Sea Maidens

​" I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide.
Is a wild call and a clear call, that may not be denied.
All I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying."
​- John Masefield - Seafever -

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The Sea Maidens photo shoot was almost a year into the making.  Conflicting schedules and a busy summer season, meant it was towards the end of winter before we could all meet up.  We made a date and said rain or storm we were still going to do it.  The location was Mt Maunganui, the place that is always bathed in sunshine and warmth..... except the day we were there.  The weather called our bluff and it was so stormy!  I had them in their winter coats huddled under a tree until I had them in front of the camera.   My camera was enclosed in a plastic grocery bag, and it was so stormy I didn't even attempt a lighting setup.

The dresses were inspired by the ocean.  They were made of cheesecloth that I bought on a roll.  I like using cheesecloth because it is already a cloth tube, so it is just a matter of cutting holes and ties in the right places to make a no sew design.  They were also embellished with seashells, twine and beads.

Here are some notes and inspirations for each of the designs.
The camera used was a Canon 50d with a 24-105mm lens.  Natural cloud storm lighting around mid day.

Makeup was done by Danielle Sutton.

Model: Amy Stephenson

Amy was my most experience model, so she got the most difficult outfit to model.  She was my Queen, with a big crown, and her dress was inspired by the waves and whitewash with a big long trail.  I also designed some twine netting to represent fishing nets.

Camera was set at 1/250 shutter speed, ISO 250, with F stop either f/9 or f/5 depending if was a scene or more cropped in shot.

Model: Judea Amarige Taratoa-Arthur

Judea's dress was inspired by sea creatures, squid, jellyfish.  She had to be plaited into it with a french braid all the way down it's back.

​Model: Preslee Stevens

This was Preslee's first modelling shoot.  Talk about baptism with fire with the weather, but she did really well.  Her outfit is inspired by nets.

"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible,
but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore."
- Vincent Van Gogh -

xox
​Calico Jo