Bette – We try to visit my husband’s family every few years in Sicily. On one trip, my husband, kids and I were visiting Steve’s many many cousins in a small village called Baucina, 17 miles southeast of Palermo. I wandered into a teeny, messy “antique” store where I saw an oval ironstone looking platter poking out from under a pile of fabrics and books. Everyone thought I was crazy when I insisted on buying a suitcase to carry it home. But I knew even then that I had found a gem. The rhubarb was grown for this platter.

Beth – Ice cream is always hard to photograph. You have to work quickly to capture it at just the right moment. In this shot, we wanted it to look messy and real. So we left it out and waited – then shot, then added some drops of melted cream, waited and shot some more. My approach is to shoot an image multiple times capturing the ice cream in various stages. I’ll let it go far past what I think might work looking for a happy accident – a shot I might love but never think of. Once done, we review all the images and choose our favorite.