Tea Party
The Idea
This winter semester marked my first project with Shift, a photoshoot set over a tea party during which four “dolls,” also known as the models, embark on whimsical and child-esque fantasy. Originally, I intended this photoshoot to be a creative way for my own inner child to take up space in my life, allowing her the freedom to engage in imagination, whimsicality, and creative energy. This being said, my motivation for the Tea Party was two-fold: growing my creative skills as a photographer and providing a safe space for young Lindsey.
The Dolls:
Considering that the Tea Party is deeply intertwined with personal aspects of myself, such as my inner child, I wanted those involved in the photoshoot to feel similarly connected. Here is where the dolls come in. After the four dolls enthusiastically agreed to take part in this project, I had a conversation with each of them separately. During these two-hour talks, we discussed an inner narrative or concept that was particularly prevalent in their lives at the time. I really enjoyed this stage of the photoshoot process not only because I felt connections forming between the photoshoot and the dolls but I felt my own bonds strengthening with each of the dolls as well! Using these conversations, I collaborated with each doll to manifest aspects of our conversation into their outfits, makeup, and/or posing.
The Set:
The set (and costume design) entailed a handful of thrifted knick-knacks and handmade crafts. In the background of the photos, there is the moon, resembling myself as a child, which was made from duct taping repurposed cardboard boxes and various colors of acrylic paint. Another mini project I completed was dyeing wool used for a headpiece that one of the dolls and I worked together to create. This was used on one of the dolls to emphasize black sheep-like features. These were just two of the mini projects I accomplished to create the set of the photoshoot!
The Shoot:
I started my day at 6:00 am the day of the photoshoot. I was almost in shock that I completed all the tasks I had hoped to! The dolls filed in around 8:00 am to get their outfits and makeup ready before starting by 10:00 am. Having never directed a photoshoot like this, I was unsure how much time this would take. Would it go all the way till dark? Fortunately, it only lasted until 1:00 pm and resulted in ~1700 photos to sift through before editing. I had a super epic day because all of the dolls were friends of mine and we found fun ways to make time go by fast (including a pizza break).
The Editing:
Editing has always been my most dreaded part of photoshoots. However, I gained much more confidence in my editing skills after this project. One of the dolls wore a homemade prosthetic nose that appeared textured in the photos so I was tasked with finding a way to smooth this out. I became familiar with various tools in Photoshop and Lightroom that assisted me in color correction as well as smoothing out textures from the prosthetic nose.
The Reflection:
Throughout this semester, I have had a great time working on this project and I am thoroughly delighted at the results as well! This allowed me to work on something meaningful and exciting during the busy and overwhelming semester, preventing me from burning out in more ways than I had imagined. I accomplished my goals of connecting to my inner child as she was able to take up as much space and she pleased in this process. From imagining the photoshoot’s concept to organizing the details to further manifesting this process, I found my inner child squealing with excitement! The Tea Party ended up being a lot more successful than I had ever imagined and I hope to continue sharing the resulting photos!
