Looking forward to my shoot with local Cape Cod rocker grrl, Diana Di Gioia and her wife Melody in two weeks!!
You can see more at http://getyourgoddesson.blogspot.com
All but two of my models have never modeled before. In fact, a majority of these Cape Cod salty dolls have never worn lipstick. No exaggeration. Beauty is one thing, connecting and conveying a story is another. In this series I hope to capture alchemy with the spirit of the sacred feminine inside resonating with nature. These women are talented in their fields and jobs. They are mostly moms. They are also really really really nice gals with dreams, vision, and magic. They live *hard* in the *real world*. They don't drink Peligrino shit and get table service under cabanas courting the underworld and trying to outplay the Patriarchy for a living.
My goddesses are not objects, nor are they subjects, but Creators. They are: a horse trainer, a fire fighter, a librarian, doulas, a secretary, a hospice worker, a farmer, a landscaper, a historical society manager, restaurant and store owners, shop managers, dancers, herbalists, nurses, acupuncturists, a banker, a writer, Zumba teachers, and the like. There's a lot of character development that goes into this, but we can't rely on being cerebral about it either. It's much more energetic. The scenarios, vignettes, and oracular meanderings I toss around like hot potatoes and gold nuggets are infusions of earth poetry, like rain begotten by a trance dance from a feathered leathered greasy lizard-eating rain dancer. It's not about beauty. It's about channeling Spirit and the Depth of Archetypes. It's alchemy. It's shamanic. It's transcendental. It's release. It's a process that gets us there: starting with music, sharing our lives like women are so oft to do (even with strangers), a bit of ala carte costuming, a bit of whatever makeup will be tolerated, some improvised hair styling, listening to atmospheric music, I may read poetry to them, they may indulge in a shot of my special vodka mint julep specialty, and a big heaping helping of Vibing with Nature.
Women who are NOT models have to unlearn everything they learned about how they fall short of the ideal. But, on the other hand, they never thought they would attain an impossible ideal perpetuated on magazine covers and strutting down runways, so within that there is a freedom and an acceptance of Self. Genuine and authentic self. Self that goes far far deeper than the surface. Those qualities tend to outweigh insecurities. Supermodels hear: "Work it Girl, Make Love to the Camera." It requires a suspension of disbelief. Forget that you're courting Death, strung out on Bull urine, and partying with Premature Osteoporosis and Starbucks Adrenal Fatigue. Every ting-aling-aling that they started to sing so fine...Who needs sentence structure.
Forget that you have been bopping around in embarrassingly hideous clothing that looks like it was constructed by shrooming elfin shoemakers in Stanford-Prison-experiment-like conditions, since you were ordained 'your mother's meal ticket' after you slippery-popped from her vagina onto a beauty pageant stage during the Oops-I-Did-It-Again-Heyday.
The women I have invited to participate in my series do not undergo digital surgery, or rituals of humiliation and intimidation, and neither do the women who have booked photography sessions with me. Their bodies don't change shape at the whim of a photo editor or an agenda. I'd like to think that I foster, and that we tap into a limitlessness and timelessness of who we are as souls and who we are as egoic creatures, setting aside the mundane and sinking into a deeper sense of knowing while expanding into hat Mary Daily called the Outercourse. I don't know anything and we make it up as we go along, but it seems to be working out all right. On the other side, I have reached out to a variety of women who possess a variety of looks and expressions of femininity. Often women say they don't feel beautiful and aren't ready. As the series progresses, we are going to see a broader representation of femininity.
I always imagined I'd take up photography in the right place. Growing up in Southern California with it's endless droughts, miles of stucco boxes, burning asphalt and paved over dirty LA river oily and snaking under bridges and past chained linked fences and families of Snark hunters. The high desert and perpetual sun and surf didn't do it for me. Sure, El Matador beach in Malibu is gorgeous, but it was already teaming with women posing for designers and products. The native sycamores, California live oaks, walnut trees, white sage and sage brush are close to my heart, but I preferred to run the trails and drink their essence in to snapping photos. I always dreamed of living in a four season climate that would take me places. So, a year after we moved here in 2012, I bought a camera and started this series. The fact that other people find it beautiful is icing on the cake. I want all women to feel like Goddesses, and step into their power, grace, soul's purpose, self-love and maybe some sultry Cape Cod salty sass.
Trust
Winter Goddess Meets Billie Holiday
Greek Winter Nymph
No comments:
Post a Comment