Quick garden update

Not a lot of knitting going on here at the moment, although I'm still working on a sheep pattern.

But lots of stuff done in the garden. We've gone from this (last August):

To this (today):

Using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut

TDCJ has outdone itself yet again when imposing new rules on inmate correspondence.

Two things have found their way to me this week relating to the new inmate correspondence rules for TDCJ that come into effect next March.

The first is that apparently, from then on, the only place that friends and family can purchase stationary for inmates will be eComm Direct, the "new" online vendor for TDCJ. I predicted this would happen a few months ago, and now it has. I feel bad for the small businesses around Texas that had previously been approved by TDCJ to supply stationary like the Texas Prison Bookstore and Rosie's Graphics.

The other item is about things you cannot send to an inmate:

11. Contains an altered photo.

"Altered Photo” is an image with content in violation of this policy that has been edited, including, but not limited to, by removing or changing the contents of the image with a computer software program or other means
.
I don't think they realise how badly worded that statement is - or if they do, then it is a Draconian measure that could lead to the mailrooms denying all photos because they could not be sure if they had been "altered" or not. Altered must surely include cropping a photo, as well as adding text as I often to do the copies of our visit photos that my husband and I get, just to put the date and our names on the front so he can send them on to family and friends.

If they don't want people to send naked photos with stars or other shapes blocking out the naughty bits, then fine, say so. But this will affect a lot of people who innocently just want to tidy up a photo, and perhaps obscure someone's face (like a child) and then send it to the inmate. Equally, the "or other means" at the end would potentially also include cutting a photo with scissors or even writing the inmate's name and number on the back of it. Whoever came up with this new rule obviously has far too much time on their hands!

 image from: Google

It could however, be more insidious than that. It could be that someone in TDCJ thinks that women should not pose naked for photographs - even if the crucial bits are obscured - even if they are sending them to their husbands. It could be that TDCJ are trying to change the behaviour of people who are otherwise outside its control. Or it could just be that someone has put a CO's wife's head on the body of someone else in a compromising position and caused a major fight somewhere.

But the most useful piece of information they could have included is not there at all - what exactly constitutes a "package" as far as TDCJ is concerned? 

Busy, busy, busy...

This past month has been jam-packed full of stuff! I've been doing some overtime at work, which hopefully will pay for a few days away at the seaside in September and my daughter's birthday present this year. I've also been dog-sitting for a friend's West Highland Terrier called Spike. He is no trouble at all, but as I only have access to a communal garden, we were out walking 3 times a day while he was here!

Of course I have been spinning as well. I acquired a full Welsh Mountain fleece, and I've spun about half of it so far into a very fine yarn that my friend can use in her weaving. The other half I will be spinning into slightly thicker yarn to go into my Etsy shop. Margot, my wheel, has been working hard this month and we've produced 2 different coloured yarns as well as the Welsh Mountain.

Finally, last week I spent the day in Shrewsbury, Shropshire with my daughter and another friend. I'd never been there before, but it's a very pretty town with lots of Tudor buildings and a lovely riverside walk. It felt like it should have a University, but it doesn't; just an Abbey (the setting for Ellis Peters' "Cadfael" novels) and the grave of Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as being the birthplace of Charles Darwin.

So to illustrate all this, here's a slideshow of some of the things I've seen recently.

June 2013 better - slideshow

August photo-a-day (1-14)

A couple of times a year I do a "photo-a-day" for my incarcerated penpals, so that they can see the things I see around where I live and other places I visit. Below are days 1-14 of this month:

 Cheltenham is celebrating 100 years of horse racing at the town race track this year, and there are several public art horses around the town between August and October.

 Left: The view from my desk at work.

                                 Right: Something I have yet to do; learn to drive.

                                     Right: I call this "£54.18"

Left: Sometimes, it's not where you live, it's what you do with it...














 Right: And sometimes, you have to be very careful with what you're doing!

Never under-value yourself or your work

As you know, I have a good friend who is a photographer. Last year, she agreed -almost as a favour to the wedding planner involved, let's call her Sharon - to shoot a wedding 200 miles away, near to where my friend grew up. The bride and groom were not originally going to pay for a photographer, as they have a friend who is also just starting out in the business. My friend said she would do the work for a very low price, thinking that she might be able to tie it in with a weekend away with her family.

Fast forward to yesterday. Situations change, and my friend now has other commitments which mean a family break in Harrogate wasn't possible at this time. Faced with a long drive, she asked me if I would like to tag along and assist her. Having never been to Yorkshire before, I agreed. We left home at 5am, made good time on the motorways, and arrived in a very pretty little village just outside Harrogate, just on 9am.

The wedding planner arrived just after us, saying she was already stressed and that the reception marquee was so full of details that it would be a miracle if she finished setting it all up on time. She went in to see the bride first and then headed off to the marquee, which was in the garden of the quaint old pub next to the bride's parent's house.

I've spoken before about the term "Vintage" especially when used in conjunction with weddings. The theme of yesterday's wedding reception was a Village Fete. To be fair, the marquee did look lovely. There were trestle tables and chairs, with plain white crockery. Table runners were patchwork, place labels were pinned onto individual apples (a nice touch that my friend used for her rings shot as well), there was a long table laid out with a lot of different handmade cakes like you would see on the Women's Institute stall at any village fete, and fabulous yards of bunting all around the marquee and the garden.

Outside, there were games set up for the guests to play between the initial welcome snacks and the buffet meal. There was face painting for the 20-or-so children present (unusual in itself these days, with many couples requesting that children do not attend the wedding or reception), and traditional fete stalls such as a bran tub, guess the name of the dolly and the number of sweets in a jar. I'm not sure that asking the guests to pay for some of these was a good thing, even though the money was going to charity. The large games included Aunt Sally, giant snakes and ladders, hoop-la and space hoppers.

My task for the day was to get plenty of wide-angle shots, while my friend concentrated on the details and portraits. I was also there to carry lens bags, remind my friend to drink plenty of water, and hold car keys etc.

While we were taking a few setting up shots in the marquee before the bride left for the Registry Office, the friend came in and began doing the same thing. I was rather surprised at this, given that my friend had been employed to take the photos. The wedding planner also knew this friend, and I was equally surprised that she didn't take the lady to one side and remind her that she was a guest on that day and as someone was being paid to work, she should not try to use the occasion to build her portfolio. We mentioned to the wedding planner that the bride had agreed to pay for a bar meal for us both later on in the day, and could she just make sure that was still OK.

After the getting ready shots were completed, the bride left for the Registry Office around 20 minutes late. The wedding planner did not attend the wedding ceremony. When we got there, my friend decided that she would be better placed at the front of the room, as the Registrar was amenable to photos being taken during the ceremony, so I stayed at the back. Every time I tried to get a good wide shot of the couple at a significant moment, the friend leaned out in front of me and got in the way. I did at least manage to get some group shots by standing on the staircase as the couple and guests came out of the room, but then in the rear courtyard afterwards, people were still looming in front of me  - and my friend - as we were trying to work.

Back at the pub, the guests were treated to mini fish and chip cones along with a glass of Pimms and encouraged to view the Cheese Cake. This was a strange ensemble of a number of local whole cheese wheels, stacked on top of each other and decorated with cheese-shaped hearts and a few flowers. The pub was small and very dark, so I'm not sure how many photos will be OK from that period. I tried to get pictures of all of the guests in small groups, as they were eating, drinking and talking together. The difficulty was that there was another wedding taking place in the Church next door that afternoon, and it was hard to work out whose guests belonged to whom!

Lots of shots followed of the guests trying to work out what the games were. At just before 4pm we said to the wedding planner that were were going to get something to eat. She told us that the pub wasn't doing food because of the wedding and that if there was anything left from the guests' buffet we could have a plate from there afterwards (when the speeches would be taking place!). Luckily I'd packed us some sandwiches, but we were rather put out having worked 7 hours by that point without a break - or even a proper drink. What made things worse was that while we were sitting in the bar eating our sandwiches, Sharon came in with a bowl of chips and proceeded to eat them in front of us. My friend asked where she got them, and Sharon vaguely replied that it had taken her a real effort to get them from the kitchen!

Speeches were supposed to be from 6.30 to 6.50 with the first dance at 7.30pm. We'd arranged to stay until after the first dance, with the idea that we'd be away by 8pm. The speeches didn't actually begin until 7.20 - with the groom spending 15 minutes trying to find a spare electricity cable for the microphone! They went on until almost 8pm at which point my friend took the bride and groom to one side and suggested that their friend take the first dance photos because we had already been there 11 hours and we had a 3 hour drive home and they had only paid a very small amount for the pictures that had already been taken. The couple agreed, and we left.

The moral of this story is not so much that you get what you pay for, because in this case the bride and groom got way more than they were paying my friend for, and got probably significantly less than they were paying the wedding planner for. The moral is more that if you under-value your own self and work, no one else will value it any higher than you do. My friend has learned a valuable lesson by carrying through her end of the contract - she cannot, and should not, agree to work for less than she is worth. She is a professional, and doing favours for people who clearly don't have the same professional outlook could be damaging to friend's future reputation.

For me, it was all experience. Something to add to my catalogue of "Things I've Done", and it was an enjoyable day to see the bride and groom so happy. We've got some new ideas for photographs now, and a couple of other tips in general, so it wasn't a wasted day at all. Just a very long one.

(no photos to go with this blog post, because there is a chance that they may be featured in a magazine)

Think pictorially

Are you one of those people who wouldn't be able to talk if they couldn't move their hands? Well, I'm one of those people who think in pictures. I visualise everything.

I've been looking around Blogger at lots of other blogs out there and have come to the conclusion that this one is a bit thin on the picture front. A lot of the blogs I've been looking at seem to have several photos per blog post, plus some down the side bar, across the top behind the title, and anywhere else with a spare bit of web page. They look good too.

I am probably the most un-techy Aquarian you will ever meet (I don't even have a mobile phone). I haven't worked out yet how to get a picture behind the title on this blog, but as I'm sure you've seen, I can add pics to my posts. So I will try and add more in future, because apparently they are often worth a thousand words....

What I did in February

I've been waiting to blog about this for a while, as the photographer (Lisa Fellows photography) had promised the first mention to one of her other pals. But now that's been published, I can write about the day from my own perspective as a part-time amateur model of voluptuous proportions and part-time writer.

This also ties in with my previous posts on alternative style. Uptight Clothing is owned by the lovely Janice and is based in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Janice designs and makes the kind of gowns that any woman can feel sexy and gorgeous in, no matter what their size or shape. The trick? Corsetry!

Many of Uptight Clothing's outfits are worn as wedding dresses by those ladies who feel that white just wont do (although there are several Uptight creations in white too, for those who can't resist). The gowns also suit formal or masked balls, gothic events, handfastings, or indeed any event that calls for something special in the frock department. 

The outfits generally come in 2 sections. The first is the skirt portion, often with what feels like a whole acre of fabric in satin or silk, and sometimes with an overskirt of fine organza for extra swish. The second section is the all-important corset. Boned at the front and sides, and laced at the back, all are made to measure the individual. This means you can choose whether to have the lacing slightly open to show your back, or closed to just display the laces themselves (which can be of contrasting or complementary colours). The corsets come in a number of different designs, with shaped necklines, detachable long or capped sleeves, frills, crystals, or some of the embroidery that Janice is incorporating more and more into her work such as dragonflies and ivy leaves.

As all the outfits are hand-made and come with a sensible price tag, they would normally be out of my own price range. So being given the opportunity to wear not one but 2 of the Uptight Clothing dresses, even if they weren't made specifically for me, was too good to miss.

The day was a portfolio shoot for all concerned. This means that the photographs were experimental, designed to try out new ideas and lighting effects, locations, styles etc. At the end of the shoot, the photographs can be used by any of the parties involved to promote their work. Digital photography has made this far more achievable, as many hundreds of shots can be taken without the need for developing to take place to make the final selection of the best images.

Lisa wanted to have older models, instead of the usual young brides seen in most wedding photographer's portfolios. She also wanted to try out some industrial locations, rather than the woods and nature you usually get these kinds of frocks photographed in. Janice wanted some new photographs of her stock as her website is due to be updated soon. And of course, I wanted some pics that I could send to Ray!

Also with us was Lisa's friend Sharon. She is petite and slender, the complete opposite of my 5 foot 9 inch, well-endowed frame. She is fair where I am currently dark (purple actually), so the contrast would be even more pronounced. Second shooting on this occasion was Bryony Claire.

The first pair of frocks we had were to complement our colouring, so Sharon's was pale and very floaty, and mine was strong and bold. Actually putting on the corset needs 2 people, you can't lace yourself into one! It wasn't a perfect fit, as everybody's body is slightly different, but it felt strangely magical as the laces were tightened to reveal a waist I thought had all but vanished over the years.

Wearing a corset makes you walk differently. You have to stand straighter, and really I could have done with a pair of shoes with kitten heels instead of my flat pumps. We made good use of the industrial estate where Uptight Clothing is based, and as it was a Sunday morning there were few workers around to watch us.

For the second pair of frocks, Sharon had a heavily embroidered dark blue/green ensemble and I had a lighter outfit with an organza overskirt and matching ¾ length sleeved shrug which I loved. We also played around with some hats and fascinators made by Violet Peacock in Houston, Texas. For the second set of shots we moved to the small park next to the industrial estate and posed in front of some fabulous forsythia and some equally fabulous graffiti (which just happened to be in the right colours!).

To be honest, there is only so much you can do with a full-length gown and a corset that stops you bending over by more than a few degrees. Many of the poses are similar for this shoot, even though the backgrounds are different – but that's OK because it was the frocks we were showing off rather than us models. Sometimes you have to take a back seat and let the clothes and set do the work, under the guidance of the photographer. When I've done life modelling before, the shapes you make with your body are often what gives the photographs that extra interest, but with a corset, the shaping is already there. I wasn't feeling quite as bubbly as I usually am, and I think that has come through in the pictures (although no one else may realise it), and my hair was a little too short for my own liking as I'd only had it cut a couple of days before. It's longer now and if we did a shoot tomorrow I think I'd personally be happier with the results, but this one was not about me at all, so how I felt on the day is less relevant.

It was a fun day, and an interesting experience. Hopefully Janice is as pleased with the results as we are. There is a possibility of a more organised shoot later on this year with some more of the Uptight Clothing range in different colours, which I am definitely up for!

Alternative style #2: Calling all posers!

I have a friend (well, I have lots of friends) who is a tallented photographer. She has her own business based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, Lisa Fellows Photography, and much of her work so far has been centrered around wedding photography. She has a real knack for capturing candid shots, as you can see from some of the images on her web site. She also has a sister company focusing on childrens portrait photography, Logan & Letty, so she is pretty busy with her art at the moment!

We were talking the other day about alternative lifestyles, off the back of my previous blog post. Lisa is pagan like me, and used to be heavily into the Goth scene having grown up in Whitby on the east coast of England. We were discussing the various types of alternative, how they are lived and not just put on at weekends, and how there are probably more people living an alternative lifestyle than most would expect.

As a result, Lisa would love to do some portfolio work with individuals, couples, families and groups who live any kind of alternative lifestyle. It doesn't have to be weddings (although that would be great, Lisa would have to charge for her time, at a reduced rate for anyone who mentions seeing this blog post); the whole idea of alternative lifestyle photography is to capture the kinds of activities that make up that particular lifestyle.

For example, if your family is into all things from the 1950s and you spend your evenings and weekends dancing to Buddy Holly or riding Lambrettas around your local town, that's what Lisa wants to depict. Another example would be families who are very involved with the Scouting movement. For individuals, perhaps you have a love of falconry and you keep your own raptors, or you may be the next teenage Lewis Hamilton and spend every moment away from school or college driving around racetracks or under the bonnet of a high-powered racing car.

It's not just about dressing up. It's about your lifestyle. Having said that though, it doesn't matter what alternative lifestyle you lead, Lisa is very good at bringing out the best and most flattering side of anyone and you will end up with a small set of images to remind you of the experience. If you want to purchase some prints or have the set mounted in an album, Lisa also has some very attractive package deals.

So here's your chance to be imortalised on (digital) film. Interested? Then drop Lisa a line by email here or give her a call on 07963 936620 and tell her Silva sent you.

What's so “alternative” about vintage?

I'm currently working on a project to create some vintage-style inspired knitted Christening gowns. This has meant doing a bit of research, not only to find suitable patterns and images, but also to see what other vintage-style stuff there is out there.

One of the hottest topics associated with the word “vintage” at the moment seems to be weddings. I think these are on the whole a lovely idea. If you have the location and are into a particular era, then setting your wedding around that theme can produce some wonderful opportunities for your photographer.

A vintage-style wedding is about more than just the dress though. For example, simply wearing a 1920s inspired wedding gown yet having your wedding in a modern hotel with the reception including a disco, really couldn't be considered to be a “vintage wedding”. Neither can having a modern wedding, but with all your photographs in a sepia tint or with softened edges.

Now, I'm not the wedding police - people can get married however and wherever they choose! But I am a bit of a pedant where words and phrases are concerned, and I happen to think that too many photographers, bridal outfitters and even brides themselves say that their wedding is “vintage” when it's not.

The same goes for the word “alternative”. I have seen this used to describe vintage weddings (it gets a bit confusing from there on!). But is vintage really alternative?

I don't think so. Anyone who lives an alternative lifestyle (for example, Rockerbilly, goth, biker, LARP, eco warrior, pagan, etc) will more than likely have the wedding / handfasting / christening / naming ceremony that fits their lifestyle. Vintage, in my opinion, isn't a lifestyle. It is a way of describing the look or feel of an item or group of items.

In car terms, vintage applies to only a small group of cars, made before a certain date (generally between 1920 and 1930). Cars made after 1930 are termed “classic”. Cars made before 1919-20 are generally referred to as “veteran” in the UK and “antique” in the USA. If you apply the same terms to a wedding, then no modern weddings could really be called vintage because they are happening now, not 80 years ago.

Just as the clothes do not make the man, the wedding dress does not define the wedding. An alternative wedding would not generally have a white wedding dress, a big fruit cake with royal icing, a church service or even a reception. My own wedding was pretty alternative, as my husband and I were married by proxy in Dallas, Texas. I wore jeans and a cardigan I had knitted myself, my mother-in-law stood in for my husband, and we had bubbles instead of confetti. Then we went for lunch with a few friends at a local Chinese buffet.

The best thing to do is put “-style” after the word vintage or alternative if that is what you are describing.