Mythology Meets Marble and a Parachute Dress

One day while trolling through the section of Robertson Boulevard that's equally known for its celebrity sightings and overly-hyped stores and restaurants (The Ivy – one word: UGH!), I visited the only boutique that's worth a dime – AllSaints Spitalfields, based out of London. My heart stopped upon finding the most stunning dress draped on a mannequin. Appropriately named "The Parachute Dress," it was made from a bazillion yards of fabric and was literally the Rubik's Cube of dresses to put on with all its strings and knots to adjust. And yet I knew I had to make a photograph of it, despite needing two assistants to fit the dress on my model during shoot day.

What I loved about the dress was its clever contemporary nod to an ancient toga. I had concepts running through my head of creating a modern-day mythological character wearing the dress. I thought about various tragic characters – both fictional and historical – and recalled the Biblical character from the Sodom and Gomorrah story, who turned into a pillar of salt upon looking back at her corrupt city burning to the ground. Instead of salt, why not create a character turning into marble?

My incredibly talented scenic painter, Malcom Moorman, was up for the challenge of marbleizing an entire white set with a slew of various paints and tints. Coupled with his equally talented assistant, Michael Hopkins, the two spent over three days marbleizing the background, flooring, and columns. It was truly a work of art to witness, and when Malcom finished marbleizing my model's arms, I was blown away by the beauty of it all.

There's always that moment where you know your crew has done their damnedest to deliver, and I felt a lot of pressure to ensure that my image paralleled the perfection of my "Heart of Stone" set. I spent several hours with my assistants to get the lighting just right. I wanted it to mimic the feel of being in a museum, and my model had to look as close to a statue as possible, to fit in with the concept.

This image is quite subjective in its meaning – is the model at peace with her fate, or not? I love leaving my work open-ended and encouraging my viewers to create their own interpretations.

Props to My Latest Prop!

I'm constantly amazed over my finds as a prop stylist for my photo shoots. I've had several images revolve around fascinating prop discoveries – animal x-rays, for one – and my latest photo shoot, "The Lovers," is a testament to that.

Perusing through a novelty shop in Silverlake a couple months ago, I came across a chastity belt. Not just any medieval-looking chastity belt, but a contemporary take on one. This chastity belt was made out of pink leather and had silver heart locks on it! Who comes up with this stuff?!?! I had no choice but to buy it – and to create a photo inspired by it!

For imagery ideas, I immediately went to my recent project of interpreting tarot cards (see Week #1 post). While sifting through a tarot card deck, I found "The Lovers" card and knew I had my photograph. After I created the concept, the search began to find find a locksmith who had over 50 keys that matched the original set of chastity belt keys. Imagine the looks I got when explaining why I needed such an exorbitant amount of keys for a chastity belt with heart locks!

My only regret over this photo is that while designing the set, I slipped up on its measurements. I ended up creating a set that could only be framed as a square instead of a rectangle. Because this image doesn't match the shape of my other tarot card photograph, I can't use it as part of my tarot card deck. So I still have 79 more tarot card photos to go!

A Project to Last the Rest of My Life!

As a conceptual photographer, I'm constantly drawing on outside resources to inspire my photo shoots. A painting, a poet, a prop, a song, a book – these are just a few things that have inspired me throughout the years I've been shooting conceptual work.

As a side note, I'm known to occasionally entertain a guilty pleasure of mine – visiting tarot card readers (even though 99% of the time they're completely inaccurate)! While getting these readings, I've generally found the tarot card illustrations to be dark and depressing in nature – not to mention the fact that they're not very stylish, which is something I notice as an artist who is drawn to aesthetically pleasing things. I did a little more research and found a spiritual bookstore that had a wall sectioned off for tarot cards. It was interesting to note that all the cards were illustrated. Not one single deck consisted of photographs – and in that moment I discovered my latest photo shoot inspiration!

The first tarot card I decided to interpret photographically was the character of "The Fool." I had set builders create a corridor with 6-inch nails driven through each of the corridor's panels. My model being barefoot in the set and holding onto a bouquet of balloons that could pop at any moment illustrated her as "The Fool" character perfectly.

A tarot card deck consists of approximately 80 cards. One card down, 79 more to go!

For a Behind-the-Scenes video of the conceptual and production process behind this shoot, visit: http://gallery.me.com/kamerakitten#100019