As appropriate for Marvel's First Avenger, this portrait was the first in what would become an ever expansive exploration in the world of imagination and pretend.
This is an artist test-of-concept self portrait. Often throughout this series, I would test many concepts on myself before bringing in particular models. But this image has stood the test of time in this series as one of the showcase pieces that nails the combination of concept and model personality.
Being my first "Heroes" shoot in over 2 years I wanted Deadpool to be a bold statement of return to form.
The character is known for his pansexuality and for "breaking the 4th wall" which refers to talking directly to the audience that is either viewing the movie or reading the comic books.
This shoot focused on some of the running gags from the film, while also showcasing a special love for unicorns and Betty White. By including past "Heroes + Villians" images into the shoot, it's becomes self-referential with the character fully realizing that he is part of an art series himself.
The Phoenix character is a symbol of both death and rebirth. Through every reincarnation strength is forged from death to become something better.
This image was a composite of both outdoor and studio photography of the model with real fire to showcase the raw natural beauty and strength of the character. The mask was designed with bird feathers to echo back to the character's days known as Marvel Girl.
With the Evil Queen began my reimagining of the Disney Villains through drag photography. The characters themselves are often over-the-top and felt that it would be a perfect marriage.
With the Evil Queen, I want to focus on her vanity. Taking a nod from Pixar's Up and "The Cone of Shame" used in that movie, I imagined my character creating a "Cone of Vain" where no matter where she was, she could always catch a glimpse of her beauty at any angle.
Peter Parker's struggle has always been the webs he himself has woven for himself. I wanted to portray the character caught in his own web while almost in thought debating the responsibly that comes with his powers as either Peter Parker or Spiderman.
The upside down kiss was one of the most iconic kisses in cinema history. When the model became engaged to his fiancé, I want to recreate that scene with the two of them as a wedding gift.
There is always a connection between my models and the characters they are portraying. With this shoot, my model told me that growing up he felt that he was different than everyone else and just wanted to fit in.
For one day, the model got to be exactly as everyone else as he took on all the roles of the Smurfs and Smurfette so he never has to feel different again.
Sometimes the simplest solution is the right one. This series has a lot of cross references within it. In the circumstance of this image it was the combination of the Flash character recreating a scene from the movie "Flashdance".
Growing up in the 1980s, I don't think there was a kid who did not own a set of He-Men and the Masters of the Universe. I owned almost every single one at one point or another.
When it comes to He-Man if you are trying to visually portray him, it just goes to show that all you need is really bad blonde hair and underwear.
Skeletor confused me as a character growing up. You have this massive bulk body and then the head of a talking skull. To me, there was no real way to translate that in real life. As with Evil Lynn in this series, I re-imagined the characters.
In the case of Skeletor living in Snake Mountain, I envisioned more of a tribal route with him. Researching tribal body painting and shaman images, I felt there was a happy medium to merge that with the iconic dudes in underwear image that the cartoon instilled into 1980's children's memories with a real world application of dark magic.
Ursula has always been my favorite villain.
Her visual look on screen was inspired by the real life drag queen, Divine. Known for her camp and filth humor, I wanted to make a visual nod to her by developing Ursula's entire look from trash bags and bubblewrap.
I do not think there is a movie series I've watched more times than the Alien Saga. Between Ghostbusters and the Alien movies, Sigourney Weaver is at the top of the list of women of film that has influenced how I perceive feminine strength. When I was invited to participate in a NYC art show in honor of Sigourney Weaver and I jumped at the opportunity to let my mind wonder with what to do.
There are two sides to Ripley that make her a lasting character. It's not only her badassness against an alien queen, but also the maternal qualities she possessed for a child or for a cat.
I recreated her powerloader out of cardboard, trash bags and duct tape for the first image. The second image focuses more on the softer side of her character influenced from one line in Alien Resurrection where she refers to the alien queen as "My Baby".
When I did my Uhura shoot, it was the first time I was doing a parody/artistic expression with characters played by real actors. This is an homage to Nichelle Nichols, not only as an role-model to black women but also some of the men.
In a series built on social issues and controversy I wanted to have the same impact with this shoot as the "Mirror, Mirror" episode was in television which was the first broadcasted interracial kiss.
In this mirror of "Mirror, Mirror" I wanted to have the same impact with 2 of the main characters sharing a kiss with Uhura sharing the gossip on her communicator.
With this shoot there were 3 things I sought out to explore.
1. Growing up my friends and I used to play and explore in the woods. I wanted to recreate those memories with the model. Taking on feline-like positioning, I had my model climb, hunt and adapt to the environment.
2. With a hero name like Black Panther and within the context of my series, it was impossible for me to not want to refer to the Black Panther movement and Civil Rights. I wanted to update the social context of the conversation within the Black Lives Matter movement.
3. Taking the shoot indoors, I had my model take on the role of a domesticated cat doing things such as jumping up on the counters and using a litter box.
Last night I had the honor of playing pretend with my mother in a photo shoot. I chose Princess Leia for her a long time ago and I'm beyond humbled that she entertained my warped mind and went along with it. Today in a bit of irony we lost Carrie Fisher who was not only a princess but an incredibly interesting and brave individual. It hits home that the two are basically the same age. It humbles me in thoughts of cherishing our moments and it makes me love this shoot even more so that it's something that happened verses something I wish had happened.
Growing up Carrie Fisher is right up there with Sigourney Weaver for me. One of the first examples for me of cinema feminine strengths. One of the firsts of what beauty is supposed to be and someone, whom to me, formulated in my head a perception of a person to idolize. For all intents what I saw in them was all these things I saw and have in my mother. Growing up I always thought my mom looked like Princess Leia and she is the definition of what I view to be a perfect example of who to be as a person.
It was later on in life that I discovered Carrie Fisher the person. Tortured, pained...ultimately flawed in the eyes of some but I guess that's part of being human. There is no perfect standard to live by. There is no blind contract to stay nope....you are bound to the perfect image of your youth and the naivety that life won't throw you a curve ball or twelve. She approached a lot of her life candidly, openly, but most of all later in life...she never apologized for it. She laughed at it.
Carrie Fisher once said, "I don't want my life to imitate art, I want my life to be art." I think that is something we forget to think about with our lives. Our lives are beautifully flawed and beautifully ours at the same time. We censor our lives for others to make ourselves feel better about what others may think of us. We filter our images with a cheap ass insta-filter because it makes us feel better about showcasing ourselves with a blurred lens (PS you aint fooling anyone, its obvious when you do it). We hide our imperfections when they are the very things that make us perfect.
I preface that commentary before getting to the gist of this post...my mother. She is a pinnacle that I hold myself up to as a person. She is the definition of love and carelessness for her children. To me, she is Ripley going into the Alien hive. She is Leia leading the Rebellion. She's Linda Hamilton fighting Judgement Day. But she has always been the thing I admire most...real and honest. She's the woman who allowed me to share my flaws with her growing up while she shared her own with me. So many nights of sitting and drinking wine and just talking about life. Sometimes sad for what has happened. Sometimes just resting our heads on one another saying we have done it or are doing it. Growing up we picture our parents as perfect because we don't know the world. As I grow older I see my mother more beautiful than ever the Princess Leia I thought she to be when I was younger.
This pic is not perfect. It's not meant to be. I decided to turn off the strobes and play with natural light and manipulate from there. Part of what is and part of what I see. Studio shots will come in time. But I love that this image is part Princess Leia, Part Carrie Fisher, All mom. Part Humor. Part Seriousness. To me both Leia and my mother will always be royalty to me but my mother will always be the force that is always with me. But it's about going back and remembering just to smile and laugh at everything you have been through as you move forward. Love you mom and you will be missed Carrie Fisher.
