Proper photos are important!

 

Finally, I have good photos of some of the finished projects lately!  I think that the importance of having good pictures of your work can't be overstated.  And I have to say - I'm just thrilled with how these came out. 

 

All photos, with the exception of the two with Julie Bonney's copyright on them, are by Austin Lang.  While I do well enough with product shots of my shoes, occasionally enlisting the assistance of a professional is warranted.  Julie Bonney is part of the Bonney and Wills Shoe School, and took these two photos at the end of boot school.  Austin Lang is a local (Olympia) photographer who also took the gorgeous cast photos for Tartuffe. 

 

When I do take my own photos of finished shoes, I usually try to go somewhere outside, in nature.  The background is nice, and the lighting is generally pretty safe.  For really good product shots, you simply *must* have proper lighting, and know a lot more than I do about photography.  Costumes are particularly hard to get good photo of yourself - the difference between a selfie or a snapshot in your living room, and a professionally done photo with a backdrop and good lighting is significant.  Austin sure knows how to make me look good!

 

And yeah, this post is basically just picspam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New lasts! And the modifying of lasts....

I really like this particular last.  It's about a 2" heel, with a very nice toe shape.  It was designed by the Dr. Scholl's company as a dance shoe, and when you wear it, it shows.  It's really well designed.  And I was able to purchase 18 pairs (in a range of sizes) for a very reasonable price, from Walrus Shoe & Leather  Larry is a nice guy, but his website is a little bit out of date.  I was hoping to get the entire run of these, but this is what he had left:

 

 

As a separate purchase, I got the same last, in a specific size, and fitted it up for the first pair of shoes I'm making for someone other than myself.  Here's a couple of shots of the process of adding layers of leather to the last, to match the client's measurements:

 

I'm a little concerned that this last just wasn't a large enough size to begin with, since it required so much additional material.  I'm hoping it's long enough.  I guess we'll see - the nice thing about fitting up with leather like this, is that it can all be scraped off if it's not the right last for that person - and then I'll have this last in this size just waiting for the right person to come along....