"Puppet Breaking Loose" and a morning in the forest

Oh boy, this image was too much trial and error! I shot the components twice and I lost count on the edits I tried to do. A few days ago I started from scratch and voilà it finally came together the way i imagined it! My first shoot took place in the big hallway of my house and I used the head, body and dress from this shoot (sounds weird, I know). Because I was shooting by myself, I had no way of attaching the rope to my arms in a believable way. So, I recruited my best assistant (and all around favorite person ) - my mom. :)

I had to take a few headshots as well for upcoming projects so it was kind of a "two flies with one stone" thing. We packed everything up and drove to a place where we had peace and quiet and good backgrounds. We took my portrait shots and then ventured into the forest. Originally, I wanted to put the "puppet" in a forest setting but in post I saw that it just wouldn't work out. The background was simply far too busy and the ropes didn't stand out anymore.

Eventually, I used a stock photo as my background and I'm quite happy with the result. It's not my best work but I learned a lot from it! Plus - the hours in the forest with my mom were extremely awesome! Below you see three behind the scenes shots - the forest as my dressing room, the two of us, and my style mix match before i decided to just run around barefoot. And, no, walking barefoot in a forest doesn't hurt. It really doesn't! It's soft and nice. It did take a while, however, to get the tree sap off my feet...... :)

Thinking about the image and its theme throughout the process of shooting and editing made me aware of how many of these ropes I have been able to cut throughout this year and of how much freedom this gave me. When we really think about it, we have too many ropes in our lives. Most of them were tied by nobody else but ourselves. What are the ropes you want to cut? What are the things in your life that you want to break free from?

One of my favorite places and power spots - the forest!

The Quiet State of Longing and how the image came to be

As always, I will let you find your own meaning in this image. But I did want to write a few lines that should give you a glimpse behind the scenes of "The Quiet State of Longing"...

I have shot this a while ago and, after three edits, it was tucked away on my computer for a too long time. Why? Because I was uncertain about it and too insecure to show it. But I have to admit, I still love it and here it is! The little secret behind this image is that it came to life during my VERY FIRST shoot of fine art images. My friend and I met up for our first shoot together and this was almost exactly a year ago. We carried loads and loads of props, dresses, fabrics, and equipment through a forest and ended up by a waterfall, our location for the day. We were both nervous, frightened even, happy, and excited all at the same time. We wanted to create but really had no idea how to begin the process. We jumped right in. I had a little story and general ideas based on the story. This image, however, just "happened". It had nothing to do with the story that we used as a guide. Now I know that sketches, ideas, stories are oftentimes only the scaffolding for the image you are creating. They give you something to hold on to until the real idea emerges.

Well, here is the result ;) It was my friend's first time modelling and my first time creating what I now call my "Dreamworlds". I will never forget this damp, foggy, chilly afternoon by the waterfall because it truly was the beginning of an entirely new type of photography for me.

Do you remember your first fine art shoot with a model or alone? How was that? How did it influence your future work? Feel free to share your story, I would love to hear!

(P.S.: After the shoot when the light was gone, we ended up sitting in the forest a few yards away from the roaring waterfall. At first, we thought it was great, badass and an overall almost spiritual experience. Hahahaha....half an hour later, i called my husband to please pick us up. It had started to rain, we were soaking, dirty, and spooked by forest noises and animals stepping on branches. It was fun though....for about 20 minutes ;) )