Wednesday, February 04, 2009

An Eye for Photography...

I don't have it.

I'm not a photographer. As a matter of fact, I struggled through both high school and college photography with barely a C. For a (mostly) straight A student this was pretty humbling. I just never had an eye for it.

I was a graphic design major so I took my share of art classes ranging from drawing to print-making. I worked hard and was rewarded with good grades. I took a typography class in which I had to write words in specified fonts, at a specified size (2-3"), without any rulers or tracing. The teacher would note every poorly proportioned serif or imperfect line so we could improve our lettering the next time. Each word was drafted then re-done at least 3 times before ultimately being done freehand in ink. I got an A- in that class.

I took life drawing on Monday nights for a semester... complete with nude models. (And just for reference, when I say nude model, think Will Farrell on SNL... not centerfold. Ever.) I have never been able to draw people. But I tried.. worked hard... and again... got a good grade.

Color theory, painting, printing... A's. Pre-computer-age color separation prep work which required the width of every line to be measured by points and picas... A. But photography was always my nemesis.

All that to say, I still can't take a decent picture. I often don't blog because I forgot to take a picture during the right daylight hours and I don't like the effect of the flash on yarn. Or maybe I can't find a good location... or really know what a good location would be. So... I can either not blog at all... or just put up the crumby pics I managed to snap. Then when I consider the fact that even my best pictures are lousy compared to others... and there's no imminent hope of my pictures improving any time soon... I'll just give you what I got for the sake of continued communication. Deal? Good.

I've been working some on my Noro Silk Garden Clapotis.

Clapotis

Knitting with Noro is such a tactile experience. Not only do you get the amusement of the color changes but the texture is so rich and varied as well. It was really slow going until I ditched all the stitch markers except the first and last ones. I really think it's going twice as fast without them... and it's really just a simple six stitch count: k, k, k, kbl, k, kbl... with changes only at the beginning and end. Piece of cake.

I'm also toying around with a possible new sweater...

Hmmmm

Can you guess what it is? I mean, it is February after all. I'm just not sure that the style is for me, but this Dream in Color yarn is perfect for the pattern. It's hard to see in, well, any light really, but the blue has some subtle color variations tapping into some purples as well.

I guess it will just depend on my mood.

4 comments:

Lydee said...

I never would survive a typography class. I barely passed handwriting in school. and I never take a picture if I have to use a flash. Flashes can do horrible things to pictures.
Your knitting looks good!

Charity said...

Both projects are lovely! If you're not sure about the lace on the FLS, you could try just plain stocking stitch?

km said...

Are you still into typography? Check this out. http://ilovetypography.com/ I love my typography books from college. And this is so fun to know about you. I was accepted at one college for Graphic Design and at another for Architecture. I ended up going with architecture...but I still love graphics.

I've been dying that I don't have anything in my stash for a FLS. I've been looking at them too much on Ravelry. I think I may end up going with a cotton-ease because I know I'll actually wear that...and I've seen a taupe one that I loved. Unless of course I could buy some DIC.

Yarnhog said...

I suck at taking pictures, but I blame my father. He was an avid photographer (think permanent darkroom built into the garage, hundreds of cameras and lenses). Growing up, I was forced to spend hours and hours posing for him, and every family outing involved hauling huge camera bags and waiting and waiting while he set up and took endless photos. I remember hiding under my bed when I was three to avoid yet another photo session. So I rarely take pictures myself, and when I do, my goal is to do it as quickly and painlessly as possible, not to get the best picture.

I love the colors in that Silk Garden. It's going to make a lovely FO.