Photo Shoot of "Porcelain Curse" with Kenneth Purdom in Franklin, TN

Today was a good day! I was offered an awesome photo shoot with Kenneth Purdom to feature my junior collection Porcelain Curse.

Late last week I got the invitation over facebook from Kenneth asking if I was interested in doing a photo shoot with my collection. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it considering that I’m not necessarily good with planning this sort of thing and if I could creatively come up with amazing ideas for the shoot. I don’t really take advantage of good opportunities like this either, so I don’t go through with things when ventures come at me like this. But this time was different, I guess. I decided to do it anyways. I needed the photos for this website and he needed photos to build his portfolio. He sent me his website showing me his work and I got to see the models he had used in the past that we could possible use for my shoot. I liked his work and the models he’s worked with. I gave it a chance.

He asked me to call up some models I knew and he was going to email the ones he knew and we would have a good mix of people showing up. Problem was, I thought I didn’t have any close friends who wanted to model. . . Then I realized “oh shit wait . . . yes I do!” I was so stupid to forget the people I know who can help me out. . .

I went off to facebook to contact Lace Grainger, a professional model and photographer who has the perfect look that I need for all my work. Then I contacted Marina Clark, a friend and old co-worker who is not professional model, per say, but is super eager to do photo shoots with me. She also has the scene, emo, kinda goth look I needed for the shoot. I wish I could have gotten my other friend Michelle to join us, but she was lame and had work. Sadly, Kenneth was not able to get quick responses from his contacts. I tried to frantically contact more people and I wasn’t able to get anyone else. This worried me.

Then there was the question of locations. Kenneth already had an idea for what kind of a theme to jump off of for my collection. Dark, creepy, decrepit, old, vintage feel using a lot of dark lighting. We had talked about many places in Franklin such as The Factory, an old book store, some antique stores (Franklin is full of them), some public places in town, and he was really eager to go to this public park that had an abandon farm land with old buildings full of stuff. I was pretty happy to have Kenneth know what I wanted right off the bat. We had the same goals basically.

As far as make up and hair goes I was told that Kenneth knew a make up artist that could help us for free, and I got the impression she was going to make it, and it turned out I just misinterpreted the information and we didn’t have a pro to help us out. LUCKILLY Lacy being very experienced with this sort of thing was kind enough to bring her make up kit. I had told Marina to bring her stuff as well just knowing that she wear s the gothic make up look just as much as I do on a day to day basis. I rreeeaalllyy wanted to have everyone wear wigs for the shoot to match my illustrations, but honestly I was glad I didn’t end up doing that . . . you will read why.

So after a few days of planning and making sure everyone knew the critical info of where and when, we all met up today to do our shoot. It took some time for the ladies to do their make up, and it made me a bit nervous cause we were on a 3 hour time crunch. But also, the rain was bi-polar and couldn’t decide if it wanted to rain, sprinkle, or stop. This got me super nervous. Kenneth was wondering whether we should reschedule and I was just thinking “NO DON’T!” My models came from very far to be here to do my collection and I wasn’t ganna let that squash my chances of getting awesome pictures. It was good the ladies took a long time with the make up (even though I got nervous about our timing) because by the time they were done the rain had stopped. I was SO HAPPY you had no idea.

We began our shoot outside of the factory. I really loved the small rusty corners, broken out windows, and old mossy rocks and statues that were around the area. Kenneth and I took full advantage of the area. Once we were done with the factory Kenneth took us to his favorite spot at the public park across the street. I was really sad to not go to the antique shop but I had hope for this park. We arrive and found out that I LOVED this spot. We shot in a farm house full of rusty tools, broken glass windows, and general left over farming supplies lying around everywhere. It was amazing! We spent the rest of our time taking amazing shots of my collection. We had some awesome unexpected helpers like my roommate Brittany, who randomly decided to come watch the shoot after work, and Marina’s ride Hunter who was kind enough to be Kenneth’s little lighting assistant.

Everyone seemed to have a good time with the shoot. The models really enjoyed wearing my stuff, Kenneth and I were working in sync with the ideas we had, and the unexpected help really eased my stress. I was soooo happy to have done this. We got so much accomplished in just 3 short hours. Not only did we get to shoot my collection but we had just enough time to do a gown I made back in 2014 for school. Although, by the end of the day everyone was in their own puddles of sweat it was pretty nasty.

Pictures of photoshoot will be up as soon as I receive them, which hopefully will be within the next few weeks. Thank you everyone involved who helped out with this shoot! I am over the moon with greatness!

Here are some other behind the scenes photos of the shoot