When you need good outdoor spaces for your knitwear photography, you find yourself haunting all the local parks, no matter how small and unassuming. We are extremely lucky here to have several beautiful beaches and shoreline parks in our back yard, but I have to admit that even the seven minute drive and 10 minute hike can be a bit much when I’m on an extreme time crunch and need some quick shots of a hat or mitts. So, one of my favorite locations for a quick little shoot is right around the corner from my house. It’s a former farm with field, pond, woods and wetlands, and I have photographed so many different garments there that I rarely spend time to enjoy the beauty of the location itself.
Last week I splurged and upgraded my standard zoom lens to a pro lens. After 2.5 years of heavy use (and, I dare say, more than one slam into a doorjamb), my basic kit lens bit the dust. I was going to replace with the same lens, but after reading all the reviews, I decided it was worth the upgrade. It was a great decision, and this new lens is so wonderful, so quick, so good in low light – I just had to give it a little test drive outdoors. So I walked down to the field and spent a few minutes capturing some winter shots.
One of the struggles with photographing knitwear in this location is that there is very little consistent shade, even in the summer. We must choose an overcast day for photographing, or the light is dappled, and dappling is a terrible thing for garment photography. However, dappled light is quite nice for landscape photography, so I happily strolled on the wooded path around the pond and caught the light and shadow of a chilly winter morning.
The pond itself provides a nice backdrop for my photos, and we often sit by the water’s edge to capture some of its reflection. Here it looks quite beautiful as the central focus of the photos.
I really enjoy focusing in on the local flora, however mundane it might seem. There is something so quintessentially “New England” about these simple leaves and berries. I might add as well, the contrast of colors is inspiring for stranded knitting! I can imagine muted browns and blues with a jolt of brilliant red for a Fair Isle yoke, or natural browns and moss greens for a hat.
Finally, I love that a closer look reveals many different microhabitats in one small park, from wetlands to what appears to be pebbly desert! I love the flat purple leaves against the grey and white stones here. What a beautiful sweater it would make!
So far, 2019 has brought a welcome return to mindfulness, getting back into nature, and having all the right tools to bring my inspiration home!
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