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My photographs, sets and designs- Pin wheel set.

I recently wrote an article on Bored Panda about the creation of 2 of my photoshoots re-using some of the same elements and showing some of the process photos of creating the shoot. To check out the full article click here. 

Since some of you are already familiar with my work I will just be adding the photos and some brief descriptions! 

 

The model (Elena Balueva) is wearing fantasy armour made entirely out of leather. It has been hand carved, dyed, sealed and buff to a shine using traditional techniques. The Swarovski beads have been all hand sewn on to the leather. The pinwheels in the background compliment the designs on the mask and corset. The makeup artist (Ashley Skrocki) completed makeup that matched the background.

I designed the backdrop to appear like a large head piece when Elena stood in front of it.

The same pinwheels were used in this photo shoot with hair stylist/ model Karly Vedan. The makeup artist (Ashley Skrocki) incorporated various design elements from the pieces into her work.

 

This string of paper flowers were all individually hand shaped, arrange, and glue together with a "rivet" on top. 

Tiny flowers were added to the makeup and a paper flower shawl was made for this "scene."

A different view of the paper shawl with some pins I made to match. 

 

On to some behind the scenes photos, taken with my cell phone, of part of the creation of the pieces the models wore. 

The pinwheels before putting them together for the background. 

Shaping and gluing together the paper flowers

The final paper pieces (the crown I ended up using for a different shoot)

The larger pinwheel with the hand shaped flowers in the centre.

The mask before it was dyed, painted and had all the beads, stones and feathers added. 

 

Our NextFest Workshop

We were invited to Nextfest to do a workshop based on our mask designs. There wasn't a budget to do leather so it was an opportunity to use one of my other favourite materials: paper to come up with something new. Also, part of the night which was, fittingly called; "Masks for Monster," featured a performance with our masks included. 

Tanner had a market, so I had Ashley (whom many of you have met at the booth or another event) help me set up the workshop at the Paintspot in Edmonton. For this workshop I cut out well over a thousand pieces of paper which was over 1 and a half hours of laser time... Well over the budget, just in laser costs, but I really wanted everyone to make a mask they would be happy with. Plus I figured I could use any left over components for upcoming photoshoots. Much of the supplies we used for the decorations came from my personal stock of crafting supplies and it was nice to see it being put into creative use. 

This is one of the original mask designs I did for the workshop and I also chose this mask for the promotional photoshoot I did for the event. The feathers are the same feathers featured on my "Seraphim's Belt." 

Display table with masks and photos

We set up a small display table with some of the items we created in leather and metal, as well as, some pictures from the shoots we do with our wearable items. The large wooden mask in the back was created by Borys Tarasenko.

Our pre cut out masks and the stencils I created for the workshop.

Some of the supplies I separated out into containers. I noticed the paper I used to cut out the attachments created interesting stencils so I brought a few along.

Table and chairs... We ran out of workspace very quickly and apologize to those that had to stand, sit on the floor and were unable to stay.

 

Some of the display paper masks I created for the event. 

Event photo of part of the class room. 

Some of the awesome masks created by the workshop attendees! 

 

Boris Tarasenko and his giant wooden mask behind him.

One of my favourite painted masks from the night.

I love the colours and complexity of this one! 

This one ended up having a historic feel.

 Some close ups of paper masks I created for the event 

 

After the workshop we headed over to the Roxy Theatre where we set up a smaller version of our mask working station for anyone who could not make the workshop. The masked dance was scheduled for 11 and even though I'm not an event photographer I still wanted to capture a couple of shots of the choreographed dance. I have an older full frame camera so I went with the highest ISO available on my camera, shutter speed 1/200 s and I used a very low aperture since there was minimal ambient and performance lights being used. I had only brought one lens with me and that was my 50 mm f 1.4 Sigma Art lens. There was some noise which I cleaned up in Camera Raw and photoshop and removed all the distractions that surrounded the dancers.

Cheorgraphed by Aimee Rushton   

Male Dancer: Jason Romero 

Female Dancer: Anastasia Maywood

Close up of the masks used for the dance 

Some of the dance photos with one creative edit of Jason Romero 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Wings by Skrocki Design   #113, 13651, St Albert Trail, Unit 4, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada   1-780-289-4283