Friday, January 4, 2013

It's amazing, the things we'll do for art. It seems that I'm constantly coming up with harsh environments to shoot in. And apparently I either have the most amazing friends and family in the world... or the dumbest. Cold water, rain, snow, heat, wind, let's climb these rocks, swim to that island, sit on this cliff, balance on this tree branch in a giant dress, ride this crazy horse, I'm going to swim in rough waters while wearing this mermaid tail.. And sure, there are complaints. From other models, assistants AND myself. It's obviously not always an easy and fun experience. But somehow that never matters. We always just conveniently forget how miserable we once were and do it all again later. Because to us, this is important. 


People say not to dwell on the past and I think that's valid. But I think that our memories are truly precious things. Especially in the form of a photograph. Capable of bringing us back to a certain time.. a feeling.. a thought. And in the case of my whimsy photographs it isn't so much that I live in my memories, but rather that I create new realities.


If I think back to the process of shooting these images in particular I remember passing some hikers that surely thought our attire was a little strange for walking the trails. I remember Britt trying to carry those antlers so carefully so that they wouldn't fall apart before we got a chance to shoot them. I remember feeling rushed because we were running low on daylight and of course I was making Britt sit in a tree with very little clothing on. I remember trying not to fall off that tree branch and trying to hide jackets, sweaters, scarves, and boots in the hollow of the tree trunk with one foot.

But when I look at the photographs all I see are stories. Incredible, magical, amazing stories. All of reality disappears and I'm left with "make believe." That's where my photos take me. 

1 comment: