The Winter Fae

 

My second shoot of the year was a culmination of a years-long project. The Winter Fae has been the one concept in my Fae in Us all series that has eluded me for years. I purchased the custom wings for the shoot over a decade ago, along with boots, a tiara, and many other items I planned to use. Unfortunately, weather and locations, as well as road conditions, didn't cooperate. 

This year, I made plans to shoot it yet again. Kira told me of a location she had recently used for a snow shoot. It was at a high enough elevation that we'd have a good chance of snow, but it was also right off the highway so we wouldn't have trouble getting to the spot. Unfortunately, despite our plans, the mid-winter weather didn't cooperate, and a warm front moved through a couple of days before the shoot, erasing the snow with a cold rain. 

Determined to finally get the shoot, I suggested to Kira that we move the shoot to her studio and use one of the backdrops I had previously used for my Winter Pinup series. She agreed, and here are a couple of the results. 

Kira was also my Summer Fae, so having her as the Winter Fae created a nice bookend to the project.

American Beauty Erotic

 

My first shoot of 2025 featured the lovely Jade Monett. I had hoped to shoot the concept before Valentine's Day to have the images ready to share on my Deviant Art account, but the timing simply didn't work and we had to shoot the week after the holiday. 

The concept played upon the poster for the movie American Beauty but with an erotic twist. Jade came to mind as the perfect model for my version of the concept, and he certainly made the concept work. 

To prepare for the shoot, I separated four thousand silk rose petals from compressed stacks of 100 petals each. As I peeled each petal from its stack, I dropped them into a large plastic trash bag so I could transport them for the shoot. At about three thousand petals, our new kitten decided to take a running leap onto the bag, then whoosh!, I had a rose petal volcano and petals flew everywhere. Despite the eruption, I managed to save all the petals and finish preps for the shoot.

In the studio, I set up a black velvet backdrop and positioned a dark red bedsheet on the floor for the petals. I used three lighting sources–a large octobox on the left, a large softbox on the right, and a small stripbox overhead on a boom. The window light was blocked with tarps, so the sole illumination came from the studio flashes.

I asked Jade to wear red lipstick and to bring heels with her for the shoot. I provided the rest of the costumes for the shoot. Those consisted of various body harnesses that I thought would work well for the concept. Jade exceeded my expectations. I think you can agree that she rocked the concept.