The Skilled Photographer 3DVD set

We are getting closer to the release date of August 1, for The Skilled Photographer 3 DVD set.
All new material, all new demonstrations, this picks up where Jump Start Your Photography ends.
Ken has been working continuously on the editing. It looks like all three DVDs are full to capacity or close to it. Lots of instruction and live demonstrations.

We wanted to out do ourselves with this and make it even better than the Jump Start. That's a pretty tall order because Jump Start Your Photography has been getting nothing but 5 star reviews. Whether on Amazon or emails or at the seminars people are telling us how Jump Start has dramatically improved their understanding of photography.

The new schedule is set for this fall and a new series of seminars. As soon as we are done with the DVDs we will start to give all the details. For the next week we are focused on getting the DVDs out.

Making Tomato Sauce for the Year

It's that time of the year when the Italians' biological clock clicks in and we are compelled to make the tomato sauce for the year. This genetic trait is predominantly Italian although some other races have been known to carry a less potent trace of this gene. Others are infected with the gene when married to an Italian.
In centuries gone by it was thought that tomatoes were poisonous. In England tomatoes were thrown at actors performing Shakespeare by the audience when the actors forgot their lines.
This practice soon stopped when the audience realized that Italian actors would screw up the lines on purpose while performing Romeo and Juliet so they could get their tomatoes for free. Which brings up a common misconception that people have about how Juliet died. No she did not drink poison. She ate canned tomato paste. Poor Juliet,what a horrible way to go.
The Italians' addiction to tomato sauce goes back even further. Julius Caesar was quoted as saying, " Right about now I would die for a plate of spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce, et tu Brute?"

Here is the secret to making really fantastic tomato sauce. First you have to start with really ripe tomato's. About 12 cases of red Plum tomatoes will yield enough sauce to last a family of 4 the whole year. Unless you invite the relatives over one too many times.

Next you throw them in water and let them cook. When they start to split open they are cooked. Take them out and pass them through a strainer. Take the strained sauce and put it in Jars with a couple of basil leaves and close the lid tightly. Some people, like my wife, will add a pinch of salt before closing the lid so it will last longer. She says that unfortunately the same technique does not work on people. Hey! what's that supposed to mean?

Lastly you put the jars in a pot with water and you count 1 hour from the time when the water starts to boil. After which you let the jars and water cool together. If you take the jars out the cold air will crack them and your Italian wife will crack both your legs for letting that happen after all that work.

There is an old Italian wives' tail that if you have sex the night before making tomato sauce the jars will all go bad. Fortunatly this is not true otherwise you would see a lot of Italian men walking around with crutches and eating their pasta with a little olive oil.

In conclusion, when your Italian wife says to you, "Honey, it's time to make the sauce." She really means it's time to make the tomato sauce and you better listen to her. Things can get ugly if you miss the yearly cycle because tomato season is over.

And you thought I only know photography.