Remember Fatimah?

My lovely model, Fatimah? Well, I have been shooting some of her new patterns  for a collection she is creating for The Verdant Gryphon.

She released her new cowl set Afreet today and I wanted to show off the photographs. I am really pleased with how they came out and you know how I love looking at the pretties and sharing them with y’all.

This one is my favorite.

Starting things off with a bang is my favorite shot of the day. I was able to indulge my more arty side with some forced depth of field and creative composition. This kind of artyness is my instinct in photography, but in the past I have always wanted to shoot things so that they are abstracted out and simply become color and form. My challenge has been trying to find a happy place where I can indulge my arty tendencies and still effectively communicate to the viewer important information about the knitted item. I feel that this shot brings both elements in a successful way.

Could he be more handsome?

Menswear is particularly challenging. Maintaining a strong masculine look while still showing off the pattern can be another hard thing to balance. Of course it helps when you have a wonderful model to work with. Another big plus is having the designer right there who knows precisely what element of the piece they want highlighted.

Shooting actual couples is great for chemistry.

One final shot that shows off both of the cowls equally. Here the challenge was the contrast in color of the yarns. Having the gray not be too dark while at the same time not blowing out all of the details in the cream yarn … yeah, that was fun. Luckily the weather was very cooperative and remained overcast for the entire shoot. If it had started getting sunny then we would have had some major problems.

I hope that y’all like hearing about my photography adventures as well as my knitting stuff. If you could let me know in the comments yeah or nay that would be great! And don’t forget to check out Fatimah’s new pattern on Ravelry.

Time for a photo break

This post isn’t about knitting. So if you are purist you can stop reading right now if you like and get back to your knitting.

I figured since it is the weekend I could take a wee break and put up something a bit different. And by different I mean you already know that I love photography, but this is not about knitting.

When we first purchased our house there was an old, abandoned farmhouse across the street. And by old I mean quite possibly one of the oldest houses on the street ie: the original farm house for when our area was farmland. Talking to the neighbors I learned that it had been abandoned for at least 20 – 25 years, the time since the two old ladies who lived there passed.

These were in the rafters of the “barn”.

After we had been in the house a couple of years the property was finally bought by a developer. The house sat on around 3 acres so they decided to plow it under, parcel it up and put in a few McMansions (as an aside they planned on 6 but could only get zoned for 3 so the end result was 3 big houses with big yards as opposed to 6 big houses on teeny yards). The imminent doom of the house prompted me to go over there with my camera and take some photographs.

Sitting on the stove in the kitchen.

Obviously there was no electricity and the windows hadn’t been cleaned in forever, so most of the light was heavily filtered or came in through the holes in the roof. But I managed to get a few interesting shots and now I am sharing them here for the first time.

The detritus on the floor in the front room.

Now I know that these aren’t the pretty, pretty pictures that you have seen from me, but I thought I would share them anyway. For me photography is a complex subject that can challenge as well as entrance. And I find it interesting to see how distinct my two “styles” of photography are. If you have made it this far thank you for indulging me, if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them.

In Photography News

This past Spring I worked on a big photography project. I had to keep it secret, such is the nature of working on a book.

Yes, you heard me right. A book.

Not my book, but a book that I am beyond honored to be a part of. The very talented knitter Betty Salpekar has developed a completely new method of constructing socks … from the ground up.

Holding it in my hands was surreal.

These socks are completely amazing. You begin with the sole and then work your way up. This has the benefit of being able to reinforce the entire sole and therefore lengthen the life of your sock.

Canyon Walls, see how the sole is different?

And the way the construction comes together creates socks that look radically different than your typical sock. Stitches go directions you don’t expect creating effects you would have never thought you can get.

Look at how the pattern moves!

It was a challenge to do these socks justice, but also fun to try and come up with new and creative ways of shooting 18 pairs of socks. Working to try and help fulfill someone else’s vision was a fascinating experience and pushed me to approach things in different ways.

There is something about this one I adore.

But I wanted to keep the feel of my photographic style in there also, assuming that is why Betty chose me in the first place. There are so many pictures from this book that I want to share with you, but it would be overwhelming. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon. And if you want to keep up to date with what is going on there is a Solefull Socks website.

If you will forgive me one more photo; frankly, I have a hard time believing it is real.

Humbled to be in such company.

Ah, Vincent

Whenever I read an interview with a designer I dread hitting the point where they are asked how long they have been knitting. I dread it because I know that I have a 75% chance of getting jealous, because 75% of the time they say that they learned to knit at their grandma/auntie/mother’s knee and they been knitting a bazillion years.

Then the green eyed monster starts poking me with his stick.

I am jealous that I have come to knitting so late in life. Think of all of the knitting I could have been doing all of those wasted years. But then I remember that Julia Child entered Le Cordon Bleu at 37, coincidentally the same age I started knitting, and everything is OK. And I remember that I have my own heritage art. At a very young age my father put a camera in my hands and I have been passionately committed to photography ever since. Luckily it is a love that I can fold into my knitting seamlessly. And it is the reason that I am almost as excited today as when I release one of my own patterns.

You see, a fellow designer was kind enough to trust me with shooting her work and she published it yesterday! It is my very first time seeing my own photographic art on another designer’s pattern. I could explode with happiness.

Vincent and the Doctor – by Fatimah Hinds

And it doesn’t hurt that it (and she) is gorgeous. The colorway is called Starry Night and it is in Dragonfly Fibers Pixie. I am amazed how she managed to get the pattern to so closely evoke the painting without being too terribly literal in her interpretation. It is a beautiful piece.

Serious face is Serious

Of course, you might recognize this lovely woman. She was my model for Irulan & …and Curiouser. You should probably get used to seeing her because I am going to use her as my model whenever I can!

A close up of the detail – a really interesting stitch, no?

I could not be more pleased with how the photos came out, I only hope that they effectively convey the beauty of the piece. There are many more shots on the Ravelry pattern page so I will not inflict more on you. I am curious tho, do y’all readers have a heritage art? Is it knitting for you or something else? I would love to hear about it!

I might be a tease

Next month is shaping up to be a very exciting time. It will be the one year anniversary of my publishing my first “real” pattern (Atreides) and I will be releasing a new wrap pattern. I say wrap because it isn’t exactly a shawl, but it isn’t really a scarf either. If anything it is a long, narrow, curved stole. This piece marks a new shape, a new house from Dune and a new technique.

The technique is super secret but I can tell you that it involves not one, but two colors of yarn.  You might remember a little sneak peak in my post about lifelines, just to be a tease here is another “arty” shot that I took at my photo-shoot this weekend:

Oooh, can you even tell what it is?

To celebrate these two occasions I have also decided to do some fun stuff in my Ravelry group (requires Ravelry membership – but that is free). First off the new pattern that will pre-released in August (or possibly late July) with some promotional incentives including a “swatch-a-long”!

When the pattern is in pre-release you will be able to pre-order for 25% off what will be the “normal” price. This means that until August 31st the pattern will be $4.50. On September 1st the full price will be $6. If you decide to do the pre-order, you will not be without any pattern. The swatch pattern will be available for immediate download. This swatch is how you can determine gauge for the pattern at the same time you are trying out your chosen colors. It gives you an opportunity to try out the new techniques and have a little fun on a small scale.

I will be posting more about this “swatch-a-long” here in the near future, or you can head over to the Ravelry group where I give the break down. Mainly this post was to show you my teaser photo. Do you like?

Inquiring minds want to know

I have this problem, it is known in some circles as “helium hand”. It is a condition that rears it’s ugly head in group situations. The irrepressible need to “give back”, when volunteers are requested – the helium in the hand causes the hand to raise itself above the head and get you into trouble.

This malady of mine has resulted in me signing up to teach a class this weekend for the Atlanta Knitting Guild my guild. Now, this guild is full of highly skilled and experienced knitters and I am pretty sure I don’t have much of anything to teach them with regards to knitting – which is why I have elected to offer a class on photographing your knitting. Woo Hoo.

I have a lot of pretty good idea of what I am going to talk about, but I thought I would pop up a question here and see if the internet peanut gallery had any advice. If you were to take a photographing your knitting  class – what kind of information would you be looking to get out of the experience? What would you want to learn? What is it that I may have forgotten to include in my class?

If you could share I would be most grateful!