Michael B. Johnston Photography Blog

Kris’ Killer Kookies & Pastries | Tallahassee Lifestyle Product Photography

MJ — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:00:22 +0000

Alright, so it’s time to share the love and throw a little shout out to a wonderful friend and extremely talented baker/cook/chef/decorator (so, can you tell I’m a guy and am not too sure as to how I should refer to her?)!! Regardless of her title, Kris can delight you with her amazing cookie and pastry designs. And after you’re done salivating with your eyes, you actually taste her creations and just about sing the Hallelujah chorus because they’re THAT good. F’real! She has worked tirelessly to cater to our cookie needs for my son’s birthday parties and continues to knock our socks off with creations that are pure genius for baby showers, gatherings, and parties of all sorts. If you can imagine it, she can probably create it. And if you can’t, let her help you to come up with a design that’ll instantly WOW you!

Take a look at these simple treats she whipped up for my son’s zoo animal themed birthday party and a baby shower that my wife put on for a friend and recognize that the pictures don’t even do their taste justice. If you’re interested in hiring Kris to come up with a creation for your special event, you can get in touch with her at hoover652@yahoo.com . Or, if you don’t even have a reason but just want some treats (don’t worry, I won’t tell), get in touch with Kris! In the meantime, if you need me, I’ll be doing my best impression of cookie monster while scarfing down about 3 more of my test models below…

Landon Heath | Tallahassee Newborn Portrait Photography

MJ — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:46:30 +0000

Arriving bright and early on August 12th at 5:19am and weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 19.7 inches long, Landon Heath was welcomed by his proud and loving parents. With the majority of newborn sessions that I shoot, there is significant time spent acclimating the baby to the “new” environment of the in-home studio set up, feeding, and most-importantly trying to get them to sleep. With Landon’s shoot, there was NONE of that. This little fella was out cold nearly the entire time I was there! His parents don’t even know how good they have it with his sleeping habits already. So, I did my best to try to hide my jealousy and spent the rest of the time enjoying the ability to pose Landon however we wanted and talking to the new parents about all the fun and joy their new baby boy was going to bring them. Congratulations to Brooke and Nick and all of their family for their beautiful Landon Heath’s birth! Enjoy these images of my night spent with the new parents and their pride and joy.

Now, I also have to give a shout out to Brooke’s custom design and embroidery business, White Lace Designs. Take some time to browse through her shops, both in her main site (linked) and her Etsy site, and then swing over to her blog (you can link from her main site) to see what’s new that she’s cooking up. If you’re in the market for custom designs to compliment your new baby, a wedding, or just about any other occasion, Brooke probably has a product that will knock your socks off! Check out this PERFECT little burp cloth and pacifier clip that I got for my daughter, Morgan, in preparation for her first Florida State football season. Go Noles!

Family & Scallops | Dekle Beach Lifestyle Portrait Photography

MJ — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:00:58 +0000

This past weekend was our family’s annual scalloping weekend in Dekle Beach. What? You’ve never heard of it? Don’t worry…me neither, until I started dating my wife and learned that her family had been doing this annual trip for years. Dekle beach is down Highway 27 (Apalachee Parkway) just Southeast of Perry. You basically listen for the owl to hoot and then you take a right, got it?

Despite the beach being a bit off the beaten path, it’s still a time honored tradition that we all look forward to every year. It allows us to spend a weekend among the family celebrating in fellowship around amazing meals and time in the water hunting for Florida’s famous bay scallops. Now I’m not talking about the shark fin or stingray-stamped circular scallops that you’ll find in the frozen food section of your local grocer. These are the tender, juicy, and succulent pearls of Florida’s shallow, grassy bay waters. Deelish! As fun as it is to gather them, it’s just as much work to clean and prepare them. And with some the size of a small grape, you can imagine how many you have to gather and prepare to make a full meal…for nearly 15 of us! In our family, however, the cleaning and preparing of the scallops is a rite of passage and all of our kids have and continue to pass with flying colors!

Enjoy some images that I captured to remember our 2010 trip…Mattox had an absolute blast and baby Morgan got to witness all the fun and work that goes into making every year’s trip such a fun event! I made sure to sneak a few minutes in to grab some portraits of my beautiful family.

We rent both houses on stilts and enjoy this private pier. Ours, on the left, is named "The Osprey".

Here's how our house gets its name!

The prized jewel of our weekend!

If you get the opportunity, try the "wet/dry vac technique" to clean your scallops...it'll save time!

With all the "goo" sucked up, you're left with only the succulent meat.

Although it looks like chaos, we're a finely tuned machine. Everyone has a role. Everyone.

The "cousins" are scallop cleaning rock-stars!

Even Mattox gets in on the act.

The elusive golden orange scallop.

Even baby Morgan came out to spectate.

We follow up all of our play with amazing meals...let the salivating begin.

Anyone up for some prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe?

Can you hear the "Andy Griffith" song whistling in your head?

Our little slice of heaven...

3…2…1…Launch!

MJ — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:00:56 +0000

If you’re one of my regular blog-stalkers, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in a couple weeks. For that, I apologize, but I promise to remedy that! During my little sebatical, I took the opportunity to finally finalize my newly developed sites that I’ve been working on in order to solidy, organize, and consolidate my brand. So, after MUCH delay, I wanted to introduce my newly designed Wedding and Lifestyle Portraiture websites where past, current, and prospective clients can get all information regarding Michael B. Johnston Photography’s services and product offerings. The sites, in my opinion, are cleaner, more polished, and provide easier access to the information that you need. Clients can now have a one-stop-shop where they can land and decide whether they want to explore weddings, portraits, my blog, or my proofing galleries. Within any of those sections you’ll get to learn a little about me, my style, my inspiration, and examples of my work. Please visit www.mbjphoto.com or click the “Portfolio” link in the main menu above to be redirected to my site. And if you feel so inclined, leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the changes!

The MBJPhoto.com Splash Page

MBJPhoto.com Weddings Site

MBJPhoto Lifestyle Portraiture Site

Heather | Dorothy B. Oven Park Lifestyle Maternity Portrait Photography

MJ — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:00:16 +0000

Heather is pretty cool. Any lady with a boxer qualifies as “cool” in my book. Especially one named “Mosel”, after the Mosel River that winds through Western Germany through beautiful wine country and amazing castles. This is the region known for making those tasty Reisling wines that are so freakin’ delicious to suck down on a hot summer day. I only know all of this because I spent nearly all of 2000 living in Germany and travelling that area. But I digress…

Where was I? Oh yeah, cool Heather. She and her husband, John, are expecting their first baby in September and asked that I capture some images for them of this very special time. So go grab a bottle of that refreshing wine I mentioned above, pour us all a glass, and check out these sweet images of Heather, John, and their beautiful pooch, Mosel. Cheers!