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!"

Catching Up With Sophia aka The Great Giggle Fest of '08

I've had a few families move out of the area since I started my business and it always bums me out so much to see my clients go! Thankfully most of them return to the area now & then and they usually get in touch with me to schedule a shoot during their visit, which is the case with Sophia and her parents, Stephanie and Chris. I first met Sophia when she was just two weeks old and we have now done a total of five shoots together, our last being last September for her first birthday. Needless to say I was pretty excited to see my little friend again!

We met at Larrabee State Park and spent some time hanging out and exploring at the beach, where I learned Sophia has become *quite* the trooper since I saw her last. At first she was not too sure about the water but it didn't take her long to venture close enough to make splashes with rocks, and she was amazingly steady covering the rough terrain. Here are a few of my favorite photos of our time together...
What an adorable family... I was so excited to learn Stephanie is expecting again in September (although you can barely tell by her tiny baby bump!)
Sophia saw her first star fish on the beach that morning... which she simply referred to as "purple!"
Sophia also learned a new word during our shoot... BUG! She wasn't too sure of the creepy crawly caterpillar when Dad showed her, so she satisfied her curiosity from a distance : )At one point Sophia and I found ourselves engaged in an all out giggle fest... it was one of my favorite moments during a shoot ever- this little girl can LAUGH! Over and over, she'd throw out her hands and busted into an infectious giggle that left me with tears in my eyes and sore abs, and I found myself giggling out loud even while processing the photos. Sophia completely won my heart in those three minutes of laughter!

(Be sure to click on this image to see it in full size!)

You can see Sophia featured in my promo postcard shown at the top of my blog... that's her sucking her toes at age nine months : ) Since we've done so many shoots together, I thought it would be fun to dig out a few photos so you can see Sophia as I've seen her... from a peaceful newborn to a rambunctious, determined toddler. Aaahhh... I love my job : )

Two weeksThree months
Nine Months
One Year!

Stephanie & Chris... it means so much to me that you've kept in touch even after leaving Bellingham, thank you so much for thinking so highly of my work that you keep coming back : ) I'm so happy to have documented the emergence of Sophia's personality for you... she's quite the fun little girl!