204. Fall Inspiration

I thought I'd be blogging more, but I can't even think of posting without an original picture to share.  Right after the fashion show last month, I went to Carmel, CA for a super-short work trip, came home to celebrate my birthday, and got ready for school to begin.  I've got another week of calm before the storm until things get busy with work again, so I will try to photograph my recent projects and post them soon.

In the meantime, it's all about inspiration:

1. My husband and I recently got a sneak preview of a pretty super sculpture (@5 tons and many feet tall!) that I can't share with you till it's finished and debuted in a month.  It was great to talk with the artist about his inspiration, the themes that tend to guide his work, and his creative process.  
2. I've been working with my son on a photo project with his kaleidoscope (which I bought him for my birthday), and put together a cool little photo collage.  
3. And just last night I ran across a New York Magazine photo collection of fashion designers and their inspiration for Fall 2010, in one word or one picture.

More soon, and Happy Labor Day to my U.S. friends!

103. I Put on Lip Gloss and Blow-Dried My Hair

Come on now, it's a start.  Baby steps.  This time it's a carrot in my hand, not a pretzel.  :)  And I'm sitting on my son's chair.

The shirt is my ruffled collar tuxedo shirt refashion from last summer.  I wore it once in August and felt like the high collar was strangling me in the sweltering heat.  In early January, it feels A-O-K.  Really, I wasn't trying to capture any detail here, just wanted to get more comfortable in front of the camera and get a little more experience with the camera remote.  But if you care to share any observations or ideas about how to improve these shots, do let me know.

Speaking of taking photos, OnePrettyThing posted a link to Craftblog in Australia yesterday -- an article on taking photos of items for sale, i.e. for an Etsy shop.  Several of the tips are good for me to read as a sewist, such as being extra-careful about lighting and always using natural sunlight to show the product's colors as accurately as possible.  

Tina at Glam.Spoon mentioned in a recent comment that good photos are the key to good blogs and good etsy shops.  Interestingly, it seems that some very popular independent designers sell clothes because of their choices in photos and styling, and not nearly so much because their clothes are interesting, innovative, original, or fashion-forward.  I totally find myself drawn to some misses wear designers almost exclusively because of how they sell me their product!  Photos are the key...