Summer Fig & Mascarpone tartlets

 

This fig tartlets are a light and fresh dessert recipe for your summer gatherings with friends and family.

Those who know me well, know that apart from being a destination wedding photographer, I have a passion for food. Both cooking AND eating! :)

So sharing with your today this as a celebration for the last days of summer and welcoming fall with this new recipe. Here's a super easy recipe (yes I love easy and yummy recipes, remember THIS) for fig tartlets. The great thing about this recipe is that you can actually keep the base and switch with any fruits you'd like (berries, apricot, apple, pear etc), fits any seasonal fruits !

Shot on Mamiya645, Dev & Scans by Carmencita Film Lab

 

Recipe for awesome summer fig & mascarpone tartlets:

Pastry:

• 250g flour
• 125g butter
• 50g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 30g cold water
• 1 pinch of salt

Cut the butter in small dices and mix it with the flour [use your hands! :) ] until the butter is 'absorbed' by the flour. Add the icing sugar and mix again. Then add the cold water and the egg yolk, finish with the salt. Once everything is well mixed together, keep in the fridge for 30min.

After 30min, roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut out the size of the tartlets you'd want, I personally use an ordinary water glass to cut them out (about 6cm diameter, note: they will shrink in baking) and put them in muffin tins. You can also use a normal 20-25cm flan tin if you want to make a normal size tart. Bake for 15 mins at 180°c. Let it cool down before filling in.

Mascarpone filling:

• 125g mascarpone
• 1 egg
• 35g honey + tbsp vanilla essence (optional)

eparate the egg white and yolk. Mix the yolk and honey (+vanilla) together and whisk until you see some foam. Add the mascarpone and blend together. Beat the egg white until stiff and incorporate slowly to the mix. Keep in the fridge for 45min-1hr

The figs :

• 6 to 8 figs - depending on the size of your tin. Cut into 4.

Roast the figs in the oven for 7min at 180°c or even better if you have a blowtorch, sprinkle a little bit of sugar and caramelized them using the blowtorch.

Serving:

Fill your tartlets crust with a tablespoon of mascarpone. Top it up with a 1/4 roasted fig.

Tadaaaa you're done ! Enjoy !

Engagement session on Bethells Beach, New Zealand

Last January, I had the chance to travel through New-Zealand (for those who never been, write it down on your TO DO LIST NOW) to discover its amazing landscape and people as well as to shoot for Soil and Stem's amazing floral workshop. It was such an amazing experience to be surrounded by so many talented florists and see how they create, but I'll tell you more about it in a next post! Today I wanted to share with you this engagement session I had the chance to capture while I was there. I am beyond grateful to have met these two. Theo and Maddie are the sweetest couple and I'm so happy we got to shoot at Bethells beach which is the epitome of the natural beauty of New Zealand, it is not only surrounded by the ocean but also rocks, caves, white sand dunes and freshwater streams - paradise in a nutshell!

Shot on Mamiya 645, Fuji 400h. Dev & Scans by Carmencita Film Lab

Flowers by Horrobin and hodge | Dress  : A la robe | Calligraphy : Nice plume Calligraphies

This session was also published on Style Me Pretty

On experimenting and the creative process

I believe all artists face the same issues when it comes to inspiration and creativity. Sometimes, we beat ourselves up because we found our work deprived of any creativity or inspiration, we tend to stick to what we know how to do well. We can also get stuck in over thinking the creative process, about what we should be creating, what others will think about it, and what they would say about our work (like I've explained HERE)... The truth is, we get so caught up in thinking about others that we don't even create anymore, and the irony is :

"We all spend our twenties and thirties trying so hard to be perfect, because we’re so worried about what people will think of us. Then we get into our forties and fifties, and we finally start to be free, because we decide that we don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you won’t be completely free until you reach your sixties and seventies, when you finally realize this liberating truth—nobody was ever thinking about you, anyhow.’  They aren’t. They weren’t. They never were…People don’t have time to worry about what you’re doing, or how well you’re doing it, because they’re all caught up in their own dramas. People’s attention may be drawn to you for a moment (if you succeed or fail spectacularly and publicly, for instance), but that attention will soon enough revert right back to where it’s always been—on themselves….You are free, because everyone is too busy fussing over themselves to worry all that much about you.

Go be whomever you want to be, then.

Do whatever you want to do.

Create whatever you want to create—and let it be stupendously imperfect, because it’s exceedingly likely that nobody will even notice.

And that’s awesome”  (Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert)

 Last year, I had the chance the meet Sofia and André from Branco Prata, an amazingly talented duo that taught me how to push myself out of my comfort zone and EXPERIMENT. It was one of the most insightful experiences of my life as an artist. We shot on the top floor of the amazing Galeria de Paris where we had big windows with gorgeous light coming in. It was the perfect conditions, especially when you shoot on film. However, the aim wasn't to shoot gorgeous images, the aim was to experiment. So they closed all the shutters of all the windows! *gasp* and left just one - ajar. I decided to push the experiment even further by shooting mainly in black and white, something I rarely do. (T-Max 400, for the photo geeks out there!).  Ever since this experience, I know that experimenting is key in my creative process and most of the time, it's when we experiment that we come up with our best piece of work. It's the only to expand our limited view as an artist.

Shot during the Carmencita Meets Porto, on Mamiya 645 AFD, Kodak T-Max 400 and Portra 400 | Dev and Scans by Carmencita FIlm Lab

Bohemian & Chic Wedding gowns by Rembo Styling

Last month, I had the chance to meet a wonderful team of amazing vendors during the Carmencita Meets in Porto organized by Branco Prata and Carmencita Film Lab. Wandering in the streets of Porto and exchanging with a bunch of talented photographers was one of the most enriching and humbling experiences I've had. During this trip, I also had a chance to shoot dresses from Rembo Styling in one of the most gorgeous places in Portugal : the hills of Serra Da Freita. As the sun was setting, the golden light was gently enveloping our brides, I loved how the light combined with the delicate yet modern style of the dresses created these dreamy images.

If you're a bride-to-be and still looking for the perfect dress, combining bohemian and chic spirit, have a look at Rembo Styling dresses, you won't be disappointed ! And follow me on Instagram and Facebook to discover more amazing designers and be the gorgeous bride you deserve to be on your wedding day!

Dresses : Enchantment and Esprit by Rembo Styling

Makeup By  Bárbara Brandão
 Hair by João Pereira Hairdressing

Shot on Mamiya 645 | Portra 400 | Film processing by Carmencita Film Lab