smartphone photo workshops in NJ this weekend

 MAKING THE WORLD PRETTIER- ONE SMARTPHONE PHOTO AT A TIME !!
JOIN ME in a workshop this weekend- click on the shop name to register

Saturday at Pins & Needles in Princeton NJ   1:30-4:30 pm    almost full

Sunday at Trillium Yarns in Morristown NJ  1-4 pm   just 2 spaces left

If you follow my Instagram feed, you know I use my iPhone camera a lot.

No need to feel guilty if you're using a phonecam instead of a "real" camera. These days our smartphone cameras are  crazy good quality, and almost always handy.

above, my recent  IG feed, all iPhone photos with the exception of the reposted malabrigo yarn photo in the middle left column, , which I shot for Kirsten's book

That's why I'll be teaching hands on smartphone photography workshops this weekend.

both of these were quick phone photo grab shots to show some yarn-y projects on the blog

They are fun classes. Whether you shoot your knits, your travels, your sunnyside up eggs (oh come on who doesn't?), I promise you'll learn new tricks to make your phone cam images soar.  We'll use  free or inexpensive apps to quickly make your good photos great, right in the phone. Small adjustments, little shifts, controlling the cropping  and adding depth of field are my favorites, but we'll run the gamut--and then have a group slideshow at the end.

Click on the shops at the top of the post to grab your seats, space is limited.  This is a workshop a knitter can share with a non-knitting friend. We know that doesn't happen often, ina yarn shop.  Who knows, once there, they might could succumb to wool fumes.

An iPhone photo Befre and After, taken at my peak sheep moment at the Ct Sheep & Wool Fest last weekend.
Before, on the left , courtesy of an 8 year old   and After, on the right. We'll cover adding type on the image, during the workshops.

_______________________________________

I'll gladly teach this Smartphone Photo workshop  in your community--at a yarn shop, workplace, retreat, whatever--shoot me an email.

a few quick things

• This Friday night 7 pm Nov 9th, I'm the guest speaker for the Common Cod Fiber Guild. I'll be doing a slidetalk on my favorite subject (or, one of them, anyway); 10 Tips for Fabulous Photography of Knitwear, and Beyond . It's a best hits of ideas from classes I teach. All wrapped up in a bow, with very little jargon. If you're not a Common Cod member no worries, $5. gets you in the door.
So..that's, like, 50¢ a photo tip? Good deal.

 • Where?  In Cambridge Massachusetts, at MIT. Heh, I am giving a talk at MIT. 
You have no idea how dorky I've been,  saying this (over and over and over).

• On Saturday, I'm teaching an all day class in Needham MA, same subject. But hands on, with plenty of shooting time plus time to do a quick edit and review/critique what we shot. We're meeting in an historic school house, which should be an amazing setting for shooting your knits. Thanks to Creative Warehouse for making this happen! There's till room for a few more students , last minute is OK.  This is going to be a special class.
 
Best use of pompoms that I've seen in ages, right? 
• I've already misplaced my wonderful new mitts. I wore them at Rhinebeck and then they evaporated. I know I brought them home. This is so disheartening. And, my hands are cold.
  
Pompom style. Only the very few can carry it off. In this case, on a kindergarten field trip to the US capitol. 

3 a day plan

Since my last post, I marched in a costume parade, threw a successful 21st bday party in a hastily reclaimed post-hurricane backyard, camped oceanside in Maine, tapped a keg for the first time since I was 20, learned to make real Peruvian ceviche, taught at Fiber College, made wonderful new friends, set off a midnight car alarm in a tiny sleeping town, drove a lot, observed the annual last-full-moon-of-summer neighborhood skinny dip, flew to Minnesota, saw old friends & family, met more new friends and more talented indie designers, taught at The Creative Connection Event/BlogHer Handmade, levitated from caffeine consumption when Starbucks sponsored the conference,  discovered a  bit of technology that made me crazy happy, traveled to Cape Cod with most of my neighbors to celebrate a wedding, danced to a bluegrass band, slurped oysters, knit, crocheted, planned new projects and and and....

although this is a photo of Ellen Mason in one of her wonderful knit designs, it sums up how I feel

I'm going to try to post everyday and tell  three things, until we catch up. I think that'll work.  Because  a little structure'd be good,  I've got a case of monkey mind that only George of the Jungle could love. Or, maybe Jane Goodall? Do you think she used that phrase ever, when she was brimming over with ideas, and plans and things on her schedule?

 

Leah was in one of the Fiber College classes, so was her mom, but on a different day. Great duo!

I'm going to reserve the right to show however many photos I feel like though. May need to show a LOT.

let the record show..

photo by Barbara Miller, from class Saturday on porch of the Kitschy Stitch.  Oh the colors !

• The Kitschy Stitch class in Rehoboth Beach was full of awesome, see above.  Here's knitter/designer/photo student- for-the-day Linda in her soon-to-be-released pattern Shawlus Maximus . I hope I spelled that right. And didn't over-hyphenate. Gorgeous design, right? Visit Barbara's Miller's blog to see more of her photos from Saturday.

•  next is the special full day east end of LI class, July 9th,  in the good company of Kay Gardiner of Mason Dixon Knitting. Deets & sign up here. Two spaces open. Three if you need'em.  It's worth a day trip from NY if you'd prefer not to take a whole weekend away. (jitney! they drive, you knit! win win! I'll even pick you up and take you back to the jitney depot.)

The Gaia shawl in Noro Taiyo,in full review.

yarn: Noro Taiyo sock, colorway # 2 (I think)(does it matter, they are all so....Noroluscious)

needles: us 7

yardage left over: none, zero, zippo, nada. In fact I scrounged several yards off other skeins to complete the picot bind off. Careful scrutiny reveals the color change in picotland, above.
finished size: just right

final thought: The Taiyo Sock was incredibly irritating to knit--it spun back on itself like an energized single. (and I can't say that phrase enough, it sounds so weird. Energized single.) But oh the colors and changes?  I can forgive Mr. Noro  his materials' faults for the joy of the shifting hues.

•  I'm on to another shawl, big rectangular,  with my big spool of Valley Colrain yarn. Loving the knitting but not loving working off a spool. Keeps toppling.

• Joan Tapper & I are setting up our events & booksignings in celebration of our new book!

Craft Activism, coming your way in late September. So excited.

sprung!

Anyone else feel like they've been in a holding pattern for a coupla months? Well, I'm busting out. First course of action:

NEW CLASSES  PHOTOGRAPHY FOR KNITTERS

I'll be listing a bunch of them, but for starters

• the "my own backyard"  day workshop May 15th, 10:30-4:30 at Knit New Haven in Connecticut, info and signup here

• Fiber College in Searsport Maine, September 8-11th, you must go check out the classes. Seriously cool, like  knitting with Mary Jane Mucklestone , dyeing with natural materials, spinning, woodworking,  hooping (!)  and of course, photography with moi. I'm teaching 3 separate classes. This is the first time I'll be offering a more advanced lighting class, in which we'll get all geeky over adding artificial light sources into the mix.

More dates, locations & classes will be up soon. Class size is always limited to keep it personal, so don't hesitate too long if these appeal.

OK, now I have to go outside . Did I mention it's spring ??!!!!!

smarter by proximity

Photographing Your FO's class (taught by yours truly) Fiber Camp 2011

I'm pretty sure I have more brain power than I did yesterday morning.  

Saturday at Fiber Camp, this year at MIT. When I sat down in one of the classrooms, this is what was on the board. Do you love it? In the photo above, see  the lower right, in particular.

 

It seemed smaller than last year, but with a nice assortment of classes on the board Saturday. The MIT hallway of rooms was a different vibe than the big party feeling at last year's venue. This did not stop the spinners from settling in one bit. That's Guido Stein, Common Cod knitting community impressario on the left.

 

My class was full of awesome students (as usual). I mean truly, I am blessed with having a great group every single time. I taught a quickie 1 hour class.

 

We ditched the classroom in favor of a foyer, to work with light. I like teaching in the round for a demo rather than to a rows of seats.

 

Special thanks to my niece Ariana, who was shooting some footage for her senior project documentary film (Tufts 2011) nearby, so stopped in to see me. She wound up being the class model. For anyone who was there: this is a photo about her, not about the knitwear.

 

Knitting with beads class. I learned 3 ways to put beads into my knitting.

 

Until now, I only knew zero ways.

See? Smarter. Although just spending the day in a building with this kind of entrance grew me some new synapses. Or at least I felt that way.

 

Much thanks to the Common Cod Fiber Guild. Nice work !