when blogging becomes art - dietlind wolf

 I first noticed Dietlind Wolf's picture on her blog that looked so light and carefree that it stopped me in my tracks. 

Dietlind works as a stylist and occasionally as a photographer.  In her spare time (!) she also makes stunning porcelain,   that she worked out how to dye instead of glaze - I love it!!

I'm always interested in someone with a job I think I would have enjoyed, so I asked her a few questions.

Hi Dietlind, thank you for letting me show your work.   Would you describe yourself first as a stylist or as a photographer?  

Thank you for inviting me!  I am first of all a visual designer,   I love the stylist's part of putting a shoot together, playing with a look, then I love the photographer's role of discovering how that look works.   I like inventing feeling concepts and then filling them reality.

How did you get into this line of work?     

I used to teach in a private art school where I loved working with the students, but I missed being in business.  A friend told me about the role of stylists, something I knew nothing about!  I was very excited and told all of my friends about my new career, and I got two bookings straight away!

You seem to work for magazines, but I see there is also a book out, can you tell us about that?  

That's right, I work mostly for magazines, but the Teatime book came via my blog.  I loved this project, I was able to do all of the styling and visual concept, and even the illustrations.

Teatime can be found here

To create this sort of book we work as a team of three.  The stylist, the food stylist and the photographer.  We work for a week or so solidly, and it's always amazing to start off with nothing and seel that after 10 days non-stop work you have 50 or 80 pages filled.

Does your blog play a big role in your work, has it brought you new clients for example?  

Yes it really helps and in a very unexpected way. the amazing feedback.( thank you to you all!!!).   I started the blog in the year Donna Hay magazine printed our Heaven and Earth Christmas Cookie story.  Up till then I had never published on line because I didn't know how I wanted to use a website.   After the Donna Hay article I decided to use the blog as a portfolio where I should showcase work when a story was in print.

concept + styling : dietlind wolf

photos : walter cimbal  :  in print : billa issue 4

Is it easy to 'turn off' at home , or do you find yourself aranging things as if you wre on a photoshoot?!

You wouldn't believe how I live, in between my ateliers and my collections  of props.   The only arranging I am able to do at home is to place my props onto shelves.    At least they look reasonable and I can find what I need!     If I invite friends over then its like on a shooting.  Attention focussed on  the moment to  make things look just right.

styling : dietlind wolf :   photos : julia hoersch

food : hermann rottmann /petra speckmann   : assistance: anka rehbock / felicitas grunenberg

in print : freundin issue 8

 Do you think that your work is very 'female', is it a job you'd recommend to a young artistic woman?

There is a clear masculine side to the work, but funnily it seems that women slip more easily into the role of stylist which is often in second row.

 But then women bring a a deeper understanding of what the client wants.  There is an unspoken hidden responsibility, it's a world of "I like", " I don't like",  and a lot depends on moods.

 It's difficult to recommend a career that is so artistic and is  still a journey of development on the inside as on the outside.  Success depends on so many things, mostly on support of friends and family who trust in you. Sometimes the team doesn't fit,  but you are booked for the result and  you have to find a way to be  creative even when it's difficult.

If you need the safety and security of a 9 to 5 workday week ,  with fixed weekly  appointments, then this job is not for you, but if you like your freedom more than the above,  and you like the body fitness that's comes with racing around putting shoots together then yes, you'd love it!!

Thank you Dietlind! 

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the creative world of an artisitic blogger,

pop on  over to Dietlind's site and say hi!

and if you are in Hamburg on 5 November, you can even meet her in person

at Haller 6 where she'll be showing her work

Hope your week is getting off to a creative start!

owning up ....

Am I the only one to admit to becoming less bold with age?  To worry a little more than I used to, to hold back a little more often?  Am I the only one to find that annoying?

Apologies if this sounds rather heavy and you're reading me first thing in the morning.....  Here,   I'll add some flowers to the post to make it look lighter!

Where was I?   oh yes ... the reason why it's so annoying  to say is because the thing I worry about is spoiling my pleasure and I can't manage to overcome it.  Now I've got you wondering, right?

 ...  pause, this is a good moment for more flowers

In the past I've worried about my children out on their own in the world, or a potential domestic accident, but at the moment I mostly worry about .... falling off my horse.

I'll just take a much bigger  pause here, because I can here you saying "what?!!  you've got to be kidding me, there's a world recession on, some of us have major issues to deal with, and this women is worried about falling off her horse, why the heck doesn't she just stay clear of the d... thing?!  

I can understand your reaction, you're certainly right and I'm probably foolish,  but I'm going for something a bit deeper here.

I'm really wondering why we can't always do what we really want to do? What is this subconscious voice that holds us back, planting irrational fears and worries instead of just saying, "go for it, enjoy, you know you love it,  whatever happens it will all work out in the end" .  And why does that same voice grow louder with age?

Wouldn't it be a lot more fun if we grew more insouciante, more carefree, as we mature?

I love to ride, and I've spent some very precious moments galloping around our valley with my girls or with friends, but recently I prefer less speed, less risk, more safety. 

I've actually fallen off horses more than once, at various speeds, in diverse situations, and never broken anything.   Once you're on the ground, you can't get any lower and the worst is over anyway.  And it's not like my present horse is a wild foamy mouthed demon,  he's  occasionally excited but generally pretty good.

So I suppose that if I'm telling you all of this relatively uninteresting information, it's because I believe I'm not alone, and I'm secretly hoping that someone out there will have discovered a way to overcome fear and worry that doesn't involve drink or drugs.

I am really looking forward to hearing your suggestions, and to prove my real will to overcome irrational fears,  I promise that if someone sends me an idea that works, I'll put up a video of me cantering through the forest!  HA!!

merci mes amis!

you're one patient bunch of bloggers!!

dog days

At the risk of going into overkill on the whole autumn,/dog in the forest thing, I would just like to inform you that not only is young Ghetto home for the weekend (considerably larger!) , but we also have a certain Gaston to stay for a few days too.  A dog weekend.!!

All three born with 6 weeks of each other, hence the names beginning with G, and each one as unheeding of my commands as the other.....  sigh ....

After a few very noisy attempts at a group portrait, I surrendered and took them off for a walk.  The forest was as unbearably crowded as usual (ie: me, the dogs and the girls on horseback!) , but what else do you expect on a Saturday afternoon?

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

true French luxury

In the heart of Montmartre, Paris, there is a tall building where the lights often burn late at night.  Home to a name that epitmoises French luxury better than and other.   Lesage.  They don't design dresses, they just embroider.

They embroider for queens and princesses, they embroider for Chanel, Dior, Schiaparelli,  YSL, Lanvin and Worth.  Each bead, each sequin sewn on individually and by hand.

This is  the address that the great designers turn to, when fantastic embroidery is needed to make a piece shine and dazzle.   Founded in 1924, the current Monsieur Lesage is over 80 years old.   He says he can't sew, his skill is the interpretation of designer's dreams.  When Yves Saint Laurent called him to ask for embroidery "that would look like the reflection of my chandelier against a dark rainy window",  he knew where to start.
 

Even Monsieur Louboutin requires their services

And the really amazing news, especially to those of you who like to embroider, is that there is a Lesage school, and they run classes at all levels.  So when you're next in Paris, why not do something totally off the tourist track and check in to a 3 hour beading class, in the house of a master of the craft.

Now that would make a good souvenir de Paris!

pinning the right colour - a weekend wishlist

You may have sensed from the posts this week that I am looking for comfort at this change of season.  It shows in the house too.  I'm needing a bit of a change in my colour schemes here.  Definitely wanting to go towards grey, hoping to avoid taupe, wanting something warm and welcoming.

Drawn to natural fabrics, linen, chanvre, maybe a little velvet.   A mix of old and new.

I am collecting snippets from here and there, each time I see an image and think ah! that would be nice to live with.

If I could take myself seriously enough I'd call this my mood board, but  then I'd worry about what that is saying about my mood, so I won't call it that.

I can see where this is all  leading me, I'm going to have to start 'pinning'.  I actually started the pinning account, but managed to lose it quite promptly, so I'm waiting to be invited back in and then I'll be up there  pinning with the best of them.

I think you're going to hate this fire, but I adore it.   We have several open fireplaces here and  I've been looking for original fire guards for years, but have never seen these before.   A sort of metal interior shutter design.   Pinned to the wishlist! 

I wish you a warm and comforting weekend, 

may all your pinned dreams become reality!

all photos thanks to campagne er decoration

my French autumn vitals

To get through  this change of season in total happiness,

I am vitally needing

a pair of hunter boots

my favourite pair of jeans

bowls of hot pumpkin soup

chestnuts roasting on the fire

long rides through the forest

and  ....

slices of pear and almond tart,  warm from the oven

surely not that much to ask ? ....

what are your favourite autumn moments

the small hunting lodge

Always on the look out for a suitable venue for the one-day-sure-to-happen bloggers weekend, I'm currently in hunting lodge mode.  It is after all the time of year when the pop pop pop of the guns are to be heard around here, and a hunting lodge offers so many possibilities for dressing up, looking casually country chic, and of course drinking great après-hunt cocktails.

So I wondered what you thought of this little gem.  A hunting lodge in Italy: room for many; great vistas; rather grand decor; delicious italian cuisine at the ring of a silver bell, and all that almost certainly served by an equally declicious italian waiter.  One has to think of everything.

I thought that after drinks in the garden, we'd enjoy dining here,

although if there were a chill in the air we could retire to a choice of salons

We could pull names out of a hat to allocate bedrooms,

once we have established that this one with the white bed is mine that is.

so what do you think, shall I just book it and we work out the details later?

All photos thank to Trust and Travel