3-20-09 Sheryl and Rob Wedding /  by Melanie Grizzel

3-20-09 Sheryl + Rob

This was an exciting event for us. We were asked to shoot the wedding of a former advertising colleague, turned good friend. She has an eye for photography and has been "in the business" for several years. She has a sharp attention for detail and knows exactly what she wants, down to the "film" look and feel of yester year. She wanted for her black + white images to look like they were shot on Kodak T-Max 3200 for the grain, I added a little Tri-X 400 to the mix, to give it that sweet light grey half tone to make the black + white subtle and beautiful. The ceremony was held at nearly dust as were all of the formal portraits, so the ambient light is a wee bit on the bluish side so I pulled those pack around to a warmer tone, my favorite, with some yellows and contrast. Reminiscent of Kodak Portra 400VC. I think the results are outstanding. I'm really excited to show them off and most excited to unveil them to my beautiful bride. Thank you, Sheryl for trusting us with your vision.

3-23-09 Seniors /  by Melanie Grizzel




3-23-09 I know I want to shoot Senior Portraits but so far have yet to make any bookings. I'm guessing it's because we don't have any senior photos to show. So I took some portraits of BFFs and co-cheerleaders Hannah, Anna and Emily. 

Here's what we got.
Send your seniors my way!
---mel

3-22-09 This weekend /  by Melanie Grizzel

3-22-09 On Friday we shot a wedding for dear friends of ours Sheryl and Rob. The wedding was simply delicious and everyone had such a lovely time. She had to remind me again and again that I was an invited guest... don't forget. So I played the rolls of both the photographer and a bridesmaid. So I got to help with the her shoes and zipping her dress, all the while I was documenting her most momentous day. We'll post images soon probably Tuesday. We had quite a busy weekend.

Thursday night I shot my best friend's daughter and 2 best friends. I'll post those images soon too.
This Friday we had out windows replaced in our home and my office has a new gigantic casement window to the outside. It's so glorious, when it's open it feels as though I am outside instead of inside. remarkable. I will be enjoying my office space very much. I will shoot an image of the outside of the house and show them off soon too.
Saturday we shot Beauty Roadshow for Marie Claire magazine. Basically it meant walking around with a writer through Austin's street on Saturday of SXSW weekend and picking out peopole with great style and making portraits of them on the fly. It went great and we had a good time, I got a bit more sun than I bargained for but it feels good to have been out in it. I love Austin.
I will be posting shots soon to show off all of this new stuff.
talk soon.
---mel

3-18-09 FACEBOOK /  by Melanie Grizzel

3-18-09  Great news folks, She-N-He Photography and Design has made it to it's own page on FACEBOOK.

We already have 5 fans. woohoo! 
Please oh please jump on facebook and become a fan. we'll keep you updated when we have new work to see, and just generally keep you informed. Thanks so much, we hope to see you. here.
---mel

1-15-09 Bishop Alden Howe /  by Melanie Grizzel


1-15-09 I've been a little bit busy.

So I've not written in quite a while we have been so busy, the least of which is our new addition to our family. Bishop Alden Howe (Alden for his paternal great grandfather.)
In a nutshell we began having company starting on December 26th for the holidays and we have had company ever since. He had holiday guests for the first week + 1/2 then we have had baby guests ever since. My mother-in-law has ben here since baby came to help get us assimilated. Thank goodness we could not have mangaed without her, I have not done laundry or prepared a meal since she arrived. So we are well fed and taking care of our sweet little one. Starting next week we'll be all alone and I think we are ready.
Here are a couple shots of our little bundle, many more to come. 
enjoy
---mel

12-16-08 Christmas Tree Ornaments /  by Melanie Grizzel






12-16-08 My favorite things about the holidays, besides the obvious being able to spend time with friends and family, is decor and embellishments. I love the way a Christmas Tree looks when it's perfectly lit, and Steve did such an incredible job on our first tree ever, this year. It's hard not to tear up, every time I walk past. Did I mention I'm pregnant and emotional? 

Then when you decorate the tree with all of your beloved keepsakes and heirlooms, it just makes this time that much more special. This edition of my blog I thought I'd share 5 of my most cherished tree ornaments.
1. a bear my husband and I found while we were honeymooning at Lake George in upstate New York.
2. Also from the Lake George area, it's a hand crafted angel from recycled pieces.
3. Is similar to a bell in the way it's constructed. Steve and I found this one while we were in San Antonio awaiting a Spurs game while vacationing in Texas a few years ago.
4. Is a gift from my mother, for nearly a decade my mother would find an ornament she loved and give both my sister and myself one. That way, no matter where we were or who we celebrated with that year we would all have that kind of a connection.
5. Came from my mother-in-law. It was an embellishment to a gift she wrapped for me.
Which brings me to my other favorite holiday tradition. Gift Wrap. Sometimes it just doesn't matter what's inside. A great gift starts with a great wrapping job. It's just another way to show people how much you care for them. I LOVE gift wrap. Tomorrow, I'll put some images up of my favorite wrapped gifts from under our tree.
Thanks for looking.
---mel 

12-11-08 Wow's Birthday /  by Melanie Grizzel






12-11-08 This is my sister Hillarie's birthday today. I tried to ring her on 3 phone numbers and a text but she is not surfacing, good for her for taking a day away from it all.

I'm sure she couldn't possibly miss our dad's faithful Birthday good morning jingle "You Say it's your birthday." You just haven't lived, until you've heard that song, full back-up bad, live @ 7:30 in the morning, over the phone. He has been honoring us with this tradition for several years now. I usually listen then ask him to call back and leave me a message so I can keep it for a few months, it's so fun. Then he calls back with the same number for next year. It is something I look forward to every year.
In honor of Hill's Birthday I thought I'd post some pictures of her daughter, my niece, Reagan. She is growing up now, she'll be 2 in February and really starting to come into her own, in terms of personality and she is so much fun to play with. Over Thanksgiving she found herself a little Santa hat and hammed it up for the camera.
Thanks for looking.
Happy Birthday Wow (it's a pet name)
---mel

12-9-08 Abad Wedding /  by Melanie Grizzel









12-8-08 Steve and I shot this wedding a little over a month ago. Our couple was thrilled with the results. mainly they were renewing their vows after 14 years of marriage and trying to have photographs that best complimented their original photography. She email me images of their family posed together 14 years ago and I was able to best match those with their maturing daughters. They were quite the party crowd, everyone had a blast and the DJ was excellent. I hope you like the images.

---mel

12-8-08 Thanksgiving Tribute IV /  by Melanie Grizzel






12-8-08 Mom's Stuffing

Mom use to make this when we were younger, and she insists that she can't do it anymore, in fact she swears she can't cook anything anymore.... She cooked for us for years and now she'd like to sit back and let someone else do it. That's cool, I don't mind taking the reins.
2 loaves of low carb wheat bread 
1 loaf of wheaty-nutty bread
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 16 oz package of Sage pork sausage
2 medium onions (chopped)
4 stalks celery (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
32 oz of chicken stock (store bought or I make my own, by boiling the neck and innards of the Turkey for 15 minutes or so)
1. Start by toasting all of the bread. I prefer in the toaster, it gives the bread equal brownness and you can be working on 2 things at the same time. Then chop the bread into 1/2 inch tiles, mom used to tear the bread but I prefer the uniformity of the squares for my stuffing. This part can be done right before assembly or up to a couple days in advance. 
2. Saute the sausage until nearly done and add onions, celery, and garlic. Saute until the onions are wilted. 
3. If you're preparing your own chicken stock then take this time to do that.
4. Combine bread with seasonings then add sausage mixture, stir until thoroughly combined. Start adding chicken stock until bread is damp and clumpy. If you don't need it all don't use it all. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. A little trick I learned from Rachel Ray is to make sure that all of the stuffing has crust, since it is everybody's favorite. So we put some of the stuffing in the bird but it dries out the bird some, so we try to cook the bulk of the stuffing this way. Prepare muffin tins by coating them with cooking spray. Form balls with the stuffing and drop them into the cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes checking often. You're looking for brownness and texture from the crust of your stuffing muffins. All of the ingredients are pre-cooked so cook to desired doneness.
Hope you like all of the fun recipes.
tomorrow we'll be back, I'm not sure what we'll be writing about but I'm sure it's going to be fun.
---mel

11-26-08 Thanksgiving Tribute III /  by Melanie Grizzel






11-26-08 Patty Howe's Carrot Souffle 

Last Christmas Patty, my mother in law, prepared this awesome souffle and it wowed the crowd. I made it a couple months ago when we had some family in town. Again it wowed the crowd. So it was a request from my mom for Thanksgiving dinner this year. It's very similar in flavor and texture as sweet potato casserole but infinitely better for you since it starts off as carrots and not starchy potatoes.
7 cups chopped (about 2 lbs)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted 
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
cooking spray
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cook, peeled and chopped, carrots in boiling water for 15 minutes or until very tender; drain. Place carrots in food processor; process until smooth. Add granulated sugar and next 7 ingredients (granulated sugar through eggs); pulse to combine.
Spoonmixture into a 2 quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until puffed and set. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. (optional)
Enjoy this dish! delicious.
see you tomorrow.
---mel

11-25-08 Thanksgiving Tribute II /  by Melanie Grizzel






11-25-08 

Day II of the THanksgiving Tribute give us Pecan Pie.
Oat Crusted Pecan Pie (with Fresh Cranberry Sauce)
Crust:
1 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon ice water
cooking spray
Filling:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup light-colored corn syrup
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1 1/4 cups pecan halves
Sauce (optional):
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 fresh orange juice
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. For crust, place first 3 ingredients in a food processor, and process until finely ground. Add butter, and pulse 5 times or until combined. Add 1 tablespoon ice water; pulse until just combined (mixture will be crumbly.) Press the oat mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch deep dish pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
4. To prepare the filling, combine brown sugar and next 8 ingredients (through egg white) in a medium bowl, stirring well. Stir in pean halves. Spoon filling into prepared crust . Bake at 350 for 48 minutes or until center is set cool to room temperature on a wire rack. 
5. To prepare sauce, combine cranberries, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, and juice in small sauce pan over medium-high; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until cranberries start o pop about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
6 Combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir cornstarch mixture into cranberry mixture; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring often; remove from heat. Cool completely. Cut pie into 12 wedges; serve with sauce. Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 wedge pie and about 1 1/2 tablespoon sauce.) 
I did not make the sauce I love pecan on it's own, I just thought I'd give you the option. This is a cooking light recipe and while I've adjusted a couple of things. I added a some extra vanilla extract and nuts. That's it. So the carb count per slice before the changes was 58.4g. So it's reasonably healthy ;) enjoy!
See you tomorrow with Carrot Souffle.
---mel 

11-24-08 Tribute to Thanksgiving /  by Melanie Grizzel











11-24-08

I'm really excited about today's installment and for the rest of this week in fact. Besides photography and lots of other things, I am an avid cook. A lot of people think I excel in this department too. This year I have been asked to bring Butternut Squash Soup, Patty's Carrot Souffle, Mom's Stuffing, and Pecan Pie to our families "pot luck" Thanksgiving dinner.
This week I am going to prepare them and photograph them as I go and provide the recipes to boot. 
Today we are going to make Butternut Squash soup with Coconut and Ginger
2 large butternut squash halved and seeded
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
kosher salt and cracked pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 leek, white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups water
1 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 sprigs fresh thyme
coconut shavings, for garnish (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay upright the halved seeded butternut squash put a 1/2 tablespoon pad of butter in each cavity. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes remove brush each half with butter, return to the oven for 40 minutes more. When cooled, peel and cut into pieces.
2. In a large pot, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons in the olive oil. Add the onion, leek, ginger, curry podwer and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned. Add the wine and cook until evaporated.
3. Add the cooked squash, water, coconut milk and thyme sprig. Simmer over moderately low heat for 20 minutes. Allow to rest off the heat for 20 minutes.
4. Discard the thyme sprig. Working in batches, puree the soup in blender until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with coconut shavings and serve.
 

11-19-08 California Baby shower /  by Melanie Grizzel






11-19-08 This shower actually took place at the end of October but since I am pretty far behind I still wanted to share these precious moments with you anyway. It started out a pretty classy affair with fine china and green goddess dressing. Then the poop game game out...thanks Kelsi! Which if far grosser in person then it is in the abstract but I'm glad I go to play. As you can see the event was duck themed, I ran around and stole everyone's parting gift and now baby boy will have a slew of ducks to play with in the tub. The party was thrown by cousin Kelsi and Aunt Janet in the 4th shot, it's hard to believe they're related huh? That's them introducing the poop game, most everyone was a fan, but there were a couple of non believers and who could blame them it was gross.

Anyway there are a few shots from the event. See you tomorrow.
---mel

11-18-08 These aren't your Mother's corporate shots /  by Melanie Grizzel



11-18-08 Austin Healthworks is a young physical therapy office coming up here in Austin. They are growing by leaps and bounds and recently asked me to shoot some images of their staff and their offices. These images are a group shot of their entire staff.

I love the hero shot the most.
Hope you like them. Tomorrow something new. It's my goal to post once a day for 17 days, then it will be a habit ;)
This is day 2 of posting everyday.
---mel

11-17-08 Pregnancy /  by Melanie Grizzel





11-17-08 Since I am officially going to stop shooting for the moment until after the baby comes in January, I am going to fill my time with giving you a daily update of things that have happened over the course of this year. Namely, Steve and I are going to have a baby boy on January 2, 2009. So about 2 weeks ago my good friend Alyssa Kirsten was in town from New York to throw me a baby shower with Suzanne another good friend. The shower was outstanding and we'll cover that this week too. While she was here, I asked Alyssa to shoot some images of myself and Steve for posterity, and all of my pregnancy glory. She had to go to Houston first thing in the morning so our shoot had to be before first thing. Which should explain my hair ;)

Thanks for looking, talk to you tomorrow.
---mel

11-14-08 HUGE ad on 34th street in New York /  by Melanie Grizzel


We just learned this evening that there is huge ad running of an image I shot years ago.

Here is a link to the Bank of America website 
Above is the ad from the 34th street station of the New York City MTA.
Incidentally the man in the photograph was the person who married Steve and I in New York nearly 3 years ago.
Thanks for looking, I have several more things to share with you. But I'll start again on that tomorrow (hopefully.)
---mel