Boat owners know more about knots than anyone but they don’t know much about photographic knots, the ones we all use for critical tasks such as attaching cameras to tripods, filters to lenses, layers to masks, that sort of thing …
Ansel Adams was famous for the clever knots he employed to tie dirty big view cameras to the top of his beat-up stationwagon. There’s even a knot named after him; the The Beat-Up Stationwagon Knot. But neither Adams nor any of his contemporaries had any idea where the traditional photographic knots came from, who invented them, or what the knots might have been called in the days before television and maybe even smoke signals.
Anyway, having a well developed social conscience and a strong desire to educate, I drove all the way over here to sort this thing out. I know next to nothing about ropes or cameras but I’ve taken it upon myself to research the history of photographic knots for the purposes of educating you lot. It’s a complicated subject I have to tell you, fraught with chain splices, loops and poops, footholds, boson’s chairs, bight tying, rat-tail stoppers, hitches with glitches, horns, tow lines, bow lines and what-the-hell-is-that? lines. Much pouring over Snot’s Book of Knots was necessary before I achieved a reliable understanding of the topic, and even then I knew next to nothing.
That there is no consensus among historians for the provenance of knot names made the task more stressful. I was, by sheer force of the language being employed, forced to conclude that every knot in Snot’s glorious compendium had been invented either by accident or committee. Or by Henry VIII when he was stoned out of his mind and couldn’t tell Anne Boleyn from her mother Frank.
But as I say, I did drive a long way to get here so let’s not waste the effort with pointless babble. Here’s everything you should know about the most common photographic knots, or at least what I’ve been able to discover, with and without Snot.
THE GRANNY KNOT
This was the knot they used in the old days to hang grannies convicted of practising witchcraft and other spooky stuff. Grannies were also hanged for goosing Rottweiler’s on the Sabbath and speeding in school zones. Oddly, this knot has nothing to do with photography.
THE SLIPPERY DOO-DA KNOT
This knot was invented in the early eleventh century by a Jesuit priest named Clean Phil. As an act of mercy, he used it to tie one starving peasant to another during the Great Rhubarb Riots of 1128. (It used to be called the Rhubarb Knot but the peasants thought that was stupid so they changed the name by deal poll). This knot has found favour among some of today’s photographers who use it tie an artist’s statement to the hope for immortality.
THE CLOVE HITCH
This was once called the ‘Piano Creeper’, for obvious reasons. Nikon is now using it in the Coolpix series, but you have to look hard to see it.
THE SPIN AROUND AND FALL OVER KNOT
Much has been written about this knot’s elegant ‘standing end’, its ‘bitt’, its ‘tail’, even its ‘whipping’ and its ‘Kernmantle’, whatever that is. History tells us the knot was invented by convicted nose thief Victor Twitsky. Apparently, Twitsky convinced the British Admiralty of the day that his invention could secure one goat to another while both were sinking in a Force 10 gale. Modern experts are yet to deduce how tying two goats together in a Force 10 gale could be useful. Ancient experts didn’t have a clue either.
My opinion is that the knot was used to tie one Kernmantle to another, to prevent a tragic loss of rhubarb, but since no-one knows what a Kernmantle is, and we can’t prove it had anything to do with rhubarb, let alone photography, we’re back where we started.
An intriguing aside. In 1559, Chief of the Admiralty, Sir Doug Blowhard, claimed to have proven, by throwing a budgerigar into his porridge, that the world was neither flat nor round but a long rectangular thingy with pointy bits at each end. Doug later died from injuries pertinent to the cat-o-two tails - introduced with Admiralty austerity measures in 1562 - but not before convincing everyone in the local Maniac Outreach Centre that pigeons can do somersaults.
THE ASHLEY BUTTERFLY LOOP
Using rope to lasso butterflies seems illogical, even impossible, but naturalists in the days before lily white geeks had little choice. Thin rope hadn’t been invented yet and neither had filament line or even old rags. In any event, the skill of gently lassoing a butterfly with ship’s rope was passed down from father to son, mainly because no-one else was interested. And that’s how knotting became knitting.
THE TESTICLE KNOT (also known as the Jeez That Hurts Knot)
Medicine was pretty dodgy in the old days. ‘Getting well’ hadn’t been invented. If you blew your nose too hard you could die. Doctors thought blood was red gravy.
Anyway, famed British surgeon of the period, Sir Winston Ploop-Snooks, claimed in 1561 - a lot of important stuff happened in the sixteenth century - that by tying a knot around the testicles he had stemmed the flow of gravy in a patient who had been mauled by a grumpy Rottweiler. Not many believed him and exactly no-one volunteered for further experiments.
I hope you feel better now. Thank you and goodnight.
I'll add the Axe Knot. It's a commercial fishing term and describes any knot you can't untie, requiring an axe (for larger line) or a knife (for smaller line) to "untie." The Granny is a classic example, but there are lots of others.
Seems like in photography and in life too many of my knots won't come loose any other way.
Posted by Kent Staubus on February 13, 2013 at 8:42 AM
When my wife sees me sneaking out of the house early on Saturday evening to go take some flash photos that night, she sometimes stops me with the "I'm a frayed knot!"
Discussion
7 repliesAnsel Adams was famous for the clever knots he employed to tie dirty big view cameras to the top of his beat-up stationwagon. There’s even a knot named after him; the The Beat-Up Stationwagon Knot. But neither Adams nor any of his contemporaries had any idea where the traditional photographic knots came from, who invented them, or what the knots might have been called in the days before television and maybe even smoke signals.
Anyway, having a well developed social conscience and a strong desire to educate, I drove all the way over here to sort this thing out. I know next to nothing about ropes or cameras but I’ve taken it upon myself to research the history of photographic knots for the purposes of educating you lot. It’s a complicated subject I have to tell you, fraught with chain splices, loops and poops, footholds, boson’s chairs, bight tying, rat-tail stoppers, hitches with glitches, horns, tow lines, bow lines and what-the-hell-is-that? lines. Much pouring over Snot’s Book of Knots was necessary before I achieved a reliable understanding of the topic, and even then I knew next to nothing.
That there is no consensus among historians for the provenance of knot names made the task more stressful. I was, by sheer force of the language being employed, forced to conclude that every knot in Snot’s glorious compendium had been invented either by accident or committee. Or by Henry VIII when he was stoned out of his mind and couldn’t tell Anne Boleyn from her mother Frank.
But as I say, I did drive a long way to get here so let’s not waste the effort with pointless babble. Here’s everything you should know about the most common photographic knots, or at least what I’ve been able to discover, with and without Snot.
THE GRANNY KNOT
This was the knot they used in the old days to hang grannies convicted of practising witchcraft and other spooky stuff. Grannies were also hanged for goosing Rottweiler’s on the Sabbath and speeding in school zones. Oddly, this knot has nothing to do with photography.
THE SLIPPERY DOO-DA KNOT
This knot was invented in the early eleventh century by a Jesuit priest named Clean Phil. As an act of mercy, he used it to tie one starving peasant to another during the Great Rhubarb Riots of 1128. (It used to be called the Rhubarb Knot but the peasants thought that was stupid so they changed the name by deal poll). This knot has found favour among some of today’s photographers who use it tie an artist’s statement to the hope for immortality.
THE CLOVE HITCH
This was once called the ‘Piano Creeper’, for obvious reasons. Nikon is now using it in the Coolpix series, but you have to look hard to see it.
THE SPIN AROUND AND FALL OVER KNOT
Much has been written about this knot’s elegant ‘standing end’, its ‘bitt’, its ‘tail’, even its ‘whipping’ and its ‘Kernmantle’, whatever that is. History tells us the knot was invented by convicted nose thief Victor Twitsky. Apparently, Twitsky convinced the British Admiralty of the day that his invention could secure one goat to another while both were sinking in a Force 10 gale. Modern experts are yet to deduce how tying two goats together in a Force 10 gale could be useful. Ancient experts didn’t have a clue either.
My opinion is that the knot was used to tie one Kernmantle to another, to prevent a tragic loss of rhubarb, but since no-one knows what a Kernmantle is, and we can’t prove it had anything to do with rhubarb, let alone photography, we’re back where we started.
An intriguing aside. In 1559, Chief of the Admiralty, Sir Doug Blowhard, claimed to have proven, by throwing a budgerigar into his porridge, that the world was neither flat nor round but a long rectangular thingy with pointy bits at each end. Doug later died from injuries pertinent to the cat-o-two tails - introduced with Admiralty austerity measures in 1562 - but not before convincing everyone in the local Maniac Outreach Centre that pigeons can do somersaults.
THE ASHLEY BUTTERFLY LOOP
Using rope to lasso butterflies seems illogical, even impossible, but naturalists in the days before lily white geeks had little choice. Thin rope hadn’t been invented yet and neither had filament line or even old rags. In any event, the skill of gently lassoing a butterfly with ship’s rope was passed down from father to son, mainly because no-one else was interested. And that’s how knotting became knitting.
THE TESTICLE KNOT (also known as the Jeez That Hurts Knot)
Medicine was pretty dodgy in the old days. ‘Getting well’ hadn’t been invented. If you blew your nose too hard you could die. Doctors thought blood was red gravy.
Anyway, famed British surgeon of the period, Sir Winston Ploop-Snooks, claimed in 1561 - a lot of important stuff happened in the sixteenth century - that by tying a knot around the testicles he had stemmed the flow of gravy in a patient who had been mauled by a grumpy Rottweiler. Not many believed him and exactly no-one volunteered for further experiments.
I hope you feel better now. Thank you and goodnight.
Too funny! I just love your writing, but the part that made my laugh even louder was this, "ARTIST'S STATEMENT: It wasn't me."
Thanks for the great laugh!
--P
I'll add the Axe Knot. It's a commercial fishing term and describes any knot you can't untie, requiring an axe (for larger line) or a knife (for smaller line) to "untie." The Granny is a classic example, but there are lots of others.
Seems like in photography and in life too many of my knots won't come loose any other way.
Kent in SD