Beth Coller Photography

 I was requested by my sister, who makes delicious baked goods, to bring a cake for Easter. I found this recipe for Strawberry cake on the Smitten Kitchen blog and I decided to give it a go. I love to cook, but I don’t bake much. I discovered a few things. First, it’s generally a bad idea to try to make two cakes the morning of the event you are going to. Second, it takes a lot longer to make cakes when you have decided to photograph the process. All that said, the cakes came out yummy! I made one In a pie dish and one in a cake pan lined with parchment paper. I cut back the sugar to 3/4 c and used 1 cup of milk. Here’s the recipe  http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/05/strawberry-summer-cake/

I am excited to participate in Month of Photography LA again this year. One of my images was selected to be in the annual Smashbox group show.

I hope to see you at the opening on April 17.This will be a great event with a talented group of photographers and music provided by DJ B+. RSVP to smashbox@monthofphotography.com. 

Some images from my shoot with Zouk Los Angeles. Zouk has great textiles, ceramics, and other home decor from around the world. 

Some friends I made while working on my Field Trials project were showing their dogs at a dog show last weekend. I had never been to one and decided to check it out. There were so many different breeds, many of which I hadn’t seen before.  I loved watching the dogs being primped. They were fluffed with hairdryers, brushed, sprayed with hairspray, and topped with bows. 

I just saw the Rineke Dijkstra retrospective in San Francisco. It surveys 20 years of her work, portraits presented in large scale and videos in conjunction with a couple of the series. It is a fantastic show. I especially loved the series of Almerisa, a 6 year old Bosnian refugee she photographed over the course of 14 years. Very inspiring!

Gordon is a sculpture and foundryman who does metal casting at ArtsRefoundry in downtown Los Angeles. He has built almost everything at the foundry himself, often using recycled materials, including the bronze and aluminum he uses to cast.  I followed him around for two days capturing the entire process from mold making to finishing. 

Gordon sculpting a wax mold of a belt buckle

A wax mold being dipped in slurry, a binding mixture which will make a porcelain like shell over the wax

After each dip into the slurry, sand is applied. Several coats of slurry and sand will create the hard shell into which the metal will be poured

After the shell has hardened it is heated in order to burn the wax out. Notice the flaming wax coming out of the shell

Flames ignite as the furnace heats up. The metal will be placed in a small pot called a crucible and placed in the furnace to melt

Gordon removing the crucible from the furnace

Bronze being poured into a shell

The shell is split open, revealing the bronze sculpture

Portrait of Gordon after a days work