INTRO
Like so many things in a girl’s life, it all started with a dress. My mom and I have spent the last five years visiting vintage shops all over the Bay Area, and we were hit by an unexpected gem when one of our favorite shops decided to have an inventory sale of old theater costumes. To my disappointment, I couldn’t attend the sale, but my dependable right-hand woman was game to attend both days of the sale. I visited home the following weekend and found an array of theater costumes from various time periods, but the one that stole my heart was this renaissance piece.
CONCEPT
When a scorned woman is shunned to a forgotten monastery, she discovers a suppressed desire for vengeance that yearns to be let out.
LOCATION & PRODUCTION DESIGN
When I started this project, one of my biggest concerns was location. Based on the character and her costume, the location was an incredibly important piece of the puzzle that would help enhance the believability of this story.
After some discussion, my mom pointed out the obvious. Two years earlier she had introduced me to St. Vincent’s Monastery in San Raphael, CA. This location was perfect for the project because of the following:
AESTHETICALLY:
-Antiquated & rich texture environment
-Lots of natural overgrown foliage & cracked architecture that helps to push the idea of the passage of time.
-A religious landscape which correlates with the character’s time of the Renaissance and the story.
LOGISTICALLY:
-A safe and isolated location with few tourists & distractions
-Few contemporary buildings and electronics
Photo Credit: Jessica Clark
St. Vincent’s embodied all the qualities and aesthetics that I required to tell this story. Each location helped to enhance a different part of the journey that the character goes through.
LIGHTING
For this project, I decided to continue working with natural light. As a photographer, I’ve always taken comfort in studio lighting due to the amount of control and safety that a studio provides, but with this project I had to step out of my comfort zone and take control of this environment and the light that it had to offer. We shot the project late afternoon, and I made use of the mid-day light as a natural rim light. This light helped to accentuate the model and separate her from the background environment. Later in the day, as the sun was setting, we started to work with more diffused natural light that helped to give our last location a subdued yet beautiful lighting quality.
WARDROBE
I can’t emphasize how much I love this costume. It wasn’t until after I shot this project that it reminded me of the character Maleficent. Based on my story and the overall design of the character, I would argue that they are both my unconscious reinterpretation of Maleficent’s story.
The overall ground work of this costume was already built, but there were a great many alterations made specially to the sleeves and collar of the garment.
What I liked about this piece was its rich black velvet fabric and gold trim, as well as its angular shape, specifically the collar.
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography Mood board write up.
MAKE UP
As someone who has learned to embrace social media, this is a good example of why I enjoy the platforms. Apart from my business account, I have an alias account where I follow artists of all trades, many of which are makeup artists. I came across my inspiration piece on an Instagram page. What I loved about this design was that it enhances the model’s angular features while still maintaining a beautiful silhouette. I wanted my character to be both beautiful yet slightly threatening, a character who is on the verge of a physical transformation into something magnificent.
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography Close up of a final image. Click on the image to view the full piece.
POST PRODUCTION
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography Editing and creating the final story.
As a retoucher I “geeked out” over the fact that I was finally able to use the hue/sat color selection tool to selectively change the color of plants. The first time I saw this effect was by my favorite photographer during my first year at AAU. I have been waiting all these years to finally produce a project where this effect would seem purposeful rather than cliché, and I love the final result. The yellow foliage contrasts beautifully with the black and gold of the wardrobe and makes the model stand out that much more in her environment.
My original vision for the project was to separate the series into half color and half black and white images, but as I continued to edit and sequence the images, I felt that the black and white adjustments broke up the flow of the story. In conclusion, I decided that the black and white images seemed more analytical. They feel more like a memory, whereas the color images help to bring the viewers to present time.
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography A before & after of one of my favorite images from the series. Click on the link below to view the final project.
FINAL EXECUTION & WHAT I THINK ABOUT THE PROJECT
My only change to this project would have been to add fog to some of the images. I think that fog could have helped to add a touch of mystery to the environment and another level of atmosphere and space.
MUSIC INSPIRATION
As I said, I never made the connection of Maleficent until after the shoot, but all throughout pre-production I remember listening to these songs in order to put myself in the mind of the character. It was right in front of me the whole time!
DREAM TEAM
Producer: Alicia M. Blair
Photo & Retouching: Alicia M. Blair
Wardrobe, Prop Wrangler & Styling: Susana Blair
Make Up Artist & Assistant: Jessica Katlynn Clark
Model: Noemie Medini
To view the final series, please click on the link below.
http://www.aliciamblairphotography.com/affection-for-a-broken-heart
Thanks for reading!
Ciao!
Alicia M. Blair
