Photography timing is everything. And quite honestly, not an easy thing. I mean, it is not hard in the physical sense, but rather it is all about natural lighting. And quite honestly, sometimes the weather does not play fair.
Photographing my French silk scarves in particular is a little tricky. I used to photograph them outside, but that simply got too cold at times. And there always seemed to be a breeze. So I moved my silk photography inside, setting up an area on one wall that received the best natural light from my French doors. (The only natural light source in the room.)
The trouble is that in the darker months there is a very small window of opportunity. I actually have an alarm set for each mid day to look up from my desk and see if the sun is shining. If it is, all stops and I get to work photographing.
In December I can manage about 6 scarves maximum, before the sun disappears behind the rooftops opposite and thus the light dims. Such is my winter photography timing. So each day that offers up sun is a precious day not to be squandered.
Preparation is key. With each batch of photographs I take, I then prep the next batch of scarves. This means pressing them in readiness and listing their details and measurements in my stock list. Then they are hung up, so they do not wrinkle, awaiting the next opportunity of sunlight.
Even as the days get longer, there are still limitations on my photography timing. Because the sun travels from the back of our house to the front, where my office is, I am never able to photograph in the morning. It is always mid-day onward.
Come summer time, I do end up with a very nice cool office consequently. Bliss. Yet, in the heat of summer, when the sun is at its zenith, the shutters will be closed to keep out the heat of the afternoon. Not very conducive to photography. So once again, my window of opportunity is shortened.
And such, as it is, it is however never a chore. I actually like the limitations. It adds a sort of zing. As I sit at my desk, I also quite enjoy the ever changing artwork on my wall. Wearable artwork. And in a sort of strange way, it incentivised me to look forward to the next photography session.
PS.
Now that you know some of the effort, if you would like to see the results, do visit my French Silk Scarf shop on Etsy. Here’s a sample of scarves through the ages:
Simply click on the image to be taken to scarves from that decade.