I gave up on it and we drove onwards to Langley where we had a morning coffee with my cousin, lunch with my brother and sister, then on to Surrey to pick up the goodies my sister had made for dinner in Burnaby with her British friend Claire and her mead-making husband Chet.
Photography did actually come out of this experience but not in the typical sense and it ties squarely in with the mead. When Chet first offered us mead I was kind of in awe...I had never had it before and here was this home brewer explaining how simply it is made. I'm afraid I had 3 (small!) glasses! He said the recipe could be found online... ("just google it" is probably going to become the most-used phrase of the decade)...I hope to return the favor next year. :)
4 days later after doing my research and making a few purchases at the grocery store I made mead. This was yesterday actually and having read so much about the simple concepts behind basic home brewing I went all out and made wine as well. The following day it hit me what to do with last years rose hip jelly batch that didn't set right (it was runny syrup): more (highly experimental) mead!
1...The new mead is close to where I'm preparing dinner so as to monitor it. The pin holes in the balloon got clogged by the rising berries...I didn't realize till today that I had used "fast-rising" yeast!
Photography was the means by which I chronicled these experiments. I have done this often in the past for the purposes of explaining a procedure or technique of some kind and particularly for writing tutorials about food preparation. These kinds of photos aren't art or high end documentaries, they are simply a means of recording interesting things for informational purposes and they are straight forward captures that focus on clarity and getting to the point of things.
2...I made wine the same evening since all the supplies and fruit was already laying around...
I don't think many people realize the value of their own undertakings...the knowledge they have and how they have put it to use...nor the desire of so many other people to learn new things; people are especially interested in going back to the basics.
3...The two meads and the wine from yesterday are bubbling nicely (venting gas) and are now in the dark cool basement.
In the internet-enabled age with digital camera's so cheap and available it's a wonderful thing when people take the time to photograph examples of their hobbies and interests with the aim to show the online world that "this is what I made and how I did it!" It's easy enough to write descriptions of what's going on and include it wherever you may have your online content, or even simpler, include links to where you got the idea.
4...Rose hip jelly that didn't set (runnier than syrup) from last year formed the basis of two more meads. (Not technically meads on account of the base is sugar rather than honey...don't know what to call it! (empty bird nest was found in a rose bush)
If you have something unique to show the world, a creation or invention that you are proud of, take a picture of it and show us! Not too many rules here- just make sure to use the flash indoors where it's dark and mind the reflective surfaces! *if there is interest in mead making I will put together a series of photos in a tutorial-style to show the process I am following.
It will be quite some time before I know how successful my attempts will be. Right now my main credit goes to Chet who showed it to me in the first place. :) and to two web sites in particular: The Joy of Mead and the strangely titled How To Make Homwmade Wine
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