02 Mar Mermaids In The Studio
Do you ever get these ideas in your head and all the sudden feel this immediate need to see them through as quickly as possible? This is, like, my every day. There are not many situations in life where I’m not building photo concepts around what I’m seeing in real time. Observing life out the car window on my drive to the studio, an interesting couple conversing in restaurant, or in this case, a couple of friends posting a photo on Facebook. Very rarely do I get to scratch that immediate photo concept itch, most get tossed into the bucket of ideas marked “for a later time…maybe,” for those moments when the stars align and I get an opportunity to reproach it.
I know these two mer-gals, Jessica and Maddie, through the Upfront Theatre, the improv comedy club up in Bellingham who I do photography for. They can both be regularly found generating giggles there as main stage cast members, so it’s safe to say they are both funny and silly ladies. In fact, we have many photos from this shoot not shown here that I’m going to bundling up and posting later, so sit tight for that. Anyway, while sifting through FB content I spied a photo of this aquatic duo dressed up in mermaid getups. As Gru from ‘Despicable Me’ would say, “lightbulb.” I shot them both a message, requesting a mermaid-themed shoot. It all ended up working out so that just a couple days later the two made the trip down to Tacoma and we were shooting it.
Now, the photos you see here are in no way, shape, or form a part of the original idea I had when I asked them to pay my lens a visit. No, I had a waterfront themed shoot in the works with some amazing props and visuals in which to plop these two beauties amongst, but that damn rain… We had big plans for a location shoot, but it turned out the rain had even bigger plans for ruining that entire idea. An all-day downpour ensured that we wouldn’t be taking a single step outside. Ok, fine, the original location idea is going to have to wait for another day (which WILL come, I promise). While the girls were getting mermaid-ified via a fun makeup idea Alice whipped together, I worked on putting together an improvisation of my own with a backup studio shoot. After all, the girls made the trek down from Bham, we may as well make the most of it. The shoot went from epic landscape visuals to a Vanity Fair-like, clean studio look.
This pair’s default setting is goofy. Between clicks, they’d bust out twerking dance moves, flexing muscles, and random accents. On most shoots, I’m usually the one keeping the mood light with jokes and conversation. It’s safe to say during this session I didn’t need to worry about that, they were entertaining me!
You know what they say, “time flies when you are photographing mermaids.” It’s true. Felt like we just got started and all the sudden a couple hours had passed, and the mer-ladies had to make their way back up to their mer-lair in Bham. But I have a feeling this is just the beginning of my aquatic adventures with these two. As the seasons change to drier, warmer, more consistent weather patterns, we’ll be tackling the original idea we have been aiming for all along.
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