Introductions
I do not generally support alarm clocks. Working from home and for yourself means they are seldom necessary. But this weekend, I made an exception. I set an alarm. And not just any alarm, a 6:30 alarm on a Sunday morning. That's borderline barbaric. But, there was knitting to photograph, a vacant lot in which to do it, and the sun waits for no knitter. So Alethea, The Boy, and I rolled our sleepy selves into the car along with rather a lot of knitting (and the camera, I was quite proud I managed not to forget the camera, that [...]
Casualty
Last night found The Boy and I clambering around on the underside of our local abandoned railroad bridge in pursuit of excellence in sock photography (as you do). This particular spot had lots of advantages. It's local, accessible through one of the area parks, and maintained enough to be safe yet decrepit enough to be picturesque. It's really all you could hope for, and the shots came out beautifully. Alas, there was one small problem. Some of those more picturesque bits? They were sticky. Sticky in a way that got all over the bottom of my sock. Black, sticky, gooey [...]
More Obliging Still
Sometimes you go to the sketchy parts of town to find the right atmosphere, and sometimes you find it closer to home. Perhaps just around the corner, in the garage of an abandoned house. You know, the garage with the hole in the roof and the tree growing out the middle of it and the distinct cant to the left. Not the best thing ever when it comes to, say, property values, but very handy indeed when you need to grab a quick knitting pic after dinner. That's Space Cadet Creations' Astrid yarn in a one of a kind color [...]
Obliging
I have very obliging friends. When I texted Laura and said 'hey, wanna drive around the sketchier parts of town and take knitting pictures?' she very graciously said 'sure!' instead of summoning the authorities like a reasonable person might. The goal was to get pictures of the stripy malabrigo hats I knit last winter. I wanted some properly grungy backdrops because these will be part of a little collection (another mini book like Rabble Rousers), and I needed a particular ambiance. So off we went, to a local place that buys junk cars for parts. We parked in the abandoned, [...]
I Play Chicken with the Train
I'm not sure what you were up to at 6:45 this morning. If you are a sensible reasonable person, you were likely tucked up in bed, sound asleep. If you are one of those alarmingly industrious types, you might have already been on your way to work. If you are, by some unlikely chance, someone who writes knitting books and thus needs to take a lot of rather peculiar pictures (or the astonishingly accommodating spouse of such a sort), you might have been perilously perched on the side of a railroad track, racing against the rising sun, snapping sock pictures [...]
Ah, the Glamor
As mentioned before, we went out on Sunday to scout for photo locations. We took the pink mitts along with us because it's much easier to judge how suitable a spot is for taking photos if you actually, say, take photos. That, and I needed photos of the pink mitts. Now, the process of taking photos, especially photos of hands, is a tricky one. Trying to put your hands in some position that looks natural and comfortable and reasonable in the photo usually means contorting your hands, your body, and quite possibly your very soul into the most uncomfortable and [...]
Permission or Forgiveness?
This Sunday we went on a bit of a scouting excursion. I've been wanting to do this for the better part of a year. Whenever I drive home from our primary grocery store, I catch sight of an abandoned (and charmingly decrepit) greenhouse. It looked exactly like the sort of place that would lend itself well to serving as a backdrop for knitting photos. Turns out yeah, it sort of is. We'll start with an establishing shot of the greenhouse itself. Yes that is a tree resting on the roof. It's been there at least a year. When you get [...]
Smashing
The photo shoot was this weekend and it went wonderfully well. I couldn't have asked for better. The weather was perfect, the locations were properly picturesque, everyone looked marvelous, and Zoë did amazing things with her camera. All of the knitting and props made it home safe, no one was injured or arrested, and I think everyone is still on speaking terms with me (so I likely wasn't too crazy). It was all around brilliant. And, for the first time ever, a big book photo shoot did not coincide with an incipient bout of pneumonia. Can I just say how [...]
Packed
My packing list for tomorrow's photo shoot includes (in part): heads, hands, feet, needles, pliers. It really does read like I'm packing up after a small murder spree. I promise though, there's not been any carnage...yet. Everybody keep a good thought tomorrow and Saturday. With any luck at all, this will all go brilliantly.
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