Well a little late is better than never. I actually took this picture last Friday (9/2) so in my opinion it still counts for celebrating Blueberry Popsicle day.

Why is this popsicle melting you ask? Well, there are only so many ways to shoot a popsicle. I have have show a popsicle being held several times already. So, why not show what happens when you get distracted with other work and realize that you forgot about the popsicle you had left on the plate. This may or may not have been what actually happened, but last Friday I was a little bit busy. Why so busy that I may or may not have forgotten about a popsicle?

Well, it was the start of the second tailgating tour!

Last Friday, I drove down to Atlanta for the first stop of the College Football Tailgating Tour #2! Unfortunately you won’t be seeing what I found on Taylor Takes a Taste anymore. To find out what I discovered while tailgating, check out Taylor Tailgates.

Here is a sneak peak of the food I found in Atlanta!

To find out more about these delicious tailgating food finds, you will have to check out Taylor Tailgates

On a different note, I realize that my comments are showing up for you to read on the blog. I am receiving them on my end, so don’t worry. Your comment is working, They are just not showing up on the blog. I am working on fixing it. If anyone else has had a problem like this, I would love to know how you fixed it.

Happy National Cherry Popsicle Day!

The only way to celebrate this national food day is to eat a Cherry Popsicle. I also decided to play around with depth of field by changing my aperture. I will discuss aperture in further detail in a later post. Today, I just wanted to show you what changing the depth of field can do.

To keep things simple think of depth of field as how much of the image is in focus. Your subject should always be in sharp focus. If you have a “shallow” depth of field then everything around the subject will be out of focus and blurry while the subject remains sharp. A deep depth of field will have both the sunject and background in focus.  Let’s look at this first popsicle picture.

This was shot at an aperture of f22 on a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. For this lens f/22 is the deepest depth of field you can shoot at. Notice how everything is in focus. The checks are clearly visible in the shirt, and the popsicle is in focus (it is slightly blurry because I wasn’t on a tripod and was hand holding)  This is great when you have a scene with many subjects and you want everything in focus. With the busy checkered shirt in the background, it is kind of hard to pay attention to our subject. With it being Cherry Popsicle day, shouldn’t all of our attention be placed on the popsicle? Here is the same set up, but this time, I shoot at the most wide open aperture of F/1.4.

Look at the difference that makes! By shooting at f/1.4 the background is blurred and all of our attention is focused on the popsicle! This is the shallowest depth of field you can have with this lens. The Popsicle is in focus, but the background is out of focus. In my opinion this picture is far more interesting than the first one.

Here the images are side by side again. Look at the difference. We will talk much more about what else aperture can do and how to use depth of field in future posts. For now just experiment!  If you are taking pictures this weekend, play around with different apertures and change up your depth of field!

One week from tonight COLLEGE FOOTBALL BEGINS!!!!

To say I am excited about this is an understatement. With one week left, I am going to finish my countdown with my favorite part of college football tailgating. The Food! Tailgating food isn’t just hotdogs and burgers anymore. Tailgaters are creating true culinary masterpieces in the parking lots and fields outside of campuses.  Here are the highlights of what I saw out on the road last season.

Delicious chicken wings…

Okra chips…

Fruit trays and pimento cheese sandwiches…

Bacon wrapped grilled corn …

A crab picking and a…..

Salmon picking…

Of course there was a pig picking as well…

Complete with elephant shaped pigs…

Fried alligator tail…

Frog legs…

Grilled oysters…

Bloody mary and waffles….

Of course, you have to have dessert! What is better than a football themed cake?

Looking back on this, I can now understand how I put on a few extra pounds last fall. I hope this has convinced you that tailgaters have moved well beyond the traditional hot dogs and burgers.

What will I see this season? Only time will tell.

Over the last few weeks, I have talked about a big announcement and big changes. You have probably also noticed that my posting frequency has dropped. Well, it is time to show you what I have been up to. I would like to officially introduce you to the new home of college football tailgating.

Taylor Tailgates This site is the new home for all my college football related posts. Here you will find all the content from the first Tailgate Tour, recipes, specific tailgating information for every Div I bowl eligible school, reviews of where to eat in college towns and much much more! All the posts from this years tour will be posted on Taylor Tailgates. So, if you are mostly interested in College Football tailgating, then this is the site for you!

Don’t worry Taylor Takes a Taste will still be around, It will be receiving a face lift over the next few weeks as well as some content changes. From now on, Taylor Takes a Taste will be dedicated to food photography. Every post will have diagrams and behind the scenes of different techniques and how to guides. New recipes will be on Taylor Tailgates, while how I shot the recipe will be on Taylor Takes a Taste. There will be some new sections launching in the next few weeks. I know this is kind of vague, but hang with me. I think you will enjoy what I have in store for Taylor Takes a Taste version 2.0

If you haven’t checked out Taylor Tailgates yet head on over. I would love to know what you think!

Happy National Potato Day! With last week being National Julienne Fries Day, there have been a lot of potato celebrations recently. Fries are probably my favorite form of potatoes, so I thought I would celebrate with my second favorite. Tator Tots. More importantly with Totchos.

What are Totchos you ask? Well they are nachos made with potatoes! If you have never had this combination before try it! It is as good if not better than regular nachos. So in order to celebrate, I decided it was only appropriate to create my Tailgating Tachos. I will share with you the recipe another time (although it is queso on top of Nachos, so it’s not terribly difficult to figure out). Instead, I want to talk with you how I photographed the picture.

I started out by thinking what mood and message I wanted to say with my picture. With the recipe being Tailgating Totchos, it only made sense to style the picture like I would do at a tailgate. Collegiate colors (purple and yellow) paper serving tray, purple table cloth, and plastic fork all say, “I am at a tailgate”. I wanted it too look like the totchos were sitting on the table waiting for someone to pick up, so I used stacks of cups and a crock pot (its what you make the queso in) as the background.

My lighting was pretty simple. Window on the right, fill on the left, Here is the set up.

You can’t see it in the picture, but I was shooting with a tripod and a remote. This allowed me to add the queso and quickly capture the image without shaking the camera.

Even with all this planning, you will make changes with your composition and styling. Once the queso gets put on, there isn’t much time before it starts to harden and look unappetizing so I made sure I had everything set up before adding it. Here are some shots showing the evolution of the picture.

You can see how the fork, cups, and tots were moved around to get what I want. Here is with the queso added.

Mmmmm delicious. Here are the camera settings ISO 250 f4 1/124 sec with a 100mm Macro lens. With the tray being so much wider than it is tall, I think I like the horizontal shot better.

Happy National Potato day and enjoy your favorite potato variety!

2 weeks to go! Almost there! Yes only 2 weeks until college football and college football tailgating season begins!

In continuing my countdown of my favorite things about college football tailgating (#5 Stadiums, #4 colors #3 Vehicles ), it is time for number 2! THE FANS! College football tailgating couldn’t happen without college football fans. Without them it would be empty stadiums and parking lots. The Grove would be just an empty grass area and the Tennessee River wouldn’t have the Vol Navy on it during Game Day.

Luckily there are millions of college football fans out there. As I traveled the country last season exploring new tailgates, I met hundreds of amazing fans. While they all supported and wore the colors of different teams, they all had the same amount of passion that makes college football such a contagious event!

I could fill an entire book with all the stories I gathered by talking to all the amazing fans I met last year. Here are a some pictures showing just some of the great groups of fans I met!

Ok, I won’t leave you hanging. Here is one story.

While tailgating with the Huskies in Washington, I came across an ice carving. Being a Wisconsin alum, I have a certain appreciation and respect for the letter W, I was quite intrigued as to how this was created. After talking with Doug (in the white) and Scott (in the purple) I learned that Scott had carved this W. Scott had always thought it would be cool to have a W ice sculpture as an art piece at tailgates, so he set out figuring out how to make one. He began with attempting to make a plastic mold, but that never froze all the way through or the mold leaked too much. After many failed attempts and research he decided carving the W out of a solid block of ice was the only way. So, he did just that. Using a chain saw and chisels, he learned to carve his own W out of ice for game day tailgates. When I heard this story I was speechless. Learning ice carving for tailgating! That is so cool!

This is just one of the countless stories I heard last fall showing the, some would call it crazy, but I like to think of awesome extremes college football tailgaters will go when it comes to having an amazing tailgate!

I can’t wait to hit the road in a few weeks and meet more fascinating tailgaters who have gone to  the extremes for their tailgating set ups.

Here is this seasons schedule.

Tailgate 2011 Schedule

Sept  3         Boise St @ UGA                                                        Atlanta, GA

Sept  10th    Oregon St @ Wisconsin                                            Madison, WI

Sept  17th     Auburn @ Clemson                                                   Clemson, SC

Sept  24th     LSU @ West Virginia                                               Morgantown, WV

Oct    1st       Alabama @ Florida                                                    Gainesville, FL

Oct     8th  Central Mich @ NC State                                             Raleigh, NC

Oct    15th Hampden Sydney@ Emory Henry                             Emory, VA

Oct     22    Samford @ Appalachian State                                    Boone, NC

Oct     29   Miss St @ Kentucky                                                       Lexington, KY (Horse race tailgating also)

Nov 12th   Miami @ FSU                                                                 Tallahasse, FL

Nov 19th   Nebraska @Michigan                                                   Ann Arbor, MI

Nov 26th   Clemson @ USC                                                            Columbia, SC

If you will be at any of these games or know any awesome tailgaters that I need to meet let me know! 2 weeks to go. Almost there!

Next week, I will finish my countdown as well as have an exciting announcement! Stay tuned!

Just a little over 3 weeks remain until College Football Tailgating Season begins! Let’s continue the countdown…To recap, number 5 was stadiums and number 4 was color. This week my number 3 favorite thing about college football tailgating is (drum roll)……

The Vehicles!

The creativity and ingenuity that tailgaters have is amazing! “Every tailgate starts with getting to the tailgate site, so why not create the ultimate vehicle to do so?” That seems to be the mindset of the amazing tailgaters that I saw last season. The most common way to arrive to the game is by car. With only 6 or 7 home game days a year, you can’t just show up in any car……

It has to show off you school spirit! Like this Hokie themed car complete with a horn that gobbles. Or…

Tiger striped suburban renamed the “tigerbourbon”? Or a purple repurposed bread van? Speaking of vans how about this one…

Need more room than a van? Many tailgaters just get a bus and, well, its easier to show than explain….

Then there were the group of tailgaters who brought RVs, but needed a way to get from the RV lot and visit their other tailgating friends…

That is where the golf cart came in handy. They were found in all sizes and colors…

Some tailgaters wanted a little bit of a smaller ride that could bring their drinks with them….

Scooter Cooler race anyone?

Its one thing to ride your cooler, but why not have a tap installed directly on your vehicle like this Washington tailgating ambulance?

Or, how about an automatic beer dispenser like this one in Wisconsin ?

There are some tailgaters that take the green approach and use two wheels to get to their tailgate…

These are all great ways to get to the game. But the best is…..

BY BOAT! The Huskies in Washington….

and the Vol Navy in Knoxville, do tailagting on water (sailgating or boatgating) THE BEST!

Next week, I will continue the countdown with my 2nd favorite part of College Football Tailgating……

Here is the 2011 Season Schedule

Tailgate 2011 Schedule

Sept  3         Boise St @ UGA                                                        Atlanta, GA

Sept  10th    Oregon St @ Wisconsin                                            Madison, WI

Sept  17th     Auburn @ Clemson                                                   Clemson, SC

Sept  24th     LSU @ West Virginia                                               Morgantown, WV

Oct    1st       Alabama @ Florida                                                    Gainesville, FL

Oct     8th  Central Mich @ NC State                                             Raleigh, NC

Oct    15th Hampden Sydney@ Emory Henry                             Emory, VA

Oct     22    Samford @ Appalachian State                                    Boone, NC

Oct     29   Miss St @ Kentucky                                                       Lexington, KY (Horse race tailgating also)

Nov 12th   Miami @ FSU                                                                 Tallahasse, FL

Nov 19th   Nebraska @Michigan                                                   Ann Arbor, MI

Nov 26th   Clemson @ USC                                                            Columbia, SC

If you will be at any of these games, I would love to meet you!

Also, I know I have mentioned it in the past, but some VERY exciting and big changes to announce very very soon!

Happy National Oyster Day!

If eating is the best way to celebrate a national food day, then look no further that the annual Low Country Oyster Festival outside Charleston. In late January,  65,000 lb. of these delicious bivalves have been consumed by sea food lovers from all over the Charleston area and beyond! With live music, beer, and plenty of oysters? Having a late January outdoor food festival is never questioned!

Unfortunately, it isn’t January. Looks like I will have to find a different way to celebrate this shellfish’s special day. I think I will take a note from what I saw while tailgating in Jacksonville last fall.

You can eat Oysters raw, but I prefer mine cooked. Throwing a few dozen on the grill is the perfect way to celebrate National Oyster Day! Here is how you can celebrate.

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Grilled Oysters

Ingredients
Live oysters with cleaned outer shells (if the shells aren’t firmly shut, chances are they aren’t alive)

Toppings
Cocktail sauce
Hot sauce
Fresh Lemon wedges
Saltine crackers

Over a hot grill, place oysters a few inches apart on top of grill. Cook for 8-10 minutes. The heat from the grill will create steam inside the oyster and poach the oyster within. When done, the oyster shell will crack open.

Using tongs or grilling gloves, remove oysters from grill. Crack open with oyster knife and cut interior tendons. Serve in shell with fresh lemon juice, hot sauce, cocktail sauce and crackers.

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When shucking your oysters, remember to wear protection. A work glove or towel is a must to keep a firm grip on the shell. The worst way to celebrate National Oyster Day would be in the ER with a shucked palm. Have a great weekend!

Last week I brought you my 5th favorite thing about college football tailgating, Stadiums. Well this week the countdown continues wit my 4th favorite thing. COLOR! There are few things more colorful than a college football tailgate. If you have no idea what I am talking about then you really need to go to one! It takes going to a few different schools to really see the wide color palette. My college years were filled with the red and white scheme found at Wisconsin.

O the memories. On game days, the whole campus is filled with students, alums, and fans dressed in red! As you go across the country to different campuses, this palette changes.

In Blacksburg, the Hokies wear their own brand of maroon and orange.

Tennessee also wears Orange, but theirs is a different shade…

The Gators will wear Orange, but only when it is paired with blue…

Texas doesn’t wear orange, it wears BURNT Orange. Yes there is a big difference, just ask a Longhorn fan…

At the Texas vs Oklahoma game in Dallas you will see a even mix of burnt orange long horns and Crimson Sooners. On game day dawning your teams colors is one of the best and easiest ways to show your school spirit! The color doesn’t stop at the clothing though….

Many fans, like these Washington Husky Fans, bring their school spirit to their game day set ups! This tailgate had purple and gold everywhere!

THIS IS NOT the same purple and gold you will find in Baton Rouge. They have a different shade they call all their own!

Alabama has their crimson, but they also have a pattern that is all their own!

To honor their great coach Bear Bryant, Bama fans wear houndstooth in a wide variety of forms!

The fall is known for its colors, but to me its not the colors of the leaves changing. Its the colors of campus on game day! I can’t wait to get out on the road and see a whole new array of color palettes!From Purple and Orange in Clemson to Maize and Blue in Ann Arbor, I can’t wait for this season’s palette!

In case you missed it, here is the schedule for the 2011 Tailgate Tour

Tailgate 2011 Schedule

Sept  3         Boise St @ UGA                                                        Atlanta, GA

Sept  10th    Oregon St @ Wisconsin                                            Madison, WI

Sept  17th     Auburn @ Clemson                                                   Clemson, SC

Sept  24th     LSU @ West Virginia                                               Morgantown, WV

Oct    1st       Alabama @ Florida                                                    Gainesville, FL

Oct     8th  Central Mich @ NC State                                             Raleigh, NC

Oct    15th Hampden Sydney@ Emory Henry                             Emory, VA

Oct     22    Samford @ Appalachian State                                    Boone, NC

Oct     29   Miss St @ Kentucky                                                       Lexington, KY (Horse race tailgating also)

Nov 12th   Miami @ FSU                                                                 Tallahasse, FL

Nov 19th   Nebraska @Michigan                                                   Ann Arbor, MI

Nov 26th   Clemson @ USC                                                            Columbia, SC

If you are going to be at any of these games, I would love to meet you and see your tailgate! In the next few weeks there are some HUGE changes happening at Taylor Takes a Taste so stay tuned!

I spent last week doing something a little bit different. It did involve food and photography, but this was a completely new experience to me. You could say, I was on the other side of the camera.

Usually, when a photographer says they were on the other side of the camera it means modeling, no I wasn’t modeling here. I was teaching! I always thought that it would be fun to teach a class, so when the opportunity came about to teach one, at the Light Factory in Charlotte, I was very excited about the opportunity.

For this class, I got to design the curriculum and all the content it would cover. I decided it would be best to have a mix of lecture/demonstrations and plenty of hands on shooting.  I had a great group of students who caught on quicker than I could have anticipated, and as a group were able to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. We covered everything in the tips and tutorials section, including shooting white on white, and much much more!

The final day of class culminated with the students taking everything they had learned throughout the week and creating their own shots! I was incredibly impressed and proud with how well they did! With them excelling so quickly I had some free time. Naturally, I gravitated towards taking some video and stills of them hard at work.

Food Photography Class from Taylor Mathis on Vimeo.

Thank you to Laura, Paige, John, and Roland. It was a pleasure getting to know you last week and thank you for making my first teaching experience such a great one! I enjoyed teaching so much that I want to do it again! After football season is over, I will be offering several workshops in Charlotte. More to come on that in the future. Also a heads up, there are some HUGE changes that will happen to the blog in the next couple of weeks, so I will share those with you when the time is right! Have a great week.

- Taylor

Yes, I do realize my plate is empty. See, I had every intention of shooting lasagna and including a piece showing the delicious layers of pasta, ricotta, and tomato sauce. Unfortunately, my stomach stepped in. I started off by taking just one little bite. I justified by saying the missing bite would be stylistic and add to the meaning and message of t he photo. This was then justified by a second, third, I did hesitate before the 4th bite. Well the end of the story is that I ended up incredibly full and with no lasagna.

So I present you the after picture, unfortunately there is no before!

So to celebrate Lasagna Day here are a list of some delicious looking take on lasagnas from some of my favorite food bloggers !

My go to for Italian dishes Paula at Bella’limento lasagne alla bolognese

Alison Lewis   Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

Lindsay at Love and Olive Oil Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna with Swiss Chard

Have a great weekend!

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