recently shot: BTS at Jill Draper Makes Stuff

Just out-of-the-dye-vats yarn in Jill Draper Makes Stuff studio!

Here's Jill dyeing. If you want to know what her work day is like, check out her profile on Etsy's Quit Your Day Job feature recently. When I was contacted to photograph her for it, I was thrilled.  You want me to spend the day behind the scenes with one of my favorite artist dyers and see how the magic happens? Yes, please! 

Of course, I know it is hard work, not waving a wand.  It's her eye for color, and choices about yarns and her overall vision that is magical. It's running a business, and figuring out inventory and ordering and marketing and shipping and planning what turned out to be a stupendously popular open house in October, and juggling all the balls. Despite our photo shoot needing to happen in the week leading up to her biggest show of the year, Jill was a wonderful subject.

It's invasive to have a photographer and her assistant in your face- and personal space- all day. Setting up lights, climbing up ladders to get a better view, asking you to ride your bike down the street a thousand times for the camera...when all you really want to do is get back to work for real.

Recipe book. These kinds of peeks into how others spend their days is the thing I love about my job. No surprised that my favorite book as a kid was Harriet the Spy.  On days like this one, where my subject is also someone I love to work with (and be a customer of, I mean, really, you need to look at her shop if you are not familiar with her yarn and fiber), well....I have to feel pretty lucky. 

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Jill is also a client of mine, have you seen her Rural Renewal collection of designs? Later this month I'll do a BTS on shooting that collection for her last summer. I've got plans for this daily blogging thing. Stay tuned!

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If you enjoyed thepost, check me out occasionally on my knit blog She Shoots Sheep Shots.

photo editing webinar LIVE May 21st

Excuse the silence. While life continues in a swirl of shooting, traveling, showing & telling, I've neglected to update , save for that odd post below done remotely. You can almost always find my updated adventures on my other blog She Shoots Sheep Shots. Warning: it tends to be handmade and fashion-centric.

Meanwhile- I've been teaching live webinars from Interweave media. They're an hour long, and if you're just starting out in photography, or if you are someone who likes to shoot for yourself or along with other work, you might enjoy it. This week, May 21st it's Photo Editing. More info and links to sign up here.

The example above is exactly why Photo Editing can take a promising image and really make it wonderful. I'll demo free/low cost online software that's user friendly-- no Photo Shop needed.

The After shot above, this book cover, and more , from this recently published book by talented designer Kirsten Kapur, and an epic photo shoot we did in Connecticut last year.

nash island photos in pop up shop

January 13-18 at lf8elevate , 80 east 7th street

New year, new adventures !


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

magazine assignment: artist Denyse Schmidt

On assignment for a Japanese magazine with artist Denyse Schmidt, internationally recognized as a leader in modern quilt art, and for her textile design. I love shooting people in their workspaces. What a pleasure!

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for more images of real people in real places, visit my website - or give me a shout.

oh the glamour of location photography

My client, Laura Nelkin, who was modeling her own knitwear designs, changing wardrobe on the front steps on the Indiana State Capitol last week. My reflectors are the most useful photo accessories, always.
More from that shoot on her blog, here, and below. I'm waiting for her to release them all before I show them,  no spoilers from the photographer thankyouverymuch.

Laura Nelkin in her Magnify Shawl

Many thanks to friends, and fellow knitwear designers,  Mary Lou Egan and Kirsten Kapur for stepping up with the reflectors. Not to mention Indiana State Capitol security, who didn't even interrupt once.

post-Inspire Photo retreat report

How to talk about the Inspire Photo retreat last month ? My fingers keep typing out.....inspiring. Because it was.  I could review the classes I took (Getting Unstuck with    Sharona Jacobs, All About Wordpress with Rachel Avery Conley , the Photographer's Blogger, and Why Facebook is So F***ing Awesome with Laura DeCarlo) .They were all great.  And the one I taught (Books: Getting Your Dream Project Published). I mentored 4 people, and took away as much as I shared. Because, you know, it's inspiring to see what people are up to....  

How did I not hear about Blogstomp before last month?

 Or I could give you a play-by-play of the three crammed-full days with 200+ photographers.
Then a pithy inspirational (aagh said it again) message going around a few years ago came back to me. It's  just three points and kind of silly, but they're really good goals. Inspire Photo Retreat? Hit 'em all.

1_ Work like you don't need the money.
DUH! We are photographers. You don't go into this business--or stay in it--if you don't have big passion. Which is not to say you shouldn't work smart, or earn good money. Better business management, balancing your life & work, vendors offering services to streamline your workflow, new technical skills and lighting workshops, finding a niche and going after it....and above all keeping the excitement and joy in your work. That's what the conference covered.
In particular, students in my books workshop reminded me that everyone has a story to tell. Some so beautiful, and tragic, and touching, and artistic....and inspiring (there it is again. Once per paragraph, OK?). 

2-Dance like nobody's watching  
Done and done. While the three days were crammed with ideas and re-evaluating yourself/business/outlook , the nights were filled with drinks and the dance floor was filled with Inspirees. This isn't based on science but overall can I just say? Wedding photographers are fun.

3-Love like you've never been hurt.
This one? Not usually something you experience at a professional conference and here, right here, is the heart of what makes Inspire so special. It's about community, about knowing you aren't alone, about sitting at a table of strangers who become your friends by the end of the meal.  It's about being exhorted to go about your day Eyes up, heart out. In Carla Ten Eyck's poignant keynote speech the first night, she bared her soul. The rest of the gathering followed.

Why am I still going on & on? Watch the video!
Inspire 2014 Retreat Video

in the end, it's all about light

I know, shouldn't that be obvious?  Book cover project: the editor shipped me a carton of stacks of fabrics in little bundles and told me to play around.  I could use anywhere from 1-9 stacks for the cover image, and the type could drop in anywhere so , truly, play around. . We had a shared secret Pinterest board (no I can't show it to you) to keep us directed. My first thought was keep the light flat, to keep the focus on the colors and print patterns. But then some lovely sunlight came through the window....

Obviously! 

new year, new faces

Hey there, it is 2014! You know that saying: start as you mean to go on? That's what I'm doing. The year kicked off with a shoot for one of my return clients, the U.S. Department of Education. They've sent me to photograph in a storytelling style at schools before, and it is always a good adventure. This time I was at a high school in Tampa, FL. My mission: show the engagement of students & administration, at a city school that's gone from deeply troubled to successful in the past few years.

ROTC kids posted outside to meet us at 7:30 am. So sweet and serious.

Students connecting to the work, to each other, and to their school .

 

The principal and committed teachers walking the talk.

 

 

This one isn't strictly part of the story.  Teen style, I love it. Hair bows!  

stop action video FTW

I got bogged down editing a personal project: portraits I made at the New York Sheep & Wool Festival in 2010 and 2012.
 

What to do?

A stop action video using about 3000 of the images I shot. It's sort of a home  movie for a very large, very knit covered family.  I purposefully kept it a little wonky, and very speedy. When the book and e-book come up, everyone can stare athe images as long as they wish! 

Meanwhile, how fun to use this medium to give a sneak peek of what I am up to. And so many  people have watched it--over 11,000 in the last 10 days--you have to admire the power of online videos. 

More info here.  Enjoy!

recently published: Green Mountain Weekend

In mid August, I photographed an ebook for a lovely client, Green Mountain Spinnery.  The theme? Autumn weekend in New England,  showcasing eight woolly designs, all knit up in the spinnery's natural fiber (read: warm) yarns. And now, the ebook's released!

Love the cover design, featuring the hat Margaret's Tam

Truth is, I like the challenge of faking a season. An excuse for using cider donuts as a prop? Yes, please.

The Aria Tunic.

Want to guess how long those donuts lasted once we had the shot?
Thanks to the good humor of my [real people] models wearing all the layers in summer, the talent of our makeup artist DD Nickel, and me bossing around the models to stand in front of old barns instead of our location's lush vegetable patches and flower gardens, we pulled off  the ruse.

Odiorne sweater. She was scared balancing on the barrel but hid it well, right?

Putney Mountain vest

There's more I want to say about this shoot, and show...but I guess that'll be another post--today it really is a splendid autumn day, I need to get out there and enjoy the season in real life, not just in my photos.

it's still all about the light

More and more I love the backlight.

Carrots, Maine. September .

Although, when it's just right, the front light is pretty damn good, too. More about the location and shoot below, here.

Downeast Maine blueberry barren location. June.

oh Maine. Way to steal a location photographer's heart, every time.

after a fashion

As my images of handmade knitwear, yarn company projects and handcraft-displaying artisans have accumulated into a bonafide fashion portfolio,  I've become a niche fashion photographer. It feels right, and real. 

So I jumped at the challenge I was given by the ArtsPaper in New Haven, to show what Elm City style looks like in the streets.

It was a blast, especially interviewing the subjects about their personal fashion philosophies.
To see the full set of a dozen photos, and the text, go the The Arts Paper  .

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see more of my knitwear fashion photography in the She Shoots Sheep Shots portfolio, on my website

it's always fine weather for location work

There was a drive-in movie where I grew up, every September this appeared on their marquee:
"Closed for the Season. Reason: Freezin'" . 

Not so for commercial location photographers. Like me. We keep shooting, even if the calendar says springtime and the thermometer disagrees.  Last week, it was all about photographing knitwear fashion, for my wonderful client, Green Mountain Spinnery. At least there was a little wool involved. Brrrr!

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See more behind-the-scenes from this project, over on my knitblog SheShoots Sheep Shots.
And more wool, often on the hoof, over on my website, in the She Shoots Sheep Shots portfolio.

my (recent) checkered past

A few peeks at this Pinterest board celebrating gingham, by fiber artist/stylist/designer Mary Jane Mucklestone, and I caught the textile virus. Next thing I know, I'm shooting this job in Washington DC.......

 I was supposed to be photographing the kindergarten field trip to the Capitol.

 All I saw was the gingham.

 You can see more of my educational work (but not  more gingham) in my corporate/ institutional portfolio, over on my website.

RIP Phyllis Diller: a photo shoot to remember

A decade ago I was assigned to shoot a portrait of Phyllis Diller, the great comedian. I walked in to her hotel suite at the arranged time.  No fuss, no publicist.   Just me, my assistant and her famous big laugh. After talking for a few minutes, one thing was clear. Phyllis Diller was a brilliant woman. Trained as a concert pianist, she became a comedian to support her family, at a time when women just didn't do that. All the domestic ineptness, over-the-top shtik? A persona. Phyllis Diller was a performance artist, before we knew what that was.

She was wearing a perfectly tailored royal blue suit. After making some photos in the sitting area, we decided to play around with the location--a large suite at a spa hotel. A fluffy robe was borrowed from the gift shop, my assistant  overfilled a bath with bubbles, Ms Diller made a wardrobe  change.  Somewhere in the mix, I found myself standing there talking to her, in a marble and brass bathroom, with my camera in one hand and her bra in the other. I'm glad to say I had the presence of mind to stop and just appreciate the moment, before we started shooting again.

What an honor.  Rest in peace, Ms Diller.

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See more portraits of brilliant people (some funnier than others) on my website.

the joy of organization

There are people who organize linearly. Everything in a row, filed away off the desk, alphabetized and outlined using roman numerals and letters. Then there are those  who need some randomness to function. Maybe they just don't like to follow rules?

sept 99 1st day of kindergarten........last day of high school 2012

I might be one of those people. But yesterday, having a system made my day.

The concept: It was my younger son's last day of high school. On his way out, I insisted he stop to pose on the front step, just like he did starting kindergarten. Maybe, um,  a little less eagerly.

Next idea: I'd pair the photos. The kindergarten shot was 1999, pre-digital. I had to really think hard to recall what my filing system was for color negs then- and there they were, in the 8/99 box

Mission accomplished. 

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see more family life moments sprinkled in my portfolio at www.gzucker.com

the wait

A few months ago--6 to be precise- I was in Minneapolis for a few days photographing for a new book of knitwear designs.  It was a joy of a shoot.  And it's a beaut of a book.

Working with the Wear With All creative team was what the joy was all about --from the big concepts, to the marathon photo shoot, to the very last detail.  Not to mention the post-shoot celebratory local beer and tater tots dinner.

 

detail from Stole by Theresa Gaffey

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More  photos of wooly subjects over on my website , in the She Shoots Sheep Shots portfolio.

consistency

So, I took a writing workshop from Beverly Army Williams  and was all inspired. I mind-mapped! I have ideas! I shall create regular features! New blogposts will go up weekly! ...and then I left to work in California for a week. 

 

Sweetest little motel ever,  in Los Angeles.

In LA, I upgraded my phone. My long established Hipsta addiction is back. See what I mean? Consistency.

verrrry pinteresting*

I'd like to be the braggy early adopter, but in truth, I am more of a 2nd waver.   I joined Pinterest in late 2010. It was quirky, below the radar and totally visual.  I liked pinning what made me happy, not what might be good for my so-called social media presence: DIY projects, typefaces, places I want to visit, images with light that made me swoon, and over-the-top craft gestures.

This image of mine is all over the boards on Pinterest, with nary a photo credit. 

Baaaaad pinning. (and punning.)

On the downside are people who pin to blatantly promote themselves, or a political agenda (esp, ahem, one I disagree with), or scary points of view, like praise for anorexia.  There's also, sometimes, a downward spiral of conformity.  Witness the many many weird naked newborns photoshopped heavily and wearing ginormous knit headgear. (And I say this as someone who loves all of these elements but please god, not together.)

Anyway, now Pinterest has hit the big time, commercialization is imminent. Word is out. And you know what else is out? Linking credit to the creators. You can diligently (but not always reliably) click back to the source, but face it, how much diligence is going around these days? Watermarks (yuck)  aren't the answer if our work is being pinned from a publication, like a book or magazine or website that isn't our own. The answer? I don't know. But I'm trying my best to give credit, and to pass it on.

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see more sheep & farm & wool & fuzziness on my website, in the she shoots sheep shots portfolio

*yes! the title is a Hogan's Heroes reference.

peace conflict

I want to choose the perfect photo for you. Something for the season. Something with some meaning, maybe unusual. Or funny. Or, though it's not usually my thing, breathtakingly beautiful. Something just right. 

I've been saving this image all year but, now that it's the right time, I'm thinking it's a little odd.  

 Wishing you a season of love, a new year of prosperity, and a clarity of vision. 

P E A C E