Photo shoot with Gigi and Jenn

God knows the very thing I need is more projects, but I like keeping busy and making neat things, especially when lovely friends and collaborators are involved in the process. Yesterday I had the chance to do just that with polaris_xx and the invaluable help of inwaterwrit, and I'm really pleased with how it went.

Both Jenn and I have had the very honor to be the subject of a photo shoot by the lovely and talented hazliya, who sets up gorgeous scenarios with settings and costuming, gives wonderful direction on how to model the idea behind the shoot, and has an eye for just the right shots. It was so much fun, and I really admire the works that Haz makes. Though I don't have a fraction of her knowledge and experience, I found myself wanting to try my hand at something along those lines.

I liked the idea of coming up with a little character and plot and setting up a photo shoot to depict that story visually. My first idea I particularly wanted to be the sort where you look at the picture is ostensibly about one thing, but if you examine it more closely to can figure out what's really going on. I will not tell you what my theory was here, because I'd prefer to see who gleans it from looking at the finished series of photos.

For this first time the person I wanted to work with was polaris_xx, who is a talented, expressive actress, lovely to look upon, and always wonderful to work with. I thought she would be perfect for this character, a fancy society lady named Esmeralda. But of course she needed to be costumed for the part, so naturally I turned to the expert in the matter, everyone's favorite Costume Fairy Jenn. She provided two lovely evening gowns, one a clingy dark blue with sparkles all over it, the other a sleek one-shoulder burgundy with a sweeping skirt. They were absolutely the right look, and Gigi looked fabulous in them! Jenn has such a good eye, and not only for that. As we set up the space, wrangling my house into an appropriate setting for the little drama-in-pictures we wanted to tell, Jenn had a wealth of ideas for shots, for tweaks to optimize the image we were trying to portray, and notes for Gigi's acting. And Gigi was as awesome as ever. She has so much talent and her incredibly expressive face is just perfect for getting things across in a visual medium. Also, she is willing to try anything and just throw herself in to the best of her ability. That might be my favorite thing to work with in a collaborator of any kind, a willingness to throw out ideas and try and experiment and see what works. I'm so grateful to both of them for taking the time to lend their talent and efforts.

It took hours, and we wrecked the place with all our props, costumes, and tools, but I learned a lot about what to expect from running a photography shoot. I think I will be a lot more prepared and streamlined in the future. Here's a teaser for you all, a very roughly edited shot from the shoot that I think captures a particularly get moment from Gigi. The rest I'll post once I've had a chance to go through them all, and put them through a real editing program.