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!