I took these last spring after it had rained a good bit. This was a cypress hollow that normally is just dirt/mud and cypress stumps, but after it rains, it fills up and becomes magical. I had this idea brewing in my head for awhile - I wanted a winter queen - similar to the White Witch in the Narnia series, but I wanted her to be a little bit softer and more fluid (hence the water and the reflections in the water). And because I live in Mississippi, working in the snow wasnt much of a possibility, but I still wanted it to have a "cool" vibe. I made the crown and necklace out of paper - I liked the idea of the queen being vulnerable and wanted to express that with the paper - if it touches the water, its done for. Model is Katina Chandler and thankfully she was brave enough to take on this shoot - I am forever grateful.
Love the lines of her body and the ripples.
And she couldnt be a queen without something to rule... so I made tons of these paper origami boats - like I said, since they were paper, they didnt last long, but I still love the fragility of them.
This one is so magical to me.
Probably my favorite.
I really wanted these to have an old, storybook feel to them, and I was happy with how they turned out. And just for note, these werent super-manipulated in photoshop - I did change the white balance and tones a bit to get that "winter" look that I wanted, and also I burned/darkened some of the water in spots so it would show the contrast of the ripples better, but thats about it.
