This was a picture that was inspired by finding the perfect spot. The title of the picture followed, and the imagery just flowed organically. My mother found the spot, seeing it in April or May. She told us about it, and we did our initial scope of the site in June. It looked amazing, but was a little remote and difficult to get to. It was down an overgrown path, and through a field.
Due to circumstances beyond our control (i.e. laziness, work, family, etc) we didn't actually shoot the photo until August. Let me tell you, the difference between overgrown weeds and fields in June and August is significant. Like 2 foot tall significant.
When we trucked out there with our models, it was hot and sweaty and buggy and scratchy. We found some really cool ruins of an old barn and the milking pens. We made the girl model get into a mattress cover, and then our "stranger" picked her up and the hard work began. We tried having her carried bridal fashion, but the over the shoulder carry seemed to work better. The field was full of hip high nettles and, especially around the builidng, poison ivy. But they were troopers and really made it work. When they finally stopped, hot and covered in sweat, I paid them for their hard work with Slurpees (I offered Taco Bell, but they turned me down.)
When I looked through the pictures, this one jumped out. The sunflare across the middle of the picture, the clarity of her outline in the sheet...It captured exactly what I had been thinking about. It is a beautiful picture, just on it's own. When you add the touch of creep, well, that just makes it awesome. (FYI, I have this picture, poster sized, hanging in my house).
It made me think of the long Sunday drives we used to take as kids. Most of them were down rural country roads. As we rolled down the roads, with the dust kicking up behind the car, music playing tinny and soft on the AM radio, we were constantly looking in windows of farmhouses, and through growing fields.
We looked for animals; deers and bunnies, raccoons and hawks. We watched tractors and people riding horses.
And once in a while, you catch a glimpse of something...something out of the ordinary.
This "thing" would be unsual enough to make you look twice. You would twist in your seat, the backs of your thighs sticking to the faux leather bench seat. You stick your head out the window, hair whipping in the wind, sunglasses pushed up to the top of your head, to try and clear your vision.
You squint and search, to try and put together the reality with what you thought you saw.
Was it really...
Could it be...
Bad things don't always happen at night. They can happen during the day, in bright sunshine. They can happen surrounded by flowers and growing green things. Every one needs some private space. Everyone needs a place to create and build, their own workshop....
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| Workshop $5.00 8x10 or 5x7 |
Anita
anita@crackedlensphoto.com
