Tonight we get ready to start a new year and what better way than to have dinner at The Red Avocado in Iowa City, IA. The evening was a benefit for Iowa City’s Summer of the Arts. Half of all profits from this evening will be donated to Summer of the Arts.

These images were captured with a Canon 5d Mark II paired with my trusty Canon 50mm f/1.8, and no flash. Seems kind of ironic having such a cheap little lens on such a not so cheap body. I was shooting at ISO 3200 and these have not been processed other than a conversion to JPG.

The dinner was nothing short of amazing. The food was rich, full of flavor, and by far the best vegan food on the planet.

The Menu

Mary patiently waiting for Round 1.

Round 1 was Black Bean & Corn Fritters.

Black Bean and Corn Fritter

Round two was a Green Salad with Pea Shoots and Seasonal Vegetables topped with a Cilantro Vinaigrette. For some reason I didn’t get a picture of the salad, imagine a pile of greens that tastes really really good Here’s a picture of Mary enjoying hot chocolate instead.

Mmmmmm, the best hot chocolate ever!

Round 3 was a Winter Vegetable Torte with a Red Wine Sauce. At the bottom of the pile was a beet that blended wonderfully with the wine sauce.

Winter Vegetable Torte with a Red Wine Sauce

Round 4, this is where it got REALLY good. I’m somewhat of a chocoholic (if that’s a word). The chocolate truffle was very rich and full of flavor. So good in fact that we got four more to take home, and NO I’m not sharing with you, Terry!

Chocolate Truffle

Thank you to the Red Avocado for such an amazing meal. Our last meal of 2008 could not have been any better!

This event was shot at the beautiful Webster House in downtown Kansas City. It’s a restored schoolhouse that was built in the late 1800′s. The party atmosphere was a photographers nightmare, darker than even the darkest of churches.

This was my first outting with my new Canon 5d Mark II so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. From all the reviews and anticipations, I expected nothing less than miracles. My wife was using my 580EX on my 50d so I was left without a flash throughout the dance. I shot all the candids at ISO 6400 not expecting great results knowing that my very capable 2nd(wife) was shooting the keepers. I was very amazed at the relatively low noise @ ISO 6400. The images are very usable and much better than I expected.

I went to Kansas City on December 5th to shoot a corporate holiday party. We decided to do a “formal” type shot of all the couples and groups as they arrived at the party. It was speed shooting at it’s best. I shot over 150 couples in just over 2 hours. It really forced me to think on my feet as I had very limited time to work with each couple. These are some of my favorites from the formals. I’ll write another post in a day or two with pictures from the party.

The party was held at the beautiful Webster House which was a very unique setting.

Pure love