December 29, 2012: The Unraveling

I certainly thought that my last blog post would be the final one of the year. However, an unlikely burst of determination and inspiration resulted in an image that I sketched over 14 months ago.

Last year I set out to create a dress made entirely of rope. I bought over 400 feet of rope to create this garment. A variety of things pulled me away from the project. The rope continued to sit in my laundry room, one third finished, mocking me every time I walked by. I guess the timing was not right. For a year my computer sticky note read "work on rope dress". I ignored it until a few weeks ago.

Something in me was determined to finish it this year. I started working on the dress again from scratch, undoing all the previous work. It surprisingly went pretty fast, even on top of what might have been a mild flu. (See below for iphone pics of the work in progress.)

I find the landscape around Eastern North Carolina to be a wonderful backdrop for many of my images. The farmland is flat, sparse and compliments my subject well. With an upcoming trip there for our family Christmas gathering, my deadline was set. I called on my niece who modeled for me a few months back. She is a big supporter of my work and a great model as well. Within the span of an hour she was wrapped up in the dress and ready for the shoot. We shot in a harvested cotton field.

The image turned out better than I had imagined earlier in the year. Perhaps there are larger forces at work when we procrastinate. Had I shot it earlier both the shape of the dress and the location would have been different.

Now having deleted my "work on rope dress" sticky note, I see this as a lesson. Those "props" will no longer haunt me in the laundry room, but sit patiently waiting for the right time to come out and play.

Since this will be the last blog post of 2012, Happy New Year to all! Looking forward to a creative and fufilling 2013.

The Unraveling
© 2012 Heather Evans Smith Photography

The dress in various forms of completion.

Here is a short video that gives a better idea of just how heavy the dress was. It was a challenge walking a short distance into the cotton field.

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