A Little Background

I've gotten a few questions lately about photography, specifically the white background material I use in my work-in-progress shots of knitting projects. So I wanted to show you what it looks like.

This large poster was used as part of the display windows in Aldo shoe stores around 2001 or so. At the time I was working there as a stock associate, and when the time came to throw these out, I asked if I could keep a few. What struck me about them was how resilient they were, at least in terms of color quality. And considering the amount of time I've had them, I'd say that assessment was accurate. The value of the colors hasn't diminished despite being exposed to direct sunlight while hung up on my walls over the years.

But the real prize is that the back of the poster has remained a perfect cool white. I'm guessing it has everything to do with the material that the images are printed on. It resembles the white plastic used for weight gain formula jugs, but it's much more brittle. In fact, you can see from these photos where I've cracked the left margin edge (the bottom edge in these photos). Yes this one is battle-scarred. Good thing I have another one.

When I started photographing my craft projects back in 2010, I dug these out and cleaned them off. They ended up being the perfect backgrounds not only because of the white values, but because the rigidity of the material produced seamless gradients of white. They've served as backgrounds for countless photographs in the past three years, from basil to beads, and of course knitting.

Not bad for something destined for a dumpster over ten years ago.

Feral

This cat was born in a patch of jade plants on the side of my house. I would see him walking past the back door, or stalking gopher holes. My interaction with him was limited to spotting him through windows and glass doors. Feral cats avoid human contact, so he'd run if he saw me.

I liked having this wild thing just wandering around out there. I never fed him or anything, it seemed like he was doing just fine on his own. I just left him alone. I never even named him.

A few weeks ago I found his body in the patch of jade plants he was born in. He must have died a while ago judging from the decomposition. I found this picture I took of him back in '06, a rare shot of him in loaf mode. Pretty handsome, eh?

I know he was just some stray cat, but I always regarded him as my little analogy. I can relate to being resourceful enough to survive, and living this simple life untethered by human connection, yet appreciated from afar. He was wild and free. To me that's a pretty awesome life.

Seeing Red

This last sweater I unraveled was a breeze since it was knit with bulky yarn. The hard part was getting a picture of it that wasn't blown out to nuclear proportions.

We've been talking about it in the Yarnographers Group on Ravelry. For some reason, digital camera sensors flip out when it comes to red, so in order to get decent shots you need to under-expose by a few clicks and preset the white balance. Photoshop irons out the rest of the usual kinks like brightness, saturation and all that jazz.

wanderings: Needles & Roses

All this sweater ripping has yielded lots of thinner yarns from cobweb weight to sport weight, so yesterday I took a bike ride over to The Bobbin's Nest to pick up some much needed knitting needle sizes. Visiting my local yarn store always makes me feel totally motivated to knit. I love that.



Afterwards I rode around and ended up at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden. It's kind of a weird place, a bit off like much of San Jose. Located near the San Jose Airport, there are always planes roaring overhead. The surrounding area consists of open lots with dilapidated roads which the SJPD uses occasionally for training exercises. All that aside, the garden is really cool.



I took a cutting of Orange Sunblaze, and after reading this rose propagation article (among others), I'm attempting to get it to root. It's my first time trying this, so we'll see how it goes.

photography: Another Backyard Resident

Today I noticed another Backyard Resident. There were three of these doves poking around for bugs in the backyard. They saw me on the other side of the glass door, but I guess they still felt safe. I was able to grab my camera, pop on a zoom lens, and get a great shot.

I love the warm and cool grays in the plumage. There must have been lots of bugs to eat out there because these guys hung out for a while.

photography: A Backyard Resident

This is the first time I've been able to get a shot of one of the squirrels running around in my back yard. Typically I can't fetch my camera fast enough to snap a picture before it's gone. I guess today was my lucky day.

illustration: Grow #2

I made this using some recent photography of grafitti in the downtown San Jose area, and a grape vine in my back yard.

photography: Folsom '03

For some reason, my Mac couldn't open the disc containing the photos I snapped during the Folsom Street Fair 2003. After sending it in for an unrelated problem, the disc finally opened and I was able to check out the contents... two years later.

I found this guy spinning Dancehall for a small group, none of which were the usual leather-clad-daddy rabble. It's these little moments that make me love San Francisco.