Blog Luv: Love and Olive Oil

As you can probably tell from my weekly Monday Eats posts and yesterday's review of a A Berlin Kitchen, I love food.  I grew up eating amazing authentic Chinese dishes (both my parents were incredible home cooks), and I spent my 20s experimenting in tiny studio apartment kitchens (poor Mark was my guinea pig).  Over the years, I've honed my cooking skills with the help of an ever-growing cookbook collection, a widening circle of TV cooking shows, and a list of inspiring food blogs.

My blog luv this week is for a six-year old blog called Love and Olive Oil.  Written by husband-and-wife team Lindsay and Taylor, L&OO focuses on high-quality ingredients that won't "hurt your wallet."  Since we eat more home-cooked meals than not, I've learned to be a really smart shopper but I won't skimp on real food or good quality.

Now, as a blogger who writes about her own handicrafts (knitting, diy, and food), I'm obsessed with how to up my game in terms of photography.  L&OO's most recent post, about the making of their cookbook, was such an eyeopener!

There's nothing wrong with lifting the veil of magic that is behind excellent food and craft photography.  In fact, I enjoyed reading L&OO's post because it reminded me of two things:  (1) creativity is not always glamorous and, in fact, requires a lot of hard work; and (2) I can do this!  I can improve my photography skills just as much as I can improve my knitting and cooking skills.

I recently heard about and then borrowed The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos from my local library and will be spending some time practicing with Xavier's camera.  Yes, my beloved Nikon is still broken so I'm (re)searching what to get next.  Between L&OO's post and this guide, I hope it'll become clear which camera is best for me.

If you have any tips on how to take great crafting photos, please share!