Twist Collective Blog

Spring in December

Details

Published on Tuesday, 12 April 2011 00:00

When Twist is ready to photograph the spring/summer projects, there's usually at least a foot of snow at our headquarters. That may actually be what a lot of you see in spring, (I know I did, growing up in New Hampshire) but we want an edition that brings to mind warm weather and bright sunshine. If money were no object, we'd jet set to some tropical location and shoot beautiful knits while sipping ridiculously fruity and extravagant cocktails. We'd probably also never return home. 

Instead, we make due with what we have. Frequent Twist Collective photographer, dyer and all around great person, Jamie Dixon, opened up her home to Kate and me (Marnie) in the middle of December, for our Two For Tea shoot. While New Mexico has wonderful light and relatively mild weather in winter, it's not exactly springy looking, unless you think of spring as being particularly...brown.

Scoping out the perfect picnic spot, we had to find a way to make New Mexico's deep dark browns of December look bright and cheery. It would need to start with some sweeping. Dead leaves aren't very springy. 

 
Does it look like spring yet?

Enlisting a little help from one of our models and Mary-Heather, we got to sprucing up the location

Note that we are all wearing warm coats and scarves. Glad I'm not a model.

Paper lanterns and ribbons bring those vibrant spring colors we were craving, and a little tarp protects Margaret Mills' lovely blanket from the dirt and debris. 

We had spent the previous day matching garments to accessories and raiding the home of one of the Sweater Girls for all those amazing props from the shoot.

 
Left: The Kate in the Hat looking for vintage props to dress the set. 
Right: Putting together outfits for the shoot the next day.
Clockwise from top: Raina, Lizette, Vesna, Carillon, Gus!, Carillon, Vesna, Addie, Budding Apple 

Our beautiful models, Amy and Jaclyn, were real troopers. It may be New Mexico, but December in Albuquerque is still pretty chilly. As we set up shots, the models kept themselves bundled while Jamie and Kate got all the little details perfect. 

 
Raina and Sunbreak and Lizette hiding under a coat

My job was to make sure we didn't miss any shot and to generally be helpful and such. 

Serious clipboard holder is serious.

Sometimes, being helpful involved looking like Mary Poppins to keep the sun's glare off the models' faces. 

A spoonful of sugar.
Addie and Sunbreak 

Jaime and Kate stop frequently to check images for the proper light, composition and clarity of details. 

Or maybe they are just hugging to stay warm.
Budding Apple 

And here's a little extra surprise for you all, Kate didn't just run the shoot, she also did a bit of modeling. 

Those are some very talented ankles, right there.
Avivah

This was my first shoot with Twist Collective (and, incidentally, the first time meeting Kate and Jamie in person) and it was a long hard day of work, but it was also great fun to get to see the magic behind the scenes. When you think of all the creative resources that go into making each shoot a reality, it makes the resulting story in the edition, all the more charming. 

A big thank you to Jamie and Mary-Heather for stuffing us full of food while we were in town. I am a sucker for chiles when they are verde and you did not disappoint. Here's hoping I'll get to go back again someday soon. 

And that about covers my little behind the scenes for our Two for Tea shoot.