I absolutely love photographer Joseph Ford's project focused on sweaters that blend seamlessly into scenery. The project, titled "invisible jumpers" and "knitted camouflage," features photographs made over several years that are just stunning. And it's mind blowing to me to think about how much time it must have taken to imagine each scene and how a sweater would would be placed into it, knit the sweater, and then create the photographs.
The project is a collaboration between photographer Ford and knitter Nina Dodd, who is based in Brighton, UK. On her website, Dodd discusses the collaboration:
As an avid bus traveller, the idea of designing and knitting a jumper that blends in exactly with the upholstery seemed obvious. Then came a fortuitous meeting with outstanding photographer Joseph Ford and the rest was history. Dogs in bushes, twins sitting by walls, Parisian street artists up ladders, it's been fun and challenging and I've loved every minute!
In an interview with Photography News, Ford describes his love for optical illusions and how that led to the invisible jumpers project:
After several years of shooting still life I was looking for a way to continue to explore optical illusions with a human element, and started working with a knitter, Nina Dodd. She loves buses and inventive knitting, and had created a jumper based on the seat covers of Brighton buses. I suggested finding an eye-catching model and photographing 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.
He also describes the process of finding locations and ideas for the invisible jumper photo shoots, and how he and Nina found locations that were both visually interesting and also easy enough to knit:
I have often begun with an idea: 'Could I photograph someone blending into cherry blossom?' Then I go looking for the perfect location. The locations have to be eye-catching but simple enough 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 had been demolished.
Some of the locations are places I've come across by chance and that have stuck in my head; for many others I've been looking for a specific type of place, like a cliff-top, and have spent several days visiting potential places until I've found one that I like aesthetically and that also works technically.
I love all of the photographs so much, it's hard to choose a favorite. But if forced, I think I'd choose the photo of the two people standing in front of a wall overlooking the ocean (it's the fourth photo down in this article and the first one on Joseph Ford's project page). Their blue and gray sweaters blend so well into the ocean and the wall, and the whole photo has a really relaxing vibe. Go check out the rest of the images — I think you'll love them, too!
See more of Nina Dodd's knitting on her website, and more of Joseph Ford's photography on his, and more photos from the knitted camouflage series here.
Previously:
• Mathematical knitting
• 'Skyknit': Knitting patterns produced by a neural net
• Tiny handmade knitting machine by Maartje Boer
• Check out this stunningly strange double optical illusion
• Watch and rewatch this optical illusion to figure out how it's done
• This trippy optical illusion house by Roy Lichtenstein makes me question my eyes
