I don;t know what I was thinking! I kept feeling bummed that I didn't have anything Christmas to publish, then I realized I had lots!
I believe I shot these in 2011-2012.
There was a number of sets where I was experimenting with a lot of things, like my remote, the old tripod, and I'd been studying Tribal Fusion bellydance.
I've always had my own style. This outfit was by Arden B. probably around 2004 (vintage). The "Chanel" looking necklace is completely fake. I had a store at the time full of imports, and we always had many items from China, and knew nothing of high end designers, let alone what it even meant. I was told it was supposed to look like Chanel. I had no idea even who they were. I just knew I liked Arden B. which unfortunately shut down their business.
The earrings were also an item I sold in my store.
The feather earrings were from Charlotte Russe (vintage 2010-2011).
The makeup was all drug store brands (CVS) like Maybelline New York, which i still like, Physician's Formula, Rimmel, but the eye primer I used was by Urban Decay which was my first ever high end makeup product. I might also be wearing L'Oreal which I hate to death because its so toxic, and/or Covergirl which I still think tends to have good products.
Some are shot on my tripod, and other are hand-held. I like to experiment with "spontaneous self portraits" which is an actual style of art/photography. Like, I've probably mentioned before, I don;t consider myself a "spontaneous person" nor a spontaneous personality, since I find persons whom spout this "spontaneity" natter, in judging others to often be reckless, careless, brash, foolish, self sabotaging, or irresponsible... so people whom swear to live as spontaneous are usually the same types whom cause trouble, havoc, or stress in my life.... I like the idea of having something to fall back on, support, and consistency.... yet, I utterly dispirit rigid, boring, conformity. or just rigidity and stubbornness. Even tho' I prefer persons of stability, self control, discipline, and things like temperance and the virtue side of prudence, I can't stand bland things most of the time. So, what I'm saying is even tho' I like balance, I still NEED to FEEL and experience the differences in dichotomies, or even an awareness of extremes, or even the middle gradients, and complexities...
In other words, what I'm trying to say, is I find experiments (or experimentation) to be incredibly therapeutic, and it pulls me out of "the comfort zone". Even tho' I'd prefer to KNOW and have certainty of pretty much everything, even creatively, I've found that the not knowing what will happen, or the surprise of it, is actually quite pleasant, and I think perhaps it is THIS that is that sort of edgy place I like. Even tho' I can use techniques or a controlled environment or situation, you don't actually have full control or it, and it's the "letting go" that is not only liberating, but also thrilling. Creative accidents happen, and things you cannot replicate. Sure, one might get a ton of crappy stuff, but the more you shoot, the more likely you are to capture the fleeting moments in time, forever.
By, the way, none of these are touched up AT ALL. NOTHING.
It's completely raw, and shot ON RAW.
You may see EVERY wrinkle, blemish, fine line, or distortion... I like it.
It's rather ZEN...
But, as I was saying, my inspirations were everything from Tribal Fusion dancers, to Blümchen, to 1990s' and 2000s stuff....
here you can see a favorite of mine "Unterm Weihnachtsbaum" by "Blümchen" a Happy Hardcore 1990s techno Christmas track which mean "Beneath The Christmas Tree" (German). Since it was a pretty new Christmas tree, I wanted to experiment it as a prop.
I did, actually, several kinds of styles with this set, and I did several sets/experiments with just my Christmas tree alone.
So, Expect more of these...
