Magic Happens…

A certain Magic happens during a photo shoot. We shot our Shibui Knits FW16 Collection yesterday and there was some serious Magic going on. I can’t quite describe the feeling I get when I see a piece I’ve designed and knitted, being worn by a beautiful model, beautifully styled, artistically photographed, show up on a computer screen in a breathtaking photo. To me that is Magic.

There is a little dance that occurs in a very small space. We barely have room to move around the “set”. The model changes into the supporting wardrobe, the hair and makeup artist moves in to make finishing touches, I move in to put the knitted garment into place, the photographer starts taking photos and the art director gives her creative direction. I noticed another type of magic occurring yesterday. I believe this is our fourth collection to shoot together and the second with this exact cast. Leah (Art Director) and Joanna (Photographer) also work together a lot on product photography. I noticed almost a telepathy occurring between these two. As you can see from the photo above, Leah sits at her computer watching the photos, with her back to the rest of us. There were numerous times yesterday when Leah would look at a photo Joanna had just shot and she would make a suggestion. Amazingly the next photo to show up on the screen would be that exact suggestion. Joanna already “knew” that was the next direction to go in. I watched this happen at least five times. Magic.

It blows me away how stunningly beautiful these photos turn out. I took some shots from my iPhone at our last shoot:

   
 
And then they are Magically transformed into this:

There is a lot of prep work that occurs before we even step into the studio. For me, it’s six months of designing, knitting, writing the patterns, etc. I’ve had many late nights the past few weeks frantically knitting to get the pieces ready for photography. Leah has spent a great amount of time planning the shoot, shopping for supporting garments, and getting approval on it all. That is just the beginning. I can tell you we were all a bit exhausted before we started shooting.

But it’s very easy to get rejuvenated when you start to see how each piece behaves and shows its personality. It is very exciting for me to experience that and get a glimpse of what you, the knitter, will experience when you see these pieces for the first time though our photography. My wish for you is that you experience some of the Magic.

That’s all for today. Now on to some knitting for myself and I’m casting on for the first piece in the SS17 Collection. We get to do this again at our campaign photo shoot next week. 

Have a beautiful weekend!

Shellie