January is National Hot Tea Month

Today is a Two-fer: January is also National Hobby Month, a perfect time to start a new hobby or get back into one you haven’t thought about in a while. I can’t think of a better hobby than photography and in my own case, glamour photography, which is the subject of the second half of today’s post.

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things. —Chaim Potok

The Tea Council of the USA was founded in 1950 and recognizes National Hot Tea Month each January. It’s a time for all of us tea drinkers to celebrate the history, cultural significance, and health benefits of drinking hot tea, while encouraging others to try new varieties, learn about brewing and enjoying a comforting moment with a warm cup.

The discovery of tea is rooted in Chinese legend, crediting Emperor Shen Nong around 2737 BCE, when stray tea leaves fell into boiling water, creating the first brew. Initially tea was valued for its medicinal properties before becoming the popular beverage it is today. Currently I’m happily sipping tea from Fortnum and Mason including Royal Blend, Breakfast Blend and an Assam that’s made from the tips of the Assam tea bush.

Here are Five Benefits of Drinking Tea

• Tea is packed with antioxidants that keeps our bodies “young” and protects them from toxins.
• It has less caffeine than coffee. (The kinds that contain caffeine.) It usually contains about 50% less caffeine than coffee which means you can drink it without affecting your nervous system.
• Research shows a correlation between tea and heart health. A recent study says people who drink tea have a 20% less chance of having a stroke or heart attack than those who don’t.
• It can help with weight loss, especially when paired with a well-balanced diet and exercise. Tea is usually calorie-free, and can give you energy and cause your body to burn more calories throughout the day.
• It’s an immune system booster. Studies show that tea helps immune cells reach their targets more quickly.

How I Made this Portrait

What’s this portrait have to do with tea or National Hot Tea Month? Nothing. What’s it got to do with my normal Sunday theme of Available Light Portraiture/ Not much, either. Instead, today’s featured model is another in a small group of women who I was either the first or one of the first people to photograph, never photographed them again and they later went on to fame and fortune or some version of it. Not that I didn’t want to photograph any of these women again, it’s just that the opportunity never presented itself.

The featured model was known as Ashley Hanna at the time I photographed her for the first and only time. The portrait was made in my 11×15-foot home studio that had a 5×7-foot Savage Photo Grey Infinity vinyl background hung from JTL background stands. Lighting was my usual combination of Paul C Buff’s AlienBee and DigiBee monolights that I’ve standardized on for studio use. This is not a paid or sponsored endorsement, just my experience.

The camera used was a Panasonic Lumix GH4 with G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 lens at 45mm and an exposure of 1/125 sec and f/5.6 and ISO 200. The RAW file was lightly retouched, then tweaked—it was a bit contrasty—in Vivenza before adding a light touch of the Glamour Glow filter from Color Efex Pro.