It's January in Chicago, needless to say it's cold...and gray. One's first thought would be to sip on a hot drink or make some soup, but I wanted to do just the opposite and churn up some ice cream on this wintery day. Flipping through my Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home cookbook, I decided on her classic Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. I've never worked with vanilla beans before, so I decided to try something new. Now, I'm not using Vanilla Beans from Uganda. Instead I made a trip to the local Whole Foods which was much more accessible. 

So far I've made the ice cream (yummy!) and completed my shot list and sketches for this shoot.

Now to wait until the ice cream has fully chilled...  

... and I'm back, and have photos to share. First is the ingredients shot. I like how all of the ingredients for this ice cream are colorless and decided to choose the shot w/o any color. I tried a few frames with a blue napkin, but it was starting to crowd the ingredients. 

Once the ice cream had set up and my utensils were chilled I started composing the remaining shots, as quickly as i could.

I thought this macro shot of the ice cream turned out pretty good and the ice crystals forming on the metal scoop.

Now for the balancing act of the scoop. 

I added a couple shots of the ice cream scooped into a bowl. First an overhead shot.

and then a 90 degree angle. I should have increased my f-stop because I wanted more of the vanilla bean in focus, especially the tip. 

Now, I made the mistake of not putting the ice cream in the freezer as i was shooting the previous images of the bowl. Working with the spoons proved a little difficult as it was melting fast. Here is the overhead shot of the spoons that was in my sketch. 

As i was finishing up, I took a few frames of the spoons with the melted ice cream. A happy accident?

I had a lot of fun shooting (and eating) ice cream. Learned some things. But would love to hear your thoughts so I can keep improving. thanks!

Laura