Joey the Warrior of Future and Past

I had a great shoot with Joey Darke yesterday. We had discussed shooting my post-apocalyptic concept with her as a model. I haven't shot that concept since July of 2019 when Merrique and I spent a day shooting glamour in the woods and then shooting the post-apocalypse scenes later in the day. I enjoyed reviving the concept, especially with a great model like Joey. She brings joy to every shoot with her buoyant personality and easy smile. 

We planned a second shoot as part of our day. Ever since we did a Celtic Goddess shoot last year with woad designs on her face and torso, she's been itching to redo the shoot with the designs all over her body. As you can see from the images, she did a nice job drawing the designs on her body. She really had to stretch to get some of them drawn, but she did better than I did with the designs on her back. 

We shot the post-apocalypse concept under the bridge over the Muddy River in the Mount St. Helens Monument area. Muddy River is a misnomer. The river is long gone, leaving a mostly dry riverbed of jumbled boulders and sand with steep banks lining its path. Mount St. Helens rises majestically to the northwest of the bridge and provides a splendid backdrop for the images. I've shot several versions of the concept at the spot, but I had new outfits and weapons for Joey to use for her shoot.

Getting to the shoot site took some time due to roadwork along the route. Even though many of the potholes and dips in the road had been repaired since my last visit, one area had sustained a significant washout and a shallow stream still flowed over the road with significant washboards on the other side. We had to take it slow and easy to avoid bottoming out the car. Once there we parked just past the bridge and made our way down to the river bed. Be warned, if you go to this area, you're going to need a Northwest Forest Pass to park in the area.

Once in the riverbed we staged our props, costumes, and equipment under the bridge and started the shoot. Joey had a blast climbing the boulders and wearing the different outfits. She noticed how the shadows from the bridge railings were falling on the rocks below and we shot a series of nudes featuring those shadows playing across her body. We spent about two hours shooting there then packed up, climbed out, and headed to another location for our Celtic warrior shoot.

I had noticed a number of turn-outs on our way to the first shoot site, so we headed back down the road and picked the first path that seemed like it would provide a good location to shoot. Not far down the dirt road, we found an easy place to pull off and once Joey had applied the woad to her face and torso, we got started. As she removed more of her outfit, we added more woad designs and for the full nude shots, she had designs all over her body. This portion of our shooting day lasted for about an hour.

The smart lady that she is, she brought plenty of makeup removal wipes to remove the woad from her body and soon we were off for home. Unfortunately, due to bridge work on I-5 and massive traffic as we approached Portland, it took us twice as long to get back as it did to get up to the mountain in the first place. Joey managed to get a nice long nap on the ride back though, and I got to listen to some good tunes while she slept. 

I'll be sharing many of these images on Instagram and Deviant Art, so if you're not following me there, you'll miss some of the best images from the shoot. 

Goddess Joey

Blue Goddess

I've been going to the Siuslaw Valley for a few years now, ever since Joey invited me down for a shoot. I was the first photographer to take her up on the offer, and I try to get down there at least once a year. The two of us have shot all over the valley and traveled to a few places outside the valley to shoot as well. Joey's charge is to find the locations while my responsibility lies with choosing the concept and bringing the costumes and props. 

I've been wanting to shoot a fall shoot in the valley and during our most recent shoot I had asked Joey to find us a new spot to shoot. So we set a date for early fall and I made the trip down earlier this week.

Sun Goddess

Joey had told me she had found a great new spot. True to her word, it made an excellent location for what I wanted to shoot. As a bonus, it wasn't far from her home. This time of year, before the rainy season has returned, the river runs shallow and warm so we managed to get some shots in the river as well. 

I had mentioned to Joey that I wanted to do a set of Celtic Goddess images with woad drawings on her face and body and she was excited to do something different like that. We also started later in the day that I normally shoot because I wanted to use the evening sun instead of morning light. That worked out well for us because the river ran to the west side of our location giving us light under the trees for the final part of our shoot. We didn't stop shooting until the light failed.

Celtic Warrior

Our shoot started without the woad designs though, since I wanted to shoot some unpainted goddess versions before she applied the hard-to-remove body paint. We began under the trees with sheer gowns and backlighting from the late afternoon sun. 

Despite being in a county park, the location stayed mostly deserted during our shoot. The first interruption occurred when a man and his dog came looking for a friend. We heard both of them long before they hiked up the trail to our spot. The guy accepted our word we hadn't seen his friend and off he went, pup in tow, back down the trail from whence he came.

Nude Goddess

Our second encounter didn't count as an interruption because no one came anywhere near us. A truck simply pulled into the area, a couple of guys jumped out, looked at the river, and left after just a few minutes. For the remainder of the shoot, no one bothered us. 

We shot for about 3 hours and got some great images. Joey looks great as a Celtic Goddess and warrior and she's much better at handling swords than 6 years ago during our first shoot.