Behind the Scenes: Misty Morning Masquerade
I had been staring at these beautiful masks in my mother’s hallway every time I come home, begging her to let me use them. They are quite precious to her, and thus, she didn’t want me taking them down off the wall and using them for my artistic exploits, (which I can sort of understand). Unfortunately for her, I could only be respectful so long. I took them down (carefully) and hit the road with some tutus and bodysuits in hand.
Here’s my test shot in the misty scene I found at 530 along the highway to Halifax:
I should preface by saying there are two characters from this shoot that didn’t make the cut. I realized mid-shoot that the white mask was definitely the coolest and decided to roll with that. But check out these other two guys! The black one freaks me out!
Now, I busted a lot of moves out there by that freeway. Sadly, most of those magical dance moves will be lost on the world forever. But wait…there are outtakes! 
Finished off the shoot, just as the sun was coming up. The perfect skyline to fill out my photo:
And finally, we have our final photo:
*p.s. The masks were returned successfully to their rightful positions on the wall. Mom is happy with the photo. All is well in the world.
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Mantis
Some out takes from my recent ‘Mantis’ shoot, which illustrates my poem by the same name about a praying mantis. Such a funny shoot! My very platonic friend Ryan agreed to help me recreate the mating/killing rituals on the praying mantis by posing for this shot. He was very surprised to see how the whole process worked: that it was so quick, somewhat uncomfortable (holding me up against the rock while I thrashed about) and incredibly weird! But I was quite happy with how it all turned out.
Ultimately, I ended up combining an image with good hand positions with an image that had a lot of motion blur in the face. I felt that some of the others seemed too obvious in terms of their sexuality. By using one with motion blur it would make what was happening a little bit more confusing- is this pleasure or pain? Is she in the throws of passion or about to consume her lover?
The final product:
The American Dollhouse Series!
The American Dollhouse is a series of photographs and poems centered around a masked family co-inhabiting a miniature dollhouse. The concept of shooting in a dollhouse originally arose as an alternative to creating expensive large-scale sets. I came to the realization that by shooting in miniature, I could capture the full expanse of a room without having access to the costly resources. Furthermore, I realized that the dollhouse could function as a metaphor, providing the perfect stage for the examination of the larger world it so innocently tries to emulate. The dollhouse, which has become an iconic childhood toy, is for many, the earliest indoctrination of the ‘American dream’, conveying to children at an impressionable age an idealistic representation of what the nuclear family should look like. While the dollhouse attempts to be sweet and inviting, in its gross oversimplification of reality, it renders itself artificial and somewhat hollow, as if to suggest, perhaps, that there were more to the story than what is being told.
In this series, I seek to uncover these untold stories by exploring the darker facets of the dollhouse, and furthermore, the American dream. Beneath the façade of perfection, we witness the inhabitants struggling with their own silent pains, the unspoken truths that exist beneath the external masks they all wear. Each character’s profound desire to break free of the house, of each other, is juxtaposed against the unbreakable bonds of bloodline, obligation, ritual and societal expectation. They are bound to this house, to each other, for better or worse. The very structure designed to safeguard them from the outside world is in essence their oppressor, a physical manifestation of the constrictions of the world around them. Within these confines, their inner dramas unfold, the incessant conflict between appearance and reality, duty and desire, public versus private takes place. The American Dollhouse is a personification of the American dream, wrought with its intrinsic flaws and sinister connotations.
Behind the Scenes: The Anatomy of Desire
Brooke and I both did self-portraits atop a giant boulder near Topanga Canyon. Climbing up was rather scary. You can’t tell from this photo, but we are up very high.
Test shot. Clearly dreading the next part where I have to be topless in public. Especially with that elderly couple off camera left staring at me…
Here’s the shot I ended up editing.
Now if only I could find a skeleton to edit into the photo…Oh, hello there!
Time for Little Bone’s close-up…
And finally, I put it all together!
Behind the Scenes: Self-Preservation
Originally we were going to wrap me up in duct tape, which I thought would be rather painful in contact with my skin, so I geared up head to toe in this dorky out:
Upon beginning the mummification process, we realized this would look too shiny, so we went back to the store and got a bunch of ace bandages and hoped those would do the trick. Three additional trips to the store later, we finally had enough badage to finish the wrap. Here it is almost complete:
Hardly perfect, but we thought it would have to do. Here is the photo I ended up editing. Scroll down for before and afters:
I am still not sure I chose the right shot, so here are a couple outtakes:
The final product:
Behind the Scenes: Halloween Out takes
Here are some silly out takes from my Halloween shoot:
The Final Product
