Teaming Up With Red Boots Design

As you may have noticed from some of my recent blog entries, I had the opportunity to work with some really creative businesswomen this past summer. Erin Boyd of Red Boots Design, an awesome chick with a local screen printing business, definitely falls into that category!

When I first met Erin about a year and a half ago, I checked out her website and thought the photos she had there weren't doing justice to her cool designs. Right away I sent off an email to let her know I'd be happy to help her out with that: ) It took more than a year for her to conclude that she was too busy to do everything herself and decide to take me up on that offer. I spent most of the summer working on this project with Erin, and as you will see at the end of this entry, now she is helping me out with my own!

When I do work for businesses, my goal is to create a series of images that capture the business in its entirety, so after talking to Erin a little about what she wanted me to accomplish for her, I suggested I spend some time with her in the print shop. I knew spending some time there would help me better understand the full gamut of Erin's work and therefore allow me to create better images for her. I also thought it would be fun for Erin to have some behind-the-scenes shots of her goods being made... and of course I was very interested in learning about the screen printing process : ) Erin let me know the date she was planning to print her new designs for children and I spent a few hours hanging out, documenting her every move and all the fun, colorful details in the shop...

After watching her work for awhile, Erin let me print my own t-shirt! This is the sassy Bike Crush design which boldly declares, "My bike has a crush on your bike."

After a piece of clothing is printed, it's put on a conveyor belt and rolled through a dryer... then it comes back to the print station to receive its super cool RBD logo!

This is the very first print of Erin's new "I Roll on 12s" tricycle design for kids. I happen to have one of my own in big-kid size ; )

The day after I visited the print shop, I rode my bike down to the Bellingham Farmer's Market to capture some shots of Erin's booth. Most of her sales happen via the market so taking pictures there was a must!

Erin doesn't know as many kids in various sizes as I do so when I left the print shop, she sent me home with a box stuffed full of children's clothing needing to be photographed. I carried the box around in my car with me and for a few weeks, enlisted just about any kid who crossed my path to model for me!

Joaquim rocks the rhino design on a 100% cotton onesie.


Fin shows us how its done in the Tricycle T. Erin used the photos of Fin in the advertisement seen at the top of this entry, which she ran in the online magazine Venus Zine!


Tristan shows off the sweet bicycle hoodie. I have one just like it, too!


Parker sports Erin's new Aeroplane design on an organic cotton T.


Isla fell in love with the cozy Baby Giraffe Stripey Hoodie and didn't want to give it up!



Hazel proved herself a natural model as soon as she donned the Aeroplane design on a cool black stripe hoodie!

Once we had shots of all the kids' gear in the bag, it was time to work on the designs for adults! Erin recruited her boyfriend Eric and their friends Michelle and Craig to model the goods, then we met downtown at our friend Greg's shop to use the infamous blue brick wall as a backdrop. Erin did an awesome job of managing the flow of clothes and the models while I kept snapping the shutter almost non-stop!

Erin is a really big fan of bicycles and features them in a lot of her designs. She wanted to work bikes into some of the shots, so after an hour or so we left the shop and cruised a few blocks down to the waterfront which offers both natural and industrial backdrops. We definitely drew some attention from people wondering what the heck we were doing, setting up a rack of clothes and parading around half-naked men in the middle of a gravel parking lot!

This shot of the girls in their tights walking down the train tracks is my favorite of the shoot!

We weren't sure the school bus design on the railroad tracks was entirely appropriate but went with it anyway : )

Feeling the need to do something to encourage political dialogue in this important election year, Erin created the awesome VOTE T!

With Erin's project done and her website completely updated with new photos ("I have been waiting for my website to look this good for 2 years!" she said!) it was time for her to do a little work for me! Now that I knew a chick with awesome screen printing skills, I thought it would be fun to create a little "schwag" for my print business, Soulstice Imagery. Since my beloved Converse All Stars tend to go everywhere my camera goes, it seemed appropriate to use a picture of them for the design. I've documented the entire process in the photo grid below, from the original photo to the finished product.

After taking the photo, I sent it to Erin who turned it into a fun printable design... I then sent it to my graphic designer, Lindsey Kiniry, to work in the business name somewhere (oh how I love creative collaboration between talented girls!) Once the design was complete, off to the print shop it went. Once the screen was burned and the clothing order was received, I met Erin at her studio to do the printing. You can see for yourself how happy I am with the results : )

To Erin... It's been a blast working with you so far and I'm looking forward to keeping the Red Boots website looking awesome as you crank out your new designs each season! I really can't say much more than "YOU ROCK!"