I was just starting to wake up from my winter hibernation when I received an interesting collaboration request. Margaret Galvin- a graduating fashion design student at Mass Art- was working on a series of costumes based on Dante’s Inferno, and she was looking for a photographer to capture them as a cinematic series. I was a little nervous about it at first- it seemed like a rather daunting undertaking, but I’m glad I said yes. By the end, even TJ wanted in on it.
Our first shoot was for the “Beatrice” dress on a chilly, gray day in early April. The swampy fens near Mass Art were still mostly frozen solid, which worked in our favor, allowing us to stand in what should have been knee deep water. You really can’t tell we were in the middle of the city, something nearly impossible to pull off when there are no leaves on the trees.
We wound up with way too many photos of this dress. But it was just too pretty. Silk chiffon.. hand beading… and the perfect soft light. Sometimes shoots are just magical without any effort at all. Beatrice is the incarnation of beatific love, and leads Dante from purgatory to paradise. So yeah, she would totally wear this dress.
The rest of the series wasn’t quite as simple to pull off, but at least we were off to an inspiring start.
I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out the best way to present the photos now that they’re finished, blogs not being all that cinematic and all. It’s probably not the best answer, but we’re just going to roll out one set per day for the next five days. I mean, there was no reason for three Hobbit movies either 😉
Credits:
- Date: Thursday, April 2, 2015
- Location: The Fens, Boston
- Designer/styling/concept: Margaret Galvin
- Photography: Kayt Silvers
- Model: Carina Allen