Close-up

Photo taken at: Stroud, Gloucestershire

I am 1000% a details person. Whether that’s in trying to sew things as small ( but neat) as my eyesight will allow, in my eternal quest for the smoothest, most unwrinkled backing fabric that your eye ever did see (which is no mean feat with heavily worked embroidery, but let me tell you wrinkled fabric is my visual equivalent of nails on a chalkboard) or in adding little unexpected touches – In short, I am ever the Amélie Poulain; looking for things that no one else catches.

I spoke on Sunday about having a musical background, and I often think about my work in the same way. If you imagine a piece of music, you immediately recall the tune. It’s not always obvious what the point is in all of the parts of a band or orchestra who aren’t playing the tune, until you start to take them away. That’s when you notice something is missing – even though you can’t pick them out, they’re essential to the overall effect. When making pictures, I often find myself taking time over details which I know won’t necessarily be noticed. I used to question the logic of this – I could obviously work quicker and produce a lot more if I didn’t do this. But the fact is I notice. Which means whether or not other people pick up on little details, they’d probably notice if they weren’t there. These days, when I find myself thinking ‘people probably won’t notice I’ve done this’, I usually know I’m on to a good thing.

Because it’s nearly the weekend, here’s a close up of a bottle of gin ? – there are definitely some little details on that.
#marchmeetthemaker is a photo challenge created by @joannehawker to showcase where, why and how makers make. The prompt for today is close-up