Photoshoots with Stephen - September 2016

  Good evening, everybody! :) As I'm sure you've seen, when Stephen was up for the month of September he took some really good photos. We had planned to take many more, but we were so enamoured with each other that time just flew by in what seemed like a few days, so we didn't get to them all. Still, we have our whole lives ahead of us, so we have plenty of time to get to those, and develop lots of new concepts together.

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  The first two shoots we did were both nude, so unfortunately, images from them cannot be shared on my blog, as my nude images are not permitted to be shared or uploaded anywhere besides my dA gallery, and my blog only contains images that are safe for work on top of that. Anyway,  even though I cannot share image highlights, I can tell you about them! :)



  The first shoot was in a field on my neighbor's property surrounded by trees, so it was very secluded and gave us a great background. The theme was something I'd been planning for awhile, very simple: nude with a lion mask in a grassland type setting. I worried the field would be a bit too green compared what I originally envisioned, (which was more tan with dry grass), but even with the trees surrounding it, I'd say it worked out quite nicely, especially with the golden plants sprouting up. I'm absolutely thrilled with the results. :) We got so many great shots, the lighting was great, the the colour pallet of the images was gorgeous. It's definitely a concept that I'll be revisiting down the line.

  The only downside was that the grassy field was vicious. There were tons of thorny bushes and the grass was very sharp, so sharp that I had to wear boots to traipse across it, take them off and toss them out of shot, then have Stephen return them to me when it was time to move any significant distance. I did lie down for some of the shots, and thankfully, the pictures appeared relaxed and comfortable as I'd hoped despite the ouchy grass. The mask helped with this, all I had to focus on was posture and body language, no trying to hide a wince.

  That's something that I love about animal head masks and other face coverings, you really have to work hard to express emotion or concept through body language. Most (good) artistic models can put on an emotional face, but sucessfully conveying something without using your facial expressions is much more difficult. I love a challenge, and if I may say so myself, I think I'm quite good at it.

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  The second nude shoot we did was another concept I'd been brewing for awhile. The character is sort of an "OC" of mine, a character I developed a few years ago but for obvious age reasons couldn't portray exactly as I envisioned. The character is rather simple, she's a feral child named "She" that lives in a forest setting. She has an extremely limited vocabulary implying brief contact with other humans. Hearing herself referred to as "she" took it on as a name, something to call herself even if there was no one around to require calling herself anything.

 While She isn't "stupid", she is still feral and has an innocence about her, more skittish than aggressive, but will attack out of fear if cornered. Her age is unknown other than being a young woman (youthful in appearance but exhibiting adult body hair and breasts), but too old to integrate into a normal human society. She seems to have almost a split personality between having the simple mind of a jittery feral beast and sort of the mind of a young child, able to process abstract thoughts to a limited extent. She is known to be able to use simple tools, and at one time in her original story she was given a bracelet by a human she encountered as a peace offering, which she wore and expressed grief when it eventually broke.

 When I did my first shoot portraying her a few years ago, tweaks were made to the character design, most obviously to include clothes. In the shoot I  wore what I refer to as my "Cleopatra dress" (it was arbitrarily named this when I was around 15 and wore it for a Cleopatra photoshoot, having no idea what ancient Egyptians might have worn but thought it fit the theme), small hoop earrings and a green bracelet. The shoot started as a gypsy shoot, and evolved into a sort of a forest child shoot as I was exploring different poses and expressions. Because the character was not defined and the images where she was represented were hardly separated from the rest of the shoot, (which was a standard gypsy shoot, only divided by a headscarf being worn or not), people were very confused over the titling of the images, thinking grammar was incorrect or there was a typo, not realizing "She" was the character's name. This time around there wasn't too much confusion, which was good. None of the original "She" images remain, however, a small handful of the other more gypsy half of that photoshoot are still floating around in my gallery.


  This time around I was able to portrait the wild girl as she was original envisioned, nude in a natural setting. I had also planned to get muddy, but explaining the concept to Stephen, he said the level of mud that I'd need for realism was far more than I anticipated, since it'd be beyond just being a bit dirty and more using mud to protect her skin from sun and other dangerous to make up for the lack of clothing. So, I muddied up.

  The setting of the shoot was a riverbed down a huuuuuge hill near my Grandparent's house. However, this was a scene from my childhood, and the location seems to have majorly changed since those days. It used to be a lovely burbling creek with minnows down a green hill, and this day it was a dried up riverbed with one stagnant puddle, and the hill was absolutely overgrown but covered in those baby trees in plastic tubes. Getting to what was once the creek was nearly impossible with how overgrown it was. Still, we found somewhere we could push our way through. I brought a bottle of water to make some mud, and much to my dismay (I hate goo on my skin) proceeded to smear the mud on every inch of myself and literally roll around in the mud puddle. It didn't show up in the photos too well, but I also worked it deeply into my hair.


  During the photoshoot something large was heard walking through the underbrush. Paranoid we'd been spotted (there was a development close nearby just out of sight), I panicked and Stephen said "Oh don't worry, it's just a six year old." and made me freak out. ...Turns out it was just a young deer come to say hello and Stephen's just an asshat...what else is new? Hahaha, it was hilarious though!

  After the shoot we rushed over to Gran's house so I could shower. On the way back I had to put my dress (an old one, thankfully) back over my muddied self, which was less than fun. The photos turned out excellent, but I don't plan on repeating being covered head to toe in mud any time soon, but let's be honest, probably one day. It feels gross when it's wet, flakes off and makes a mess when it's dry, and frankly doesn't smell all that nice either. :P  It took THEE showers with Stephen's assistance and lots of scrubbing to get it all out of my hair. Still, it was worth it. :)

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  The following were taken at a mermaid event at Ladew Topiary Gardens when we were there for their children's event called "Nature! Art! Play!". These were taken in the Koi pond, where I was stationed for the event. Please check the link to read about that adventure, it was great! :D

  These were also taken at Ladew Gardens, in their largest fountain called "The Great Bowl". I had arranged that I would be permitted to take a photoshoot in the fountain before attending the mermaid event, and I am SO glad I did! The photos turned out exactly how I'd hoped, they're beautiful and I just love them. The water in the fountain was also great on the hot day, I'm sure Stephen (who had to stand around in the sun to photograph) was very jealous. :P

  Although I wore my Bali Breeze tail to the actual "Nature! Art! Play!" event, I specifically selected my Rio Red tail to use in the Great Bowl photoshoot because I thought it'd show up wonderfully against the pale blue of the fountain and the green of the grass and topiary around it. Everything turned out exactly as I'd hoped! :) I LOVE the photos, and certainly love Ladew Gardens, it's so scenic, and I was honoured to partner with them. 

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  This photoshoot at the river was a fashion shoot for Aurobelle, where I was modeling both their bikini and shawl. Here's a link to Aurobelle's Etsy Shop where you can find all sorts of fun bohemian and beachy things! :)

  The lighting was divine, the sun was coming through the trees and making a spotlight just big enough for me, leaving the rest of the river in shadow, giving the images a natural vignette look. It was too perfect. I think that was a little wink from God letting me know She approves the direction where my life and modeling is going by giving me my own perfect spotlight. ;) Thank you!

  These were taken at the river immediately after the Aurobelle bikini photos. Sadly, we only got a small handful because the camera battery ran out! :(  I'll be investing in a back up battery soon, surprised that's not something I have yet but since photoshoots are usually pretty spaced out it's never been a problem. Live and learn, right? :)

  After this, Mum joined me and Stephen at the river and we hung out and splashed around a bit. :) It was wonderful!

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This next shoot was my first ever soon with another person in the shots. I don't work with other models, but this was an exception, this is my 11 year old cousin Jimmy. :) I spoke to his parents about this photoshoot earlier in the summer, and we've been excited for it ever since.

The concept of the shoot was Slender Woman at the playground with a youngster. In my version, Slender Woman (obviously the female counterpart to the creepy pasta character "Slender Man") hunts children at playgrounds. Here is a copy/paste of my versions of Slender Man vs Slender Woman, which I see as a species, as described to a follower on DeviantArt:


"The main difference between the two is that she (Slender Woman) acts more of a lure, and baits her victims away, as opposed to the Slender Man, who is more of a stealth predator that seems to mainly ambush his victims with his tendrils. She also has (many) tendrils, but she prefers to lure her victims out of their comfort zones before using them, to ensure capture. They do act as a last resort if they're smart enough not to follow her in the first place. 

Slender Woman is also slightly smaller; still extremely tall and thin, but side by side with the Slender Man, she's not quite as tall as he is. 

A mated pair work together, usually in the same town but rarely in close vicinity to the other, to maximize ground covered. They strategically separate, using their different methods of capture to appeal to selected types of people for a greater amount of victims. Slender Man often seeks out couples or small groups (using ambush to capture multiple people) or women traveling alone (he must ambush them because they're more likely to run, or scream and draw attention). Slender Woman often seeks out children in playgrounds near dusk; her more feminine shape lures them into a false sense of security, and her deceivingly playful body motions often lure curious children wanting to play with her. However, since children don't stay out all night, she strategically places herself on side roads near woods around 1:30am, close to when bars close, and their male patrons are less likely to make good choices or be aware of their surroundings.

Both genders are technically considered nocturnal, but generally Slender Woman wakes earlier (in the early evening as the sun starts to lower) and Slender Man retires later (at dawn). Both inhabit wooded areas and will take opportunities if they are presented with them, outside of their normal hunting grounds/targeted audience. They're not picky!

It can be difficult to tell the genders apart at first glance, as they're usually only seen from a distance or up close for a moment. "

 Jimmy was very happy to work with me for this shoot (and I was very happy to work with him!), and he was very cooperative. He always is, he's awesome. He's also taken some really nice underwater photos of me as a mermaid in my Grandparent's pool.  Example one.  Example two. Really awesome little cousin, very glad to have him. Besides being very mature, he's cute too, which makes for great photos. I'm really proud of him. He's going places in life for sure.

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  This next one was a stock shoot taken in Orion's photo studio while we stayed at his house. I wanted to do a pirate outfit, but the original wardrobe I picked out was much different. Orion worried it'd be too easily mistaken for another gypsy costume, so he lent me some of his clothes to wear for it. His style is naturally very swashbuckling. Everything pictured belongs to Orion except my white gypsy blouse. For clarification, the boots are from his photoshoot wardrobe, not his personal wardrobe ;P 

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  This one was also taken in Orion's photo studio, just a stock shoot but it turned out nicely. :)

  I got this Renaissance dress at a yard sale for $8. It was just a little bit too big on me when I bought it awhile ago, but I've since filled out so it fits, and I was happy to wear it at last! :) It'll be making a few more appearances for sure, both in studio stock photos and artistic photos.

  The majority of the photoshoot turned out very well, almost every shot turned out so there were a TON of photos to upload. The huge majority of them I made into stock packs to both save gallery space and to hopefully make a little money for me and Stephen.

  Some of my studio stock photos tend to be just a little bit grainy, good quality and usable, but not super crystal clear. Most of the money I'm making from image sales is going to be put away for a higher quality camera so my in-studio stock image quality will improve, which will be better for me and for artists. :) I currently have my eye on the Canon EOS 5D Mark III ;)

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  While I had my halo braid in after the Renaissance noblewoman stock shoot we did a simple nude shoot too. I thought it'd be a good idea to take advantage of having in the halo braid for a new look, as well as trying out some new dynamic poses, both with the halo braid and with my hair down. They turned out awesome!

  Just for funzies we also did some where I wore Stephen's red shirt, sometimes as a dress and sometimes as a skirt, and the results were actually very good and I'm proud of them! That was Stephen's good idea. I didn't expect those to turn out as well as they did. :)

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All in all, we got some absolutely gorgeous photos and I had a great time stooting with my beloved. He's got quite the artistic eye, and I'm very proud of him. I hope you enjoy our works, stay tuned for more! :) 

Love,

Queen Werandra