Our lovely Lily VonTrapp at St. Edwards Park in Washington!
The Grotto
Enchantress
So, I saw Carmen Caliente here perform in this gown, and this image popped into my head. We’ve been trying to figure out ways to get her out of her pin up box, and she was a trooper, braving nature and cold creeks. We did get a lot of questioning looks about why there was a candelabra in the water…
Daphne and Apollo
I’ve had a thing for mythology since I was a kid, and Daphne and Apollo is one of my favorites. I had it in my head to do a Daphne and Apollo themed shoot for…oh, since I started shooting, basically, but I needed the right people. Lily VonTrapp shared my enthusiasm for the idea when I brought it up, and I met Landon Chance at a fashion show and knew he was my Apollo. He didn’t even flinch when I presented him with semi-obscene gold shorts. We shot this in Carkeek Park, Seattle (while attracting side glances from passersby as I turned the rest of Landon gold).
Daphne, a naiad (water) nymph was determined to remain unmarried and untouched. Apollo, the sun god fell in love with Daphne after Eros, the god of love shot Apollo with an arrow in retaliation for mockery. He completed his vengeance by shooting Daphne with a different arrow designed to make her downright loathe Apollo. What did we learn? Don’t mock the god of love…
Apollo aggressively pursued Daphne…entitled much?
Trying to dodge one of the more powerful gods clearly presented a problem. Resourceful nymph that she was, Daphne appealed to her father Peneus, the river god for help escaping Apollo’s clutches. (Special guest appearance here by David Frank as Peneus).
In order to escape from Apollo, Daphne had to sacrifice her body form so Peneus could use his powers of transformation…and seriously, what father would want their daughter with a guy like that?
Daphne elected to turn into a Laurel tree instead of succumbing to the sun gods desires.
Apollo grieved this loss and vowed to love her forever, crowning himself from leaves from the newly formed laurel tree…you know, when he wasn’t busy trying to bed the wives of other gods.
No means no, even if you are a legit god. Get with it, Apollo.
HUGE thank you to the magical humans that made this happen!
3rd Blogiversary!
This year has been really interesting…I paused worrying about selling prints, and just let myself shoot freely. That break really gave me a lot of freedom, so I think I’m going to listen to myself and do that when I think it’ll help me. I met some amazing new people to create with…BIG shout out to Celeste at Poppy Seed Roll Costuming for the incredible styling, laughs, and introductions…and continued working with people I love to work with. I even got a reunion with Heather, my east coast muse! Winter was difficult, but all my fantastic subjects, especially Lily VonTrapp and Lyz, kept me busy and got me through it. Now, I just finished shooting the lovelies of After Midnight Cabaret and am working on a little video project for them. I continued with my naked, honest body love project, and will continue to do so. Seattle became a lot more fun this past year!
Thank you all for reading and viewing! As always, love yourselves.
Angel
To answer your question…the wings took 30 hours…
Green Tutu
Lily VonTrapp came over for a late shoot last night…loving her red hair in contrast with the green tutu!
Swamp Witches
I met Jordan through Lyz, and shot them separately with Celeste on wardrobe, and this time, they wanted to do a look together: swamp witches! They braved through the mud, dirt, stinging nettles, and all…
You can find these lovelies on instagram at @sisterite, @enferdame, and @meanwhileinthecostumeshop
Butterflies
I’d been planning this look for awhile. There’s a particular trail at Saint Edwards State Park that leads you down until you’re completely submerged in nature. It’s narrow, but not too difficult…unless, of course, you’re dressed like a nature goddess or lugging cameras. Challenge accepted. Heather was a trooper as she hiked down while mosquitos feasted on her, plants stabbed her, and the butterflies did their best to jump ship as they snagged on branches. I worked around the sneakers.
Don’t worry….she made it down in one piece. We ended the shoot at the bottom and relaxed near the lake and watched a bird of prey soar level with the water. It was a nice day.
Sawhorse
Primal
Personal growth ain’t always pretty, darlings…sometimes you have to get messy, get raw, get primal, and get REAL. I wanted to capture that here…no makeup, and no skin retouching whatsoever. And you know what? I felt a really cool surge of power after shooting this. I felt free. Do the scary thing, whatever that means for you.
LizZusev 