A sweet surprise landed on my doorstep recently - a PR box from @mythmakerssociety for their latest, Secret-Society-themed ball in March. I had the privilege of attending one of their many events years ago, but have since moved to the other side of the country. So to be thought of tickled me pink. Thank you, @sarahjamesmiddleton and @moth.faerie (the two founders of MMS)!
Since Iโm not good at influencer video, I thought to put a narrative twist on showcasing items from the PR box. Do yโall like it?
PS - The dress code for the ball is red, but alas I only had a black cloak in my closetโฆ๐ฅ
#mythmakersociety #fantasyball
When youโre bingeing the latest season of Bridgerton and remember your wedding pictures have a little bit of โจS P I C E โจ
๐ท @melodyjoyco
๐ @thewillowsatashcombe
โYou may not be everyoneโs cuppa tea, but when someone loves your specific blend, itโs bliss.โ
๐ซ
One of the sweetest memories from our elopement day was when the lovely folks at @thewillowsatashcombe made us both tea to use in photos. (It was a literal blizzard outside so we were grateful for the warmth!) The best part? Months later someone noticed thereโs a heart in @byronic_himbo โs teabag. Life made art!
๐ท @melodyjoyco
Next and final in my Lore Olympus cosplay series will be Persephoneโs final form as Queen of the Underworld. I already have the photo session idea in mind, though figuring out how to alter a gown bodice to be spiky like that is going to be tricky (I canโt sewโฆ ๐ฌ). But hopefully I can cross this cosplay off my list this year!
๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ป๐ช๐พ๐ถ๐ช ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ
-โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ-
After Kore, came my Persephone cosplay.
This idea came to me while having a cuppa tea, invoking one of the traditional tellings of the Persephone/Hades myth of her being dragged to the Underworld against her will, but ultimately finding a home with Hades.
Or, as specifically appeared in my head, (โ ๏ธspoiler alert for anyone who has not gotten to Episode 190 of Lore Olympus), a visual representation of the internal trauma of Persephone at the hands of Apollo. Of her feeling drowned by her own silence and expectations of Olympian society.
One of, if not the hardest shoot Iโve ever done. But one of my all-time favorites!
๐ท @johnpdunnigan
Assistant: @sunshinewine1025
Tank: @circussirenpod
Persephone/Lore Olympus belongs to usedbandaid on @webtoonofficial
Wishing Rachel Smythe a hearty congrats on Lore Olympus being turned into an animated show!
The comic was recommended to me by my best friend, and has meant a lot to me over the last few years. I relate to Persephone more than I care to admitโฆso of course I had to cosplay her!
I was struggling badly at the time with body dysmorphia and used this Kore cosplay session as a means to dealing with it. @goldennightphotography navigated that expertly, all around her family garden. A lovely day indeed. ๐ธ
This time of year I usually find myself excited, casting off the old year with burgeoning hope for the new. Memories steeped in ritual. But this year it feels like a battle - like Iโm fighting the old year AND the new. (Itโs feels as though all is on fire on the internal Western front.) So many problems. So many things to fix. So many worries. Fighting for change. Fighting for survival when the game changes daily. Fighting for friends. Fighting to find times of quiet, of joy.
And so I scream.
Photograph: @heyitsfotomike
Hair: @angiesuearnold
Makeup: @eileenslightly80
Iโll always be grateful to this shoot for letting me indulge in a childhood fantasy of wanting to look like the old Hollywood startlets I grew up with.
Last photo is a color shoutout to @eileenslightly80 for the amazing makeup!
Photograph: @heyitsfotomike
Hair: @angiesuearnold
Makeup: @eileenslightly80
Dress: @pinupgirlclothing
I had a great many thoughts while watching Frankenstein recently, but one keeps pulling at the corners of my mind - where Mary Shelley wrote the penultimate work while stuck inside for a year without summer.
One of the most overlooked necessities for an artist is Quiet.
Stillness.
Rest.
For in that time, the brain is able to process, recharge, and create. Sure, art can be created in any circumstance, including chaos. But I would argue that the majority of great works are composed in the quiet where Focus lives.
But we live in a time of frenzy. There is a constant need for our attention (especially within the lie of modern multitasking). Work and ambition are certainly driving forces. But we are also so hooked on chasing dopamine (sometimes no fault of our own, but by design from people with far more power than they rightly should), that we are watching the nature of human behavior change in overall.
Art to Content to simply consuming.
Everything shorter. Quicker. Abbreviated.
We are so busy that we are losing so many precious things in the Attention Cull, like language. Iโve felt it myself - words slipping through my fingers, forgetting definitions, and worse yet, not being able to follow along in books or movies with archaic language (lately meaning before mid-20th century. Ugh).
I used to read voraciously. I used to write like it was going out of style. But Iโve gotten so caught up in the adult world of sacrificing time to work or short-lived ambition. The incessant knell of the capitalist rat race robs my brain of its faculties .
I keep trying to make things shorter and easier for myself for work-life balance, only to be rewarded with....more work. Iโm not against hard work, but I miss the quiet.
I canโt win.
But I do so love to write when a moment can be stolen.
Photograph: @heyitsfotomike
Hair: @angiesuearnold
Makeup: @sunkist2025
Dress: @pinupgirlclothing
๐๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐,
๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ.
๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก.
๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ฒ.
๐๐
Couldnโt decide whether I liked this better in color or black & white, so why not both? (Color gives me Game of Thrones vibes. But the BW scratches a different itch in my aesthetic brain.)
Location: @columcillemegalithpark
๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ.
~ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ค๐
These days, I find myself in continuing patterns of dissociation, sitting in liminal space, and an almost hyper vigilance of an uncertain future. I find myself wanting to rest, but also prepare; to escape, but also put nose to grindstone.
Fatigue comes in pummeling waves.
I want to create, but my time is no longer my own. The clarion call of capitalism remains a constant noose.
My to-do lists cry for attention and I heed it some, only to surrender to overwhelm.
Dramatic, sure.
Truthful, yes.
Anyways, hereโs some photographic art.
(Stay to the endโฆ)
