Cherry blossoms are blooming and temperatures have hit 60, so it’s pretty much spring in the Pacific Northwest. I left the house in flip flops and drove with the window down this weekend. The air conditioner even turned on for the first time this year!

As usual, I ventured outside to take my annual cherry blossom photos. Since I photograph them so much, sometimes it’s challenging to find a unique way to capture them—but having a new lens helped! In any event, I enjoy the act of getting outdoors and taking photos without having to wear gloves or shivering to the point of camera shake.

I hope everyone has a great Easter with good food (and good candy)! If you’re curious, the chick and bunny are a vegan version of Peeps, made by Sweet & Sara. The candy eggs are Cadbury Mini Eggs (and I’m surprised I had enough left for this mini photo shoot).

I flip through cookbooks often. Even the ones I’ve looked through too many times to count can turn up surprises. For example, this cake may have looked good when I first saw it in David Lebovitz’s Ready for Dessert, but I didn’t put a sticky flag on the page. Several months later when I was looking for a fancy cake to make for the “dessert dash” portion of an upcoming benefit dinner and auction, it seemed appropriate.

Recipe here.

Today is beautiful. We keep getting beautiful sunny days that trick me into thinking it’s spring. Three years ago, for my Project 365, I shot these cherry blossoms during golden hour. Here’s hoping they bloom again soon.

Doughnuts have been on my mind lately. I wrote about South Sound doughnut shops and a group of doughnut devotees (otherwise known as the Tacoma Tweet and Eat) for South Sound magazine’s February/March food issue. The Super Bowl came and went, but we were busy mattress shopping and didn’t have time to pick up our traditional Super Bowl dozen. The Tacoma Tweet and Eat crew had their third doughnut-off, but I couldn’t make it. Finally, after an unsuccessful early morning Monkeyshines search, we got a half dozen from Pao’s. I think I’ve fulfilled my doughnut craving until the next doughnut-off!

And now, here are some photos of doughnuts (or donuts, if you prefer).

Sara wields her camera professionally in the realms of portrait, editorial, and food photography, as well as personally blogging photographs of her everyday life, meals, and her cats and their adventures. Sara’s editorial work has been featured by magazines like Time, Redbook, Elle, Chickpea, and Frankie, and full-page spreads of her food photography can be found in Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson. See more of her work at www.saralynnpaige.com.

Roxanne: When did you become interested in photography?
Sara: For my twelfth birthday I was given my very first camera. I started using it immediately after that, but if I’m honest it was for documenting my life, and not photography as an art form.

*laughs* My dad actually tells this joke about how when I was young, around 13 or so, I would take so many pictures of strangers that he would always get weird looks after developing my film. We laugh about it now, but at the time I remember him being so frustrated that I would take pictures of people I didn’t even know, or worse, stranger’s kids.

Who or what influenced you to become a photographer?
I have always had an intense love that borders on a need to document my life and those that touch it. A lot of times life is like an ocean in that it’s deceptively steady, but the reality is that even though it is a steady ebb and flow, it’s a different part of the sea that comes rolling in each time. People are in our lives for days, moments, or years- and then they’re gone. Our situation is the same for days, moments, or years—and then it has changed. Sometimes that change is abrupt and you can see it coming but often times it’s much more subtle. I want to remember, as best I can, each ebb and flow of my life’s ocean. Photography helps me with that.

What motivates you to continue taking photos?
I will probably always feel strongly about documenting my life, but I’m lucky to say that now photography is part of how I make my living too, so I’m motivated on both a personal level and a professional level. I’ll probably die with a camera nearby.

What’s your favorite lens or other piece of photography gear?
Oh, this is a fun question! I am a sucker for prime lenses and my favorites for everyday life are the 35mm and the 50mm, and for food it’s the 100mm.

What advice would you give someone just starting out in photography?
Don’t stop shooting, and always shoot what you like, not what you think you should be shooting.

Lisa Hepfer is the owner of Lisa Monet Photography in her favorite place in the whole wide world, Tacoma. She specializes in lifestyle photos for families as well as sports photography for CrossFit competitions. Lisa and her husband Morgan lived in Thailand as teachers at an international school for three years before returning to their beloved Tacoma to open Tacoma Strength. You can usually find Lisa and her kids playing at Wright Park, the Children’s Museum, or at Owen Beach. To see more of Lisa’s photography, go to LisaMonetPhotography.com.

Roxanne: When did you become interested in photography?
Lisa: I became interested in photography when my daughter Finley was born almost 5 years ago. Taking great pictures of my kids was on my bucket list. I began checking out books from the library on anything about photographing kids.

Who or what influenced you to become a photographer?
Starting a business began gradually. I really enjoyed posting pictures of my daughter on my blog, and then my friends began asking me to take pictures of their babies.

Why is photography important to you?
Photography is important to me because I get to document these amazing and wildly precious kids in my house! I love the creative outlet it provides for me.

What motivates you?
Two things motivate me to take pictures. Number one is everyday life. I try to capture families as they are, doing what they do every day. I much prefer photos of kids being kids over pictures of kids dressed nicely sitting with their hands folded! Number two is the hard work that I see during CrossFit workouts. Pain, sweat, and muscles, oh my! And then if I can somehow find some symmetry or framing during those two things, I am a happy girl!

What’s your favorite lens or other piece of photography gear?
My favorite lens is my 24 mm f/1.4L. I love the wide angle, getting in all the delicious details of a room.

What advice would you give someone just starting out in photography?
Find a mentor! Many photographers love sharing their passion.

While I was getting ready for work on Thursday morning, I received a text from my husband suggesting that I might want to photograph the spiderwebs on the front porch railing. Everything outside was frozen and it practically looked like it had snowed.

When I left the house (and carefully avoided slipping on the icy porch), I was greeted with these beautiful frozen webs. Normally, spiderwebs are tricky to photograph because they’re practically invisible unless you’ve got water droplets or a good contrasting background. The frost changed that!

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This is our Christmas tree, made by the lovely and talented Laurie Cinotto. She sold these tiny trees in glass vials (among other beautiful things) at various craft fairs this holiday season.

Whatever holiday you celebrate, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or nothing at all, I wish you a happy holiday season … full of cookies, of course.