on weak stomachs ( HI thats me ), and best of all you can make one large batch and enjoy it all week without making anything. Take that Keurig. 

I am no food/beverage photographer and in fact the idea of taking pictures as you're making things just sounds kind of awful to me, so I do this out of pure love . Your welcome.  I love you so I give you the recipe for life. 

Ingredients:

Large container - I use this 8 cup mason jar because it's cute and can seel

shut 

2 cups ground coffee - When I started this I used to grind espresso beans but too many kids and schedules later I use cheap ground coffee and realized it tastes JUST AS GREAT. Win. 

Mesh Strainer - I either line it with a few paper towels or a cheese cloth shown here 

Bowl -it's helpful to use a bowl that is more narrow that the strainer can rest on.

Water

Directions.

Scoop out two cups of ground coffee throw it in the glass jar. Fill the rest with water. Close lid and let sit out for 24 hours- WHAT?! a whole day? YES. The longer the stronger. You can thank me later. 

After steeping forever you need to strain the coffee out. I use a mesh strainer like this one

Set the strainer over your bowl and be sure to line it to prevent any grounds from falling through. Paper towel is great or cheese cloth if your husband is a recycling crazy person and sheds tears over throwing anything away. 

 Once you've poured it all through cloth or towels ,   squeeze all that golden caffeine right on out. DO not throw coffee in the sink PLEASE. It is really bad for disposals so it's best to throw it away . Even better, I used to make coffee scrubs mixing it with sugar and essential oils... again  back when there were less kiddos and SO much more time.

 What you have now is a concentrate. If you want to get real wild you could drink that BUT it is recommended to mix it with water. The ratio is supposed to be about 1:2 or 1:3 but I tend to just fill the whole jar back up with water and call it a day.

 Cold brew is naturally sweet so I personally don't use any sugar. Dairy doesn't work well with me so my preference is almond milk creamer and lately a splash of pumpkin pie spice because leaves are yellow and that is life.  Sorry I did not clean my kitchen for you...that would just be lying.

 Yum. ENJOY. Be happy. Do all of your awesome things you do!

Fall is for FILM

Oh man you guys, I'm completely 100% hooked on stepping back to film photography right now. I mentioned in a recent post that I inherited my Papa's old cameras which were so fun to play with but I really wanted a vintage camera that I could operate more like the DSLR I'm used to. Recently my sweet professional shopper/ thrifter/ deal finder friend found a vintage Canon AE for a legit steal and she was so kind to let me buy it off of her ( she totally could have used it too, that is loving like Jesus people! ) So a few weeks ago we took it out for a trial run and what better place to go than up to the mountains with my family? It's really a toss up what I love capturing more, people or landscapes, but this roll had a balance of both.

This double exposure was un-intentional but turned out SO lovely I can't get over it. The blend of the mountains and kiddos playing under the Alaska summer sun is perfection to me.

 Alaska grown cabbages are HUGE these were in late July and still had growing to do. 

 The UAF Botanical gardens are such a dream, the colors and array of Alaskan flowers are pure inspiration . I love having images like this to look at in the depth of winter... thinking about how such  beauty can survive and regrow year after year regardless of the -50 temps and days of pure darkness. It is such a reminder to look at these in January and know that there is hope and beauty just under the surface. ALSO the colors that this camera picks up leaves me in such awe. It's so true to life in a way that would take far to long in the editing process for digital cameras, pretty FILM is where it is at.

 A little afternoon over in the white mountains has left me aching to go there every chance we get. It's only 30 minutes from the house but feels like a different world!

   Confession: these were NOT black and white film. The nice thing about digital scans is that you can still tweak them a bit digitally and these were just begging for monochrome. 

Daddy and his favorite lady 

Now these are perfect examples of differences in film and digital as far as how we treat our images. If I shot these on my digital camera with blown out highlights and such OFF skin tones... they would be deleted. But these are GOLD to me and will so be treasured. It gives us time to think about and appreciate the moment's natural tones instead of the technical perfectionism that is so common in the photography world today.

One of the last weeks that the fireweed was really in bloom.

I really wanted to test this 400 film out indoors because technically with an open aperture ( 2.8 on this baby ) and slower shutter indoor,  images should be ok with the right amount of natural light. This was one of the only indoor shots but I think it's pretty spot on and I just LOVE the moment that was captured in just one shot. 

Yet another lesson learned was to remember how many exposures your roll has. Everything else I picked up has 36 shots but this  was only 24, so the last 12 frames that were dreamy images of  sunsets and turning leaves... poof . Gone. Technically never existed. WOOPS! Just another reminder to slow down and pay attention.

I'm in a season of life right now where my physical outlets are taking priorty over the artistic ones and photography has just taken a backseat . I enjoy every single family I'm blessed to work with but the time available to learn and play has been minimal lately . Between the gift of family heirlooms and a timely helpful resource, there is something new to learn and be excited about! As for that resource  CHECK OUT JAX HARMON photography + design on Facebook. Unfortunately I never got to spend time with her locally but purchased her workshop book and swag bag over the summer before her family PCSed and she laid everything out perfectly. Jax is a wealth of knowledge and such an inspiration in the world of Film ! 

So what do you think friends? Would you be willing to step outside the fast paced box of crisp digital  images and book a session that was done entirely on a roll of film? My hope is that by next year this is something we can offer from Believe Studio as a unique session for the families in Fairbanks. 

Until then I'll keep practicing on my people and sharing little bits with you all along the way! The next roll will be all ALASKAN fall goodness and I can not wait, but I will have to, because it's film ;) 

Pretty much how I feel right now just soaking in the colors and grain of this roll... 

- B