ADVERTISEMENT

I spent 5 years creating these images with custom clothes knitted by an amazing knitter, Nina Dodd.

The project began when she showed me a sweater based on the seat covers of Brighton buses. This seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so we found an eye-catching model and photographed him on a bus.

I was so pleased with the result that I came up with more ideas for camouflaged jumpers, and the series developed.

Each of these pictures has taken me several days or weeks to research and plan, and Nina has spent weeks and sometimes months knitting for each one. I have generally begun with an idea: ‘Could I photograph someone blending into a cliff edge?’ Then I go looking for the perfect location.

The locations have to be eye-catching but simple enough to be able to be knitted. They also have to be places that aren’t going to change too fast, as the knitting takes a few weeks. It would have been terrible to prepare a sweater and then not be able to shoot because the location has been demolished.

Once I’ve found the location, I photograph someone standing where I would like the model to be in the final picture. I draw over this scouting photograph and annotate the picture with different colours and patterns so Nina can plan how to knit. Often there are 10 or 12 different shades of yarn in a single picture, and up to 24 balls of wool at any one time for the more complicated designs.

ADVERTISEMENT

After 5 years and over a thousand hours of knitting, the project has now been published in book form by Hoxton Mini Press.

More info: josephford.net

RELATED:

    Jimmy, 2014

    Lo, Beachy Head, 2018

    Tom and Dre, 2019

    Black Phoenix, 2019

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Buddy & Taboushka, 2018

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Nina, 2018

    Fruit fraud, 2019

    Venus, 2015

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Calum, 2017

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Monsieur Chat, 2017

    Fatboy Slim, 2018

    Buddy and Taboushka, 2018

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Rumi and Scarlet, 2019

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Mady and Monette Malroux, 2015

    Malik, 2016

    Popay, 2019

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Chris, 2019

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Kate, 2019

    Fimber Bravo, 2018

    Seth Globepainter, 2019

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Fatboy Slim, 2018

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Monsieur Chat, 2017

    Lo, Beachy Head, 2018

    Book shipping internationally now from Hoxton Mini Press!

    ADVERTISEMENT