The Lost Lady of Lake Huron
When the top of the waves become kissed in silver light,
that is when The Lost Lady of the Lake arrives.
And she waits.
Laced around her neck she carries with her
the unsung hymns of the shores.
Uninterrupted by man.
Wind as it is caught amongst the water.
Hag stones being hollowed.
Beach glass softening its edges.
Sand refining the coasts.
A light flickers in the distance,
a warm glow that haunts her,
as they both hide from the dawn.
The mystery of the Lakes,
Protected.
THE BEHIND THE SCENES PROCESS OF CREATING
The Lost Lady started as a character concept and development for an Editorial Shoot I was doing under my Portrait Business (AJBC Photography) for LEE.BA.TROY Studios for her Lake Formed Collection.
In order to better understand how to photograph myself as the model I needed a backstory, who was I, or who was she? This would then help me figure out where to shoot, what to wear, how to pose, and how to finish it in post.
The visuals overtook my mind and I started to spill out what I was imagining in a rough draft of a poem. Apparently my mind works better with poetic words than rough sketches. The sketches are normally rough, if not cryptic to an on looker.
The Michigan winter snuck up on me. I had originally envisioned shooting this in Lake Huron in Lexington, but the freezing temps decided otherwise for me. I tried a set up in my hallway with a fan to mimic the wind, blue gels to mimic the moonlight, fill lights, the whole works, and it was a failure. If you enjoy seeing behind the scenes chaos you can be friends with here me on Instagram!
There were a few shots I had in mind, one being The Lady of the Lake sneaking out of her room to go stand along the dark, quiet shore. So I pivoted, shot that first, and had success! I edited these quite a bit to give them a “storybook” character feel, which I’m trying to really lean into this year with my work.
Knowing I had nailed one shot that gave me more freedom to get a little more playful. Note to self- more magic usually happens during play than rigid set ups, but I’ll keep learning this lesson the hard way.
I set up again using nothing but the warm lights hanging from my ceiling and thought- I can work with this.
Bringing straight out of camera images into Lightroom never intimidates me. It’s a starting point. I can see past the crappy lighting, stray hairs. I’m not much for pure imagination, but if I have a jumping off point I can usually expand off that quite well.
Can we please take note of the skirt? It’s an upside shirt I pulled over my leggings. I’m a big fan of working with what you have.
Next, feeling as though the location felt out of place for the time period I had in my head I turned to Generative Fill in Photoshop to help me out. This might turn some people off but the way I look at it- it was not in the budget to rent a Victorian home for this shoot, it was not in the timeline to find a free one to drive to. And if I’m being honest- mimicking the same light in 2 different photos (stock or my own) and bringing them together is always an utter bitch for me and I do not enjoy the process. I want my Art to be fun. As Macklemore says- If I'd done it for the money I'd have been a fucking lawyer. If I had my choice I would always choose on location vs creating it in post, but for this project is truly allowed me to be transported when I physically couldn’t and I think that’s the beauty AI can hold when used right. (I wrote an extensive blog about the Ethics, Ego, and Legalities around AI Art when it was first released, if you would like to read it here - AI ART: Stolen Art of the Past or Tool for Artists of the Future?)
With all that being said this was not a fast process. It took many prompts, lots of layers, probably hours of blending to get it all to a point where I was happy with it and it looked somewhat realistic with a painterly feel.
Just as I decided I was finished with all of the images the “haunting” nature of this character came back to me and I thought… what if I played with that image, making her into a ghost??
And that set me down a path of hours more of playing. And yes, I say playing, because I knew at this point, the Editorial job was done and this was slipping into territory of purely fulfilling my curiosity.
Adding a window helped bring more of the poem to life, opening up a view for the water to shine. Even though we don’t have mountains in Michigan I left them because the black backdrop made the pendant of the necklace really pop, which the whole theme really originates and circles around that. I started seeing it much like Ursala’s necklace in The Little Mermaid, hiding Ariel’s voice. This hid the mysteries of the Lake.
I thought I was done when my husband brought to my attention that the lights were competing with the rest of the scene and it may be more powerful with a tighter crop. Against my better judgement I cropped out the sconces. I loved their glow, but ultimately agreed, they were distracting and my eye kept wanting to travel back to them, taking away from the main subjects. I think if it were an image in a larger body of work, or part of a larger story I would leave them, but for the purpose of a strong stand alone image, I cut them. I can’t truly decide and I leave them both here for you to decide! Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!